Zugspitze, an amazing experience at the highest peak in Germany and a leisure walk at Zugspitzplatt

Travelling to Zugpitze from Munich by public transport was a little taxing but still very much worth it. We took the 7am train from Munich to Garmisch-Partenkirchen using our D-ticket. The train ride was comfortable but we had to do a bus transfer and another train ride. Despite the transfers we arrived at Garmisch on schedule. We dashed to do the Zugspitzbanhof to catch the cogwheel train at 09:15 am. We were at the station at 09:00 am however whilst there is no queue to buy the tickets there was already a long queue to the barriers (they will only let people in to the capacity of the train). It's an hourly train so I thought we would lose an hour to waiting but I guess they understood it's the peak season and therefore sent another train. We got on the train at 09:45 am. The ride was comfortable and very scenic however we had to transfer to another cogwheel train after several stops. Usually it's a sigle journey all the way up to summit base but apparently the train we got was only going up to a certain station (I can't recall whether it was at Hammersbach or Grainau). The announcement was all in German so we were a bit clueless about the transfer but there were helpful tourists who explained it to us (also when everyone vacates the train and you are the only ones left sitting is a very good clue).
The cogwheel train stopped at Eibsee where you have an option to catch the fast cable car to the summit (all included with your ticket) but I prefer to start at Zugpitzplatt as that is more open and you can explore your surronding and then go to the summit next as your pièce de résistance therefore we stayed on the train for the remainder of the trip (45 minutes from Eibsee to Zugspitzplatt via cogwheel train vs 15 minutes cable car ride and factor in 10 minutes waiting/ queing perhaps total of 25 minutes for the cable car to get to the summit).
The next stop after Eibsee is Riffelriß and from here on the journey was all in a tunnel. It was 25 minutes of riding through darkness which in my opinion is the only downside to taking the cogwheel train however for us it was a welcomed rest. The entire journey from Garmisch to Zugspitzplatt is an hour and 15 minutes.
It was around 11 am when we arrived at Zugspitplatt. It is such an amzing place. We walked up to the where the ice is and explored the area for a bit and soaked in all the beauty of nature that surrounded us. We had lunch at Sonnalpin restaurant which was surpiringly reasonably priced and the food was lovely.
We then took the cable car to Zugspitze. My immediate impression is the feeling of being enclosed within the building structure vs being out in the open at Zugspitzplatt. It also felt busier (since it is more compact I guess) The views from the top though is quite breath taking. We walked around and visited the Austrian side (the Austrain ticket offers free pass to an ice museum located below the deck). We took the fast cable car down (of course on the Bavarian side, the Austrian ticket is different) and got off at Eibsee to explore and swim on the lake next.
We had such a great time visiting Zugupitze.