Sparkling Garmisch with mavericks: Part III - The Sights

"Human by its very nature is in the race with nature. Nature throws new challenges all the time and slowly but steadily human wins over them only to give rise to new ones. Whatever human builds or conquers, he will always be inspired and motivated by nature and the race will continue forever" GuruDeFundae :p "What I would love to see is human being complementing the nature and both stay in harmony forever."

Lakes amidst mountain peaks with boat reflections

Very few places on the planet would have such clean (and green) water

Human creation on the lake with trees in the background

Garmisch-Partenkirchen had plenty of natural and manmade things to keep us motivated all along. As we were approaching the region through winding highways surrounded by mesmerizing peaks, I was dreaming about the beauty of the region with the snowclad mountains in the winter. In addition to visiting beautiful manmade castles, we visited the highest point on the German-Austrian border Zugspitze. The Austrian and German border crosses right on the peak of the mountain and with clear weather one can sight Austria, Germany, Swiss and Italy from atop. Hari could even spot his next destinaton Iceland and waved at Iceland saying,"Iceland, I am coming..."

The top of Zugspitze has the highest internet point in the world and with the recent news from Nasa that the austranauts are now able to tweet from the space, the limits will be pushed higher and chased better.

Lake view from the top of Zugsptize

Man conquering natural obstacles?

Highest Church in Germany/Austria. Can you spot newly weds?

The breathtaking views from atop from Zugspitze are simply inexplicable and should be experienced by one and all. Specially the view of the lake and the cliff from the top were simply irresistable. The highest church is one of the famous spots for the couples to get married and I once again felt for the loss of companion. But then knots are tied in heaven and not on Zugspitze...

Sparkling Garmisch with mavericks: Part II - The Castles

If you are in Bombay and you can't sight a Vadapav/Pavbhaji stall, rest assured that you are out of Bombay. If you are in Chennai, and you can't sight a temple along the road side or a crossing, rest assured you are out of Chennai. And if you are in Europe and you can't sight a castle built by a King or knight or any other richer of the richest in any province, rest assured you are out of Europe. In fact, castles in Europe are like Turkish Kebap shops -- they are everywhere - quite ubiquitous. While staying in Europe or traveling across it, you can hardly ignore these grandeur structures and specially the gardens associated with most of them. To add to the grandeurness, each of these structures have a rich history behind them and every European state "Basking in the History" preserves and displays it very well.

Frauenchiemsee has a small castle in an island

Herrenchiemsee -- A castle inspired by Chetau De Verssailles

Yellow Castle of Ludwig's dad

Garmisch-Partenkirchen follows no different rule and ostentatiously displays all the castles in the province very proudly. The region Bavaria is not only famous for its beer (e.g. Munich beer festival) but also has a lot of castles around it. While a trip to all the castles in the region would consume at least a month, we had a plan to visit the most famous ones, specially the ones' built by mad King Ludwig. Now, King Ludwig is considered mad and possibly this madness forced him to build these unnecessary yet eye-pleasing structures one after the other. But then, I kept on wondering what madness forces us to pay our money and time to see others' wealth? Absolutely ridiculous, isn't it? After a lot of brain storming though, I have come to consensus that most of us (atleast me) visit these grand places to pay our homage to the stupendous work of art that is on display. Behind the name of any King/Queen or Lord (Ludwig or whoever) we aim to discover the face of an artist, admire his/her creation and inspire from it. Any other views on this are welcome.

Dad's castle overlooking the town

Neuschwanstein Disney castle: One of those night photography attempts

Neuschwanstein Disney castle with a mystique background

The most famous castle in Bavaria is the Disney castle Neuschwanstein but the other two Herrenchiemsee and Frauenchiemsee were worth visiting as well. The yellow castle in Neuschwanstein is the castle of Ludwig's Father and was beautiful too. In my observation, during ancient times in Europe, most of the Kings' and knights' were stung by madness and went on rampage building castles and other structures one after the other. The originator of this madness was probably the French King Louis XIV who built a revolutionary Chetau De Verssailles. This revolutionary castle apparently led to the French revolution and you know the exact reason for revolt, the minute you step in one of the bedrooms or dining rooms or just the foyer of the palace.

On a positive side though it was an inspiration to most of the art works that followed in Europe and may be around. Not surprisingly most of the castles are very very beautiful and are worth every visit. The other visit to Bavaria place won't go waste at all as there is a lot left to see. As an example, we could not sight Neuschwanstein from inside for the lack of time. Winter is the best time to visit to this place of the world for skii amongst other things but the calander is packed for this winter so hopefully next one or may be later...may be...just may be....

