Excursion to Bavarian Alps

On our third day in Munich, we decided to rent a car and do some outdoor exploring in the Bavarian Alps.

Keith and our ride for the day, a sleek BMW convertible.

Das Autobahn!

We drove about an hour south to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, a small Bavarian town near the German-Austrian border.

We hiked about 30 minutes to Partnachklamm, or Partnach gorge, on the edge of Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Our rain jackets really came in handy.

There is a narrow path carved along the edge of the gorge with amazing waterfall views.

Our path ended at this stream on the other side of the gorge.

The Bavarian Alps from the car.

After hiking Partnachklamm, we drove another 30 minutes northwest to the town of Andechs and visited the Kloster Andechs, or the Andechs Monastery. The grounds of this Benedictine monastery were absolutely stunning! The monks have been brewing their own beer for centuries (this is Germany, people!) and it is quite possibly the best beer I’ve ever tasted!

The monastery sits on a hill overlooking the rest of Andechs.

The monastery biergarten.

You could get pretzels at all the biergartens we went to, and they were always this large!