under the gaze of Karwendel in Mittenwald

Mittenwald from above with Karwendel in the background.  This is a beautiful village just north of the Austrian border.  Here's what Wikipedia has to say about Mittenwald.

The area was not only historically important as a trading route, but fiddlers around the world know Mittenwald as a place where they make excellent string instruments.

If you look in the lower right-hand corner of the photo, you can see a relief of just such a fiddle.  They've been doing this a while.

I also like the owl with the book in the lower left-hand corner.  Wisdom and all that.

Here's a nicer photo of Karwendel.  The mountain looks down on all that happens here.  The motto on the website of the village is 'Urlaubstraum unterm Karwendel' (Holiday Dream under Karwendel).

Here are two signs that mean exactly the some thing.  The Bavarian one (with the blue and white striped pole) says 'national border', while the Austrian one (in red and white) is a bit more ominous with its 'pay attention: national border' warning.  It's possible the Austrians know something the rest of us don't.

This has little to do with the village of Mittenwald, but it was such a nice waterfall I had to include it.

There are so many of these beautiful balconies with beautiful flower arrangements.  I could fill entire blogposts with just photos of them.  But that'd get a little boring after a while. Instead, I'll include one or two when appropriate.

And here's a statue celebrating the village's above-mentioned history of instrument manufacture.  Quite a nice memory, eh?  The reflection on the neck impressed me especially.

Roman Catholic church of Saints Peter and Paul

And here's one last photo of a beautiful couple of balconies, a maypole on the right and Karwendel looking down on everything.