We first met Gertrud last July when we were in Munich to attend the Passion Play in Oberammergau. Like many of our friends, the connection begins with our longtime neighbor and friend from Boston. Peggy Scott. Peggy gave us an email introduction to Sigi and Paul when we were in London in 2018. From that connection we have gone on to meet a host of other people from all over the world. Gertrud is Sigi’s aunt who he is quite close to. We were in Gertrud’s home for brunch when the Braverman’s were with us. We had meant to get together with Gertrud earlier but she had an old email address which did not connect and we were too busy to contact her. Sigi finally pushed us to get together and we have been out to dinner once and now she has planned a hike for us. Gertrud is quite the hiker having done two Camino de Santiagos and innumerable hikes throughout Europe.
We met Gertrud at our Mangfallplatz Ubahn station at 0725 to ride to Hauptbahnof which is Munich’s main railway station where we boarded the train for a one hour scenic ride to Tegernsee. From the station we walked through town to the trail. Fortunately the rain let up for our hike.This is a resort town on the shore of Tegernsee. Surrounding it is a forested valley in the Bavarian Alps, laced with ski trails and footpaths.The town has lovely wooden homes that are beautifully landscaped with whimsical decor. That is a wooden horse, the homes overlook a streaming brook with numerous mini-waterfalls meant to slow the flow. Gertrud chose for us to do the Riederstein Trail which is rated both as easy and moderately difficult. We prefer the latter rating.The gravel path started out with a gentle incline.It got gradually steeper as we turned into a beautiful wooded trail.We hiked for an hour uphill.We took many brief rest breaks and just enjoyed the nature around us. Since it was an early Monday morning we saw very few people making for a peaceful, quiet hike.This was our first refreshment break where we had fresh squeezed OJ, coffee and delicious apple strudel.We could see our destination from this vantage point. This is the steeple of the chapel which is our destination.Translates, Red Fox Siggi lives here. We did not see him during our hike, but he may have seen us!After one hour or so we could make a decision to chose an easy path or a more steep one called; “Way of the Cross” which tells the story of Jesus’ last walk to the crucifixion, aka by catholics as the stations of the cross.We opted for the more challenging route which involved walking straight up 533 stairs. This is the first station of the Cross.Up up we went as we knew the views would be well worth our effort.And as you can see our efforts did not disappoint and was worth the 60 minutes of straight up hiking/stair climbing.This small, Neo-gothic chapel is situated on a 1,207 meter-high rock.It is so tiny only 2-3 people can fit inside. People have written messages in the book and have left behind prayer cards and pictures of deceased loved ones. Many were very young.On our way down Gertrude pointed out this plant which she said was from prehistoric dinosaur age and it was at one time a tree.More Whimsical Garden ornaments. Paper mache frogs.The first real permanent habitation in Tegernsee came in the 8th century, when monks from St Gallen Switzerland founded the Benedictine monastery. After the defeat of Napoleon, the abbey fell into the hands of the Wittelsbach ruling family of Bavaria where it remains today. The Tegernsee itself was formed during the expansions and contractions of the glaciers during the various ice ages.We had a well deserved local brew and some excellent Bavarian food at this restaurant next to the Abbey Church before we took our weary bodies back to the train station to make our way home to Munich. 12 Miles was the total mileage door to door. We would like to extend a special thank you to Gertrud for planning and executing this very special and memorable day and hike. We feel very blessed for the friends we have gathered on this journey of our lives.
What a beautiful hike! Always impressed at the fun things you find to do and the friends you meet to do it with. Hope you’re having a fantastic summer.
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