Sunday, June 9th , 2024: The breakfast buffet at the Le Meridien, once again, was excellent. Everyone checked out, luggage was loaded into our luggage van, and we departed.
We first drove through the tunnel towards Esslingen, then along the Neckar River and to the A-8. We made our first pit stop at the Gruibingen Rest Stop. Everyone became familiar with the coin-operated WC turnstiles! We continued on the A-8 to the A-7 and south to have lunch at the scenic Hotel Schlossanger Alp. Lunch was superb, as always, and we continued our drive to our afternoon traditional pit-stop in Bschlabs: Gasthof zur Gemütlichkeit. I called ahead and they had Apfelstrudel, Espressos, and Cappuccinos ready for us.
After the break, we headed to the Hahntennjoch alpine pass only to be greeted by Mother Nature’s first “gotcha” — a red light and a “gesperrt” sign. This winter the Hahntennjoch had the heaviest snowfall ever with seven meters of snow – about 21 ft.! This weakened the hillsides. Apparently, there was heavy rain last night and several rockslides thundered down, blocking part of the road. Thus, we had to turn around and go back down to Reutte and turn south to the Fernpass. We crossed over the Bavarian Alps to Imst, Austria. We made a quick pit stop at the Zugspitzblick Rest Stop just before the zenith of the pass. We then got onto the Austrian Autobahn – a rather slow 130 km/h speed limit. We got off at Telfs Ost and headed up to the spectacular Hotel Interalpen Tirol.
As always, the service at the hotel was superb. Even the Porsches were pampered in the hotel’s exquisite garage! Everyone’s luggage was in their room. Given the delay, I had called the hotel and moved dinner to 7:30. A delicious dinner at a beautifully set table adjacent to the Wintergarten was enjoyed by all. Everyone was in awe of the alpine views from their rooms.