Saturday, February 16, 2008

Our Trip to Garmisch-Parkenkirchen - part 2

Day 2 - An Afternoon Trip to Mittenwald Mittenwald (Mitten-vald) is a small picturesque town 20 minutes outside of Garmisch. It is only 3 square km and packed with old world charm. We went into 4 Alpine villages during our trip and Mittenwald was our favorite. We loved it the minute we saw it and quickly parked the car and spent a little over an hour walking the streets and taking pictures.
Mittenwald ranks among the world’s major centers of violin making. There is a memorial to Mattias Klotz, a master violin maker who made Mittenwald the place to purchase a violin, right outside the Saints Peter and Paul Church, which was built in 1749.

We strolled the pedestrian precinct, a no-cars-allowed pavement and cobblestone street filled with cafes, shops, boutiques, restaurants, grocery stores and bakeries. The amazing thing about Mittenwald is that the houses are right behind, intermixed, and part of all the stores, restaurants, etc and they are all beautifully painted with flowerboxes overflowing. The painted facades are called Luftlmalereien, and date back to the 18th century and later. Most of the colorful paintings are based on biblical themes. Others depict hunting scenes or daily activity (like the mural pictured below).

And of course we had to pose for a couple of pictures. You can see the steeple of Saints Peter and Paul Church behind Brian. Luke and I are pictured on the small side street that the Violin Making Museum is on. The museum was closed for the day by the time we got to it.

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