We’re literally greeted with this amazing view when we stepped out of our room for breakfast! What a very pleasant surprise! It must have snowed overnight….
Our table was nicely set up
Love this cozy little restaurant
Had our free flow breakfast slowly on a dreamy snowy morning
For us who are from a tropical island, this is definitely not a common experience. Nice breakfast, great ambience and wonderful view. And the lady chef said it’s actually kind of early to be snowing that much at that time of the year.
After a super enjoyable breakfast, we went for a short walk just outside the hotel.
Back at Quartier…
Awesome Quartier 👍
We reached Munich past noon and after a quick stop back at our hotel, we went for lunch and coffee. And did some last minute shopping on our last evening in Europe.
It was a great, great winter holiday. Feeling truly satisfied and thankful especially during this pandemic time.
Well, I must say these fabulous experiences and fond memories are enough to make up for this lengthy period of no travels 💕
It’s another early morning, left hotel just before 7am to catch the 7.32am train to Garmisch-Partenkirchen for a 2D1N stayover. So for that night, we double booked accommodation for ourselves – our room in Munich (so we didn’t need to pack/move our luggage) and a room in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
Ginger bread we bought from the Christmas Market
Enjoying the marvellous scenery during the 1h20m train ride.
Collected the KLOOK cable car / cogwheel train tickets (which we purchased the day before we left for our Europe holiday) at Zugspitzbahnhof Garmisch-Partenkirchen. It’s a very short walk from Garmisch-Partenkirchen train station to Zugspitzbahnhof, contrary to what we read on google map.
On the cogwheel train, going up to Zugspitze
First stop upon arrival ~ Sonn Alpin 2600m. Hot soup as light lunch to warm our body.
Lunch at Panorama Lounge 2962, at the top of Germany @3,000m above sea level. We liked the view so much that we stayed there for a good 2 hours.
We’re at the Summit!
Waiting for the cable car
On the way to Lake Eibsee
Beautiful Lake Eibsee
Back to Zugspitze station and walking to the hotel
Arrived at Quartier, a very cool hotel, after a 10-min walk from the station. Waiting to check in and we could only do it between 3pm and 8pm.
Nice view of the Bavarian alps along the corridor, just in front of our room.
Long wooden passage to the bedroom from the entrance
We turned this small bedroom into our walk-in wardrobe
A loft above the bed to enjoy the beautiful views
Quartier – lodges
Shortly after checking in, we went for a walk in the vicinity
The small Christmas Market
Afternoon tea time!
Supermarket search
Packed our dinner on our way back to Quartier
Bought a SGD 10+ rosé Cava from the supermarket to pair with my pulled pork burger and his sausage burger. Craved for some hot clear soup on a chilly night too. Glad that we bought some instant miso paste sachet from home 🙂
We didn’t know toothbrush & toothpaste weren’t provided. So this and our index fingers were our dental kit.
On the following day, we made a day trip to Hallstatt. Left the hotel just before 6am in order to catch the 6.23am train from Munich to Hallstatt.
No time to grab breakfast so got ourselves some bites & a coffee on the train
Enjoyed the beautiful scenery on our way to Hallstatt
After 4h24min and 2 changes of train, we finally arrived. And we’ve taken the shortest train route (Munich / Salzburg / Attnang-Puchheim / Hallstatt).
Upon reaching Hallstatt train station, we took a ferry (payment made on the spot to the ferry operator before boarding) to bring us across the Hallstatt lake to its town. That’s where all activities take place and restaurants / cafes / shops are located at.
Had early lunch at Seehotel Grüner Baum once arrived in Hallstatt.
Enjoying lunch and the captivating view of Lake Hallstatt. It’s so good.
Very lovely Christmas decor
Right after lunch, we went to the most famous viewpoint of Hallstatt for social check-in 📸
Beautiful Hallstatt. An item checked in my bucket list 📝
Walked around Hallstatt market square and the Christmas market which coincidentally was only held for that weekend.
It’s time for afternoon tea.
It didn’t take us too long to walk from the market square to the other end and we made 3 rounds in total! Just wanted to indulge in the beautiful lake view and its environs within that few hours when we’re there.
Had another mulled wine before taking the last departing ferry.
Was attracted to this mobile wood fired oven on our way to the jetty.
After spending 8 hours in Hallstatt, we took the last ferry back to the train station where we disembarked our train journey to Munich. It’s already 11pm when we reached hotel. 8 hours in Hallstatt and 8 hours spent on train rides, totally worth it.
We’re happy to have made the decision to stay in a hotel that’s close to Munich main station / central station. Eurostars Book Hotel offered us no-frills accommodation and I didn’t like the cold ambience I felt when we arrived at the hotel lobby (daylight bulbs used & ceramic looking white tiles) and then the room (daylight bulbs again with tiled flooring). Breakfast was considered good with pretty varied spread but the restaurant was very small and our chairs were often hit by other guests who tried to squeeze through to get to the breakfast spread.
Nevertheless, just its strategic location was able to redeem all the negative points we experienced there. It’s less than 10 minutes by foot (550m away) to Munich Central Station and we walked to Marienplatz (Munich’s main square) every day. It’s a good 1.4km but didn’t feel at all that it’s a long route due to the good weather.
So if given a choice again, I think we would still go for it due to its location and the very reasonable room rate we enjoyed (corporate rate of €118nett).
There was only the 4 of us but not that easy to find a suitable place to stay.
– Sis does not want to share room with mom who snores. – I want a walk-in shower; I do not need a bathtub. It was due to a bad experience more than 15 years ago during one of my work trips in France, I slipped while trying to get out of the bathtub after a shower. I did save myself from falling by desperately grasping some poles/door frame to stabilize but in the process, sprained my back. So NO showers in bathtub for me. – Since I have had such bad experience before, I would want mom and sis to avoid such accidents too, especially for the 80-year old. Many 3 bedroom houses/apartments that I found came with only 1 to 1.5 bathroom or one of the bathrooms with shower in bathtub. To find one with 2 walk-in showers, well.. it was quite a challenge.
So with the above requirements (plus the other usual ones like parking in premise, etc), we finally chose this house which is too huge for the 4 of us 😅
Master Bedroom
Very spacious bathroom in the master bedroom
Bedroom 2 & 3
The bathroom shared by bedroom 2 & 3
Entertainment room
There was also a laundry room, a big, clean garage (opposite of the one we had in Sydney) and the third toilet (without shower facility) on ground floor.
We stayed at Madera Hollywood in Central which is an all-suite hotel with only 38 units in total.
Given its excellent location, this room size is actually a luxury. The only drawback would be the tiny hotel lobby, it is about two-third of our living room size.
But the 4-day comfort & convenience we enjoyed had exceedingly made up for its small lobby.
The washer/dryer is nicely tucked behind the big white cabinet door next to the main door
Strangely, there is only 1 bar stool
Spacious shower cubicle
Complimentary mini bar including some chips & nuts
KellyL's world 