Felicia and I with Buca enjoying a relaxing dinner in downtown Garmisch shortly after we arrived. Yes, that is a chocolate sunday on my plate. ;-)

As time passed Buca's internal clock told him it was time for bed. Wish I could just sleep anywhere like that.

Taking a cue from the little boy, we decided it was time to head back to the hotel and rest up before our big hike. He groggily looked up as soon as I began to stand.

Sunrise, Saturday morning from the Eastern window of our room.

And the same sunrise looking out the Western window of our room.

My first picture from our hike... looking down over Garmisch and Partenkirchen.

Not long into our hike we ran into some cattle crossing the path. Most had crossed to the left side, but there was one straggler taking his time.

The straggler was still close to the path when we passed... All of us but Buca, that is. He didn't pass. He just stopped cold.

He looked at me and then at the "monster". He wasn't about to come close to this beast that was *far* bigger than the trash can at the Hotel. ;-) So I carried him the few meters it took to pass the "menacing" enemy.

At the mid-way cafe we caught our first glimpse of what soon became a swarm of parasailors.

My officemate Corby scoped the scenery and the parasailors from the rail of the mid-way cafe.

Then he took a pic of Felicia, Buca and I... oh yeah, and I guess there were some mountains around too. ;-)

At the mid-way cafe we hopped the cable car to the top because I just couldn't hike it anymore. This is the southern view toward Switzerland from the mountaintop.

Some passersby were kind enough to take a group shot of us at the top. Buca was more interested in the moutains than in the camera... but who wouldn't be?

On the Western side of the summit, we came across the parasailors' preferred launching spot... Of course, Buca had to run right up and investigate this.

Here Corby and Felicia look on as we witness our first lift off.

They pull the parasail toward them so it lifts just off the ground. Then they run off the side of the mountain. ;-)

Up, up, and away...

We took the cable car down the mountain and drove to a nearby gorge called "Partnachklamm". This is the path down to the gorge.

The low light made for some very nice long exposure shots. And I only had my point & click elph... no tripod, no SLR, no lenses.

I put Buca in the pack because it was quite narrow with a long drop into freezing rapids, but he was still bounding with energy. I think he was the only one! ;-)

I had to keep looking up to remind myself that the tunnels and glowing teal water were actually real and not part of some Disney ride.

The point & click elph amazed me in its ability to capture this water dripping and misting down from the top of the gorge.

Again the elph impressed me with some fantastic long exposure shots of the rushing water.

Here we were coming out of one of the tunnels into a slightly wider portion of the gorge.

Wow... God's art is just awe inspiring.

At the end of the river path we hiked up to the top and returned along the hiking trails at the top. Here we caught the "pre-Alps" adorned with the rosy glow of sunset.

Felicia snapped a picture of Buca and I against the sunset lit mountains. Once again, Buca was more interested in the mountains than the camera...

So we tried again to get Buca's attention. It almost worked... at least he's looking at scenery that is somewhat in the direction of the camera this time. ;-)

I really liked the contrasting shades of these cascading mountains.

Here our trail intersected with the gorge, in the form of a small wooden bridge... good thing I have no problem with heights. ;-)

Here we are back at the beginning and you can see on the left the original path we took into the gorge.