Sparkling Garmisch with mavericks: Part I - The mavericks

In Leuven, the week goes fast and weekend? Well, only faster!!! Honestly, those who find Leuven boring must have nothing to do in their life :-) Being at the center of Europe, it's a very convenient place to plan trips all over and I have followed two simple rules to entertain myself:

Rule No. 1. Never spend a long weekend in Leuven.
Rule No. 2. Every weekend is a long weekend :-)

And the fall out of these rules has been some incredible trips to very spectacular spots in and around Europe and when you are in such a travel hungry mode, many a times you do not have adequate planning* to back you up but all you do is just pack your bags and set out for a predetermined venue. Most of the prominent place have Tourist information centers and all things fall in place leading to a very fruitful stay. It's really that simple and here are a few words about some International participants who believed in the philosophy and decided to pack their bags on this unplanned trip to Garmisch-Partenkirchen on a real long 21-24th May '09 weekend:

Amir (The Schumaker): The usual Chai partner from Iran turned Schumaker - the mercurial driver for all of us. Although others had valid licenses to drive in our respective countries, none of us has an European license eligible to drive in Europe. While all of us could only tender our moral support, Amir had to bear all the load to drive upon himself. With sleeping Guru (can sleep anytime anywhere) and red bull for his company he drove us all through Belgium, Germany, Austria and Luxembourg on the way back. "Recalculating! Recalculating!!!", the irritating words of the GPS lady could hardly piss him off and in all seriousness, we would not have moved an inch without our Messiah during the entire stretch of 2200kms. But, most striking fact was that after all the driving effort, he was invariably the first to wake us all up early in the morning to gear up for the day and meet our schedule.

Hari (The Travel Giant): Here is a Singaporean^ who motivates me for all the travel I am doing in and around Leuven. Imagine, this travel giant has been to 26-27 countries, probably even more than his age and with the passion he inculcates it's difficult if not impossible to beat him. I have already given up my chase :-( What strikes me the most though is not the number but the choice of places he travels to. He already has made his effort to witness Northen Polar Lights, the world wonder Aurora Borealis in Scandinavia. has set his foot steps in Latvia and Lithuania and also smallish Lichtenstein. has wondered around Egypt exploring Pyramids and temples. But probably the best of all has been to an exotic trip to Iceland and after all the planning he took all of us to another exotic place Canary Islands...

Lei (The Summa-cum-Laude): "I like...I like...", Lei kept on displaying her interests one after the other. "Flowers... I like, I like... lakes... I like, I like... Snow... I like, I like...."and the list goes on and on and on... "Is there anything that she does not like?", you start to wonder looking at an ever effervescent Lei. As you keep wondering, probably she keeps pondering about the assignment to be submitted/presentation to be prepared for the next week/month/year. Always focussed on things at hand, I did not take long to admire and appreciate why she is the Summa-cum-Laude of the class, a stupendous achievement indeed. For those who have more or less believed and obeyed minting the midnight Oil ahead of most of the exams, staying focussed all through the semester is an unknown virtue. But then some guys pass the course while others learn through the course and that's the key difference. Lei, to me, genuinely creates this difference in a positive way...

Group Picture in a Bedroom De Royale

Such an enthusiastic group meant the entire trip would be memorable for sure. Garmisch Partenkirchen is indeed one of the most exotic destinations on the German Austrian Border. Three castles (Herrenchiemsee, Frauenchiemsee and the famous Disney castle Neuschwanstein) built by (a mad) King Ludwig and the highest peak in Germany Zugspitze were the destinations of attraction. Catch more about sightseeing in this beautiful part of the world in the next part-II...

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* The city centers at the railway stations or city centers all over Europe have a Tourist Information Office and you can always plan your trip after reaching the venue. In my experience, I have not missed much on the way. Moreover, planning could be done sacrificing your work time and I am deadly against it. Work I believe has its own importance to maintain the equilibrium in life and I love to maintain it this way.

^ I call him Singaporean here only to give a true International flavor to the trip. He vehemently resisted it when I called him Singaporean for the first time. After knowing him for a while now, I have to take my words back. But then I soon realized that he calls himself Fifty-Fifty :-)

New Year's Walking Resolution

Chris Thomas, an entrepreneur from Bangalore is firm on his resolution to shed weight and stay healthy through walking: bangalore-man-plans-a-long-walk-to-lose-weight

His goal is to walk a stretch of 350kms from Bangalore to Chennai in a week, an arduous task indeed. The activity would certainly demand lots of heart and courage. To imagine the magnitude at stake, I personally must have walked around 450kms during all hikes in 2009 including 100km dodentocht in a day and Chris aims to finish the most of my yearly plan in a week of the calendar year, simply stupendous!!!

Even Our 100km walk looks a bit minuscule in front Chris's magnum opus. To frame an analogy: 350kms in a week literally sounds like Test Cricket when compared to our One Day dodentocht.

Wish you all the Luck Chris!!!