It's Meme Time!!!

In a recent “Meme Tag” that I received from “da Local Girl” in Italy, I have been tasked (challenged!) to the following (verbage taken from Rubbahslippahsinitaly Blog:

Here are the instructions for this meme:
1. Dig into your blog archive.
2. Find your 23rd post or (closest to).
3. Find the 5th sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the entire text of the sentence along with these instructions.
Ponder it for meaning, subtext or hidden agendas...
5. Tag five people to do the same.

Ok Seestah...here is my “meme” response:

The 23rd post (or closest to) is from an August 2005 post... "Grand Duche de Luxembourg"

The 5th sentence (or closest to) is “During our trip to Trier we decided to take a drive to Luxembourg and revisit an area that my husband had once toured with his family some forty years ago!”

In “pondering” the “...meaning, subtext, or hidden agendas...”:
At the time of writing the entry, I did not think of any agenda(s) ..hidden or not. In reviewing the sentence, I can only say that if there were a "hidden agenda" then perhaps it might be to let the reader know that this same area was visited by my husband and his family many, many, many years ago...AND...as I am typing this now, perhaps to let the reader know that my husband has been fortunate to have traveled many a mile all over this great big world. He has seen and experienced places that some people only dream about. He is among those that can call themselves world travelers and is fortunate to “revisit” the place(s) of his boyhood travels and reflect upon where and what he has seen and done!

Whew! Interesting “...Meme...” Rowena!!! I am going to have to “stretch” to “...tag five people to do the same.” That said...
I tag Janice from SacraTomato, Sance from Michigan, Muley from Texas, Tiare or Tara from Hawai’i ala, Steve or Eva from Australia!

Garmisch

Castleberg on the way to Garmisch

Garmisch (cont)

One weekend, back in August actually, we decided to take a drive to Garmisch and do some exploring and visit some of the places Porter had visited as a young boy in the 1960's. The drive took us thru Bavaria, out of Germany and thru Austria (for just a short bit), and back thru Germany before reaching Garmisch. We drove past cities, villages, farmland, lakes, mountains (Alps), and through a neighboring country! Along the way, we were also treated to the occasional castle berg or Schloss.

Garmisch (cont)

Of course, after a long drive...we were famished to say the least! We happened upon the cafe above...but unfortunately (or "fortunately"??? ...check out the name!!) the cafe was closed!

Garmisch (cont)

We did stop in at Clausing's Post Hotel Restaurant/Cafe and had a wonderful lunch! This property has been around since at least 1639. According to our hostess, the hotel (in days gone by) was once a stopover for weary travelers. More recently the hotel has been taken over by new management and major renovations have been made. From what we could see, the property looks to be a delightful place to stay and is located right in the center of everything!

Garmisch (cont)

I know this dish looks to be a little "sloppy"...but OMG!!! It was so delicious! The sauce was so tasty and to "sop" it up with the homemade bread was just the thing to do!

Garmisch (cont)

This is what Porter ate-Zwiebelrostbraten mit hausgemachten Bratkartoffeln (pork with potatoes).

Garmisch (cont)

Once refreshed, we set out to explore the joint villages of Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Just about every building is painted with scenery of the area or some type of religious paintings. We became so accustomed to seeing this type of artwork on the buildings, that when came across a building with no decoration or painting whatsoever, we were instantly disappointed.

Garmisch (cont)

While staying in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, we decided to hike around the area directly behind our hotel and just happened upon this little pond. It was very picturesque, complete with the mountains (which you cannot see because of the low clouds), the forest, pond, and shack. The water was so clear, you could actually see these large fish swimming around! There was a German gentleman fishing just off to the right (I thought I had him in the frame when I snapped the photo, but alas! I did not!) He was dressed in the typical Bavarian gentleman's clothing-liederhosen, suede jacket, sweater, knee socks, boots, and a hat with a feather of some type in it. I wanted to take his picture when we passed close by, but was too embarrassed to do so (such as the "tourist" I am)!

Garmisch - Nature's Picture Frame

Nature's Picture frame - After departing Garmisch-Partenkirchen, we were not quite ready to call it a day. We were hoping to catch the cable car which would take us up to the Zugspite (Germany's highest mountain, 9,717 ft). The weather, however, proved to be a hindrance and the cars were not running this day.

Since we were at Lake Ebisee and even though it was raining, we decided to hike the entire lake! (We weren't going to let the rain "...rain our our parade...!!" The hike took us about 2 1/2 hours and afforded some of Mother Nature's most beautiful scenery! Above you can see that Mother Nature had made her own "frame" for this beautiful view of the lake.

Garmisch - cont

We were a bit "soaked" because the rain was continuous during the hike around the lake so we decided to stop at the Resort Cafe and have a snack and warm up a bit before departing for home. Some good German coffee and apfel strudel was just the thing to bring our energy levels back!

Garmisch (Then and Now)

In the early 1960's, Porter (my hubby) visited Lake Eibsee Resort with his family. Lake Eibsee is near the village(s) Garmish-Partenkirchen located in the Bavarian State of Germany. As stated earlier in one of my previous posts, we (the family) had heard so many stories of the Balanza's escapades while living in Germany that when we found out Porter would be working in Germany-our first thought(s) were of visiting the places the Balanza's had told us of in their many stories of Germany! It was (and is) an exciting and pivotal time in their lives (and now ours)!

As you can see from the pictures above...Porter has changed (somewhat...) and the resort has pretty much remained the same! While it may seem "unfair" to some that the years have "creeped" up on Porter and the resort has remained the same...the one thing that has not changed for Porter is the many fond boyhood memories that he holds in his heart!