Hi there Kids!

It's great to be able to welcome you in Grainau, our Alpine adventure village for kids and parents ! My name is Waxl, which stands for the two Waxenstein peaks you can see towering above Grainau. I want to show you all of the fun and exciting things you can do while you are in our little alpine village called Grainau!

Let's go on a short tour of the village first. We can start by going to the Tourist-Information office and picking up the children's vacation program, information from
A to Z for all in the family, and maybe the hiking pass. There, you will also find the "Zugspitzbad Grainau", a water park with an indoor pool and outdoor pool, a giant slide of 64 meters, which is the same as 210 feet or 70 yards, a fun playground called a children's play castle, swings, a giant octopus and a giant worm, a pool for infants and moms, another one for little kids and infants – all you need for a fun day and just the right place to make new friends!

If the weather isn't all that good, you can go over to the children's playroom in Grainau Kurhaus . There, you will find lots of books (some in German, some in English), games and even a small farm that we have put up for you.

Book worms can come to our library from 09:00 to 11:00 AM and 16:00 (4:00 PM) to 18:00 (6:00 PM)Tuesdays and 16:00 (4:00 PM) to 18:00 (6:00 PM) Thursdays.

You will find an adventure playground behind the parking lot across from the building housing the pool park and Tourist-Information. You might also enjoy mini-golf, which you can play on the lot at the corner where the small road from the pool park merges with Waxensteinstrasse street. Here, you can also play table tennis (ping-pong) or table soccer and get a snack at the "Kiosk".

You may also want to go the "Zugspitzbahn", which is the station where you can board a train that will take you to Garmisch-Partenkirchen or to just under the top of Germany's highest peak, the Zugspitze. Yes, can you imagine a train climbing up a steep mountain and going through a long tunnel? If the weather is good, you and your parents can take a short lift to the very top of the mountain and look in all directions for a distance of up to 200 kilometers or 124 miles, which is pretty far, even for a crow to fly! And just imagine: You can see into two other countries - Austria and Italy - from here with your naked eyes!

Back in Grainau, we can continue walking uphill from the "Zugspitzbahn" station, where we will find a very old, but new-looking Catholic church with elaborate Baroque decorations inside and a small terraced cemetery, the primary school and then the gym. From there, we can keep on walking uphill to Neuneralm, an alpine restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating situated in the middle of an alpine pasture. You can find a water game near a small creek on the way up.

In the resort park (in German, "Kurpark"), there is a small duck pond with a fountain. Right next to that, you there is an ice-cold therapeutic wading pool called a "Kneipp-
becken". Your Mom and Dad might want to wade through it after a walk or a hike. You might even want to try and see if you can stand the ice-cold water. But, leave me out – that's too cold, plus my fur gets all wet!

Now, we can walk down to the lower village plaza, which is called "Untergrainau".
We can go to the post office, which is in a small store, and mail our postcards and buy all sorts of fun souvenirs, plus maps and guides for our vacation in Grainau. After that, I hope Mom or Dad will buy us an ice-cream cone at the Italian ice-cream parlor!

If you want to see one of the prettiest lakes in the world, you can come up to an alpine lake called Eibsee with me. Maybe we can even go out on one of the peddle boats with slides. Our parents can peddle and we can slide into the fresh mountain water! Or we can rent a rowboat. Afterwards, we can get a bite to eat in the pavilion right next to the water. And then we can walk uphill next to the parking lot to get to the wonderful playground at the Eibsee-Alm restaurant.
Back down in Grainau, we can look for a tiny emerald-green lake called Badersee. Here we can rent a rowboat and see if we can find the mermaid who lives at the bottom of the crystal-clear water.

Well, I guess I've told you all you need to know, although I'm sure you will find lots of other exciting things to do!

Here's wishing you lots of fun and new friends in Grainau in the Bavarian Alps,

your new friend in Grainau,
Waxl the bear from the Waxenstein peaks