I've wanted to go to Hitler's Eagle's Nest since Nathan and I watched Band of Brothers a while back. The ending of the last episode takes place there and it's so beautiful and a really interesting piece of history. When we found out we would be leaving Germany in June, I put Berchtesgaden (the area in which the Eagle's Nest is found) as a have-to-see-before-we-leave. We planned the trip for the 4-day in May because we knew we needed warm weather for it to be worthwhile and enjoyable. Despite our planning, we still received awful weather the whole weekend we were there. Raining, cloudy, dreary, freezing, and snowing atop the Kehlstein mountain. Ugh. We still had a good time, but visiting the Eagle's Nest was a little miserable.
above & below: views from our hotel room
view into the valley
This picture doesn't do it justice. It's so pretty.
On Friday, we ate lunch at an Italian restaurant and then walked around downtown some more. We made reservations for Saturday night at a German restaurant to ensure we had a table to watch the Champions League final - Borussia Dortmund v. Bayern Munich. We took a bus from in front of the main train station, which was built during World War II, to the Koenigssee and took a boat ride across.
inside the Italian restaurant
building on the right: where we made reservations to watch the game
above & below: World War II memorial
above, below & following: Koenigssee
waterfall
On Saturday, we went up to the Eagle's Nest. We drove up a portion of the mountain, then had to park and take a bus up the rest of the way. As I said, it was snowing at the top of the mountain. We were slipping all over the snow/ice while trying to see everything. We ate lunch in the restaurant in the Kehlsteinhaus, which was pretty cool, but we had to hurry because we had to catch the bus going back down the mountain, to where we had parked our car. We then visited the Obersalzburg Documentation Center, which is a museum constructed on top of/in an old Nazi bunker. After visiting that, we took a nap at our hotel, then ventured back into downtown. We arrived at the restaurant an hour prior to our reservation, but the waitress said she could seat us anyway. While we waited for our table to be ready, Nathan went to the bathroom and I made some new friends! A couple had walked in and we struck up conversation because they thought I worked there. It turned out they were Americans, Texans at that! and were hoping to watch the game as well. When the waitress came back, she said she had our table but that it was large, so we invited our new friends, Alan & Julia, to share it with us. We had a great time watching the game with them and chatting about all things travel and soccer related.
restaurant in the Eagle's Nest
Nathan, Me, Julia & Alan
the tunnel leading to the elevator which takes you up to the Eagle's Nest
small circular room just outside the elevator
The red Italian marble fireplace was a gift from Mussolini. Allied soldiers chipped pieces off of it to take home as souvenirs.
You can barely see the Eagle's Nest through the snow on top the mountain.
We found this picture of Hitler from the Documentation Center humorous.
the door leading into the bunker
date etched into the wall: May 5, 1945
gun firing ports
view of the stairs through the gun firing points
Nathan, Me, Julia & Alan
On Sunday, we drove across the German/Austrian border to Salzburg. As it was a Sunday, most everything was closed. We walked around the city a while, then stopped in a small cafe. Nathan had iced coffee and I had black tea, which came with rock candy as a stirrer - fun! We ate lunch and enjoyed a brief walk through Mirabell Gardens. You know, from The Sound of Music : ) That evening, after driving back to our hotel, we went to the nearby town of Bad Reichenhall so I could get a massage and Nathan could do some therapy in the heated pool. Afterwards, we had a huge dinner at a Italian restaurant not far from the baths/spa.
the Italian restaurant we ate dinner at
the Italian restaurant we ate dinner at
On Monday, we made a detour on our drive back to Heidelberg and stopped to see Neuschwanstein Castle. Nathan had been reluctant to drive so far out of the way, but it really ended up being worth it. The day was beautiful, perfect for sightseeing, and therefore made up some for the weather that ruined the first part of our trip. At first, we waited in line for tickets to go into the castle, but after getting close enough to read the ticket signs above the counter, we realized we were going to be required to join a guided tour group and that the next available English tour was a few hours away. We didn't have all afternoon to wait around, so we skipped buying the ticket to go inside the castle and opted to just take the bus and see the outside. We ended up only making it as far as Queen Mary's Bridge because the view from there was enough. Absolutely beautiful! After eating lunch in the village below the castle, we completed our trip back to Heidelberg.
in the distance
Hohenschwangau Castