Partnach Gorge

After a knee shaking fabulous morning up in the Alps we headed over to the Olympic Ski Stadium. There are two stadiums so don't get confused, it was the SKI stadium where we needed to park not the Ice! Both were quite impressive though.  We took a nice walk to the Gorge, they say it is about a 30 min walk but it did not seem to take quite so long and as we headed over a hill where heard wonderful bells.....all the sheep had there little bells singing as they munched on the grass.

you can see Dave up ahead

Once at the opening, you pay a few Euros and head in. Spectacular...the winding and weaving - some parts in total darkness.  I can only imagine how beautiful it must be in the winter when all the water freezes and makes gorgeous icicles; however, the ground was very wet and very narrow and on a one person path, I am not sure how steady I would be in the ice!  We got there late in the day so we had it mostly to ourselves. Again when everyone is there I imagine it would be a bit of pain to stop and photograph, with people trying to pass you. We did it perfect, no rush just fun!

notice just how tall the walls are!

The Gorge was formed by a mountain stream, the Partnach, in the Reintal Valley in southern Germany. The Gorge is 2,305 ft long and 262 feet high.

you could hardly hear yourself talk for the rushing water

narrow path in almost total darkness - water drips from everywhere

after ducking through pitch black paths the path widens and we see some light!

when the sky breaks through the rock it is GORGEOUS

now back to the car!

So now to our hotel, tired but still giddy from the day's adventures.  Off to the Castle tomorrow, and oh what a day it will turn out to be!
And just in case you wonder (like I did ) just what it would look like in January.....Oh to come back!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/29/Partnachklamm_rb.jpg/400px-Partnachklamm_rb.jpg
photo by Richard Bartz 2009