Oct 26

It was a cold and overcast day and we decided to visit the resort town of Obertsdorf which is the southernmost city in Germany,  It was only a 1/2 hour drive along country roads to the town, but unfortunately the low cloud cover blocked the views of the mountains.  The town had a few old and frescoed buildings but it's main focus is being a hiking and snow ski town.  Instead of rows of beer halls, there were rows of ski equipment, sport clothing and winter clothing stores.  The hiking is almost done because the temperatures are close to freezing and it hasn't snowed so skiing isn't in season yet.  The town was fairly crowded however.  Being a resort town, prices were high.  We drove around the periphery of the town and it is filled with condos and ski chalets.  One thing we noticed on the drive in and out of the area is that there are dozens of ski areas, almost one every 2 kilometers.  Instead of being massive ski slopes like Aspen or Vail, there are a multitude of smaller ones all around the area with bus service servicing them all.  Many Germans arrive by train because parking is expensive and inconvenient.  It wasn't the quaint Bavarian town the brochures described so we headed away.  The next town, Fischen, had a nice old church but everything else was condo row.  We drove back to Oberstaufen and had a wonderful Bavarian lunch of potato soup and a mixed plate of cold cuts & local Allgäu cheese and local wine.  Most Americans think of German white wine as being sweet like the Rieslings, but most Germans drink a dry white similar to Pino Grigio or Chardonnay.  The local red & white wines we had were dry and very good and cost about $4.50 for an 8 ounce glass.  We went back to our room and packed up for the next day's drive and had the remaining food in the refrigerator for dinner.