Since moving to the south of Germany, I wanted to get to the top of the Zugspitze and take pictures of the alpine panorama. And so I did. I packed my Nikon F5 that I got only a short time before the trip, and took the cog railway to the top to enjoy the view. There was just a slight problem: There was no view. The peak was in the centre of a huge cloud. Visibility was about 10 meters, it was freezing cold (something around -14°C), it was windy and it was snowing.

I tried again. This time during the late summer. I packed the Fuji GW690 III (and a Leica M6), drove to the valley station of the Zugspitzbahn and took the new (amazing) cable car to the peak. The view, as you can see in the pictures, was near perfect. There was a lot of tourist traffic, but the renovated platform at the top of the mountain offers a lot of space. Only the passage to the Austrian side of the peak was a little crowded. Of course a beer garden up there is absolutely necessary. And of course they had to put it right where the passage is. Genius! 

I filled two roles of Fuji NPS 160 while running around. While the view is breathtaking, there is not that much to take pictures up there. There are mountains in nearly every direction, and the platform can be explored in a relatively short time.

A neat detail is the restaurant with the corner where you have an unobstructed view of the Alps. Just walk into the restaurant downstairs and find the area with waiters. Sit down at one of the tables right at the window and relax with some decent food. Heaven!

A visit to the Zugspitze, in case you are no mountaineer who likes to hike up 2000m to the top, will set you back a whopping 58€ per person (at the time of writing). Make sure you get your moneys worth by checking the weather and the webcam. If the stars are all aligned, I feel that this place is worth a visit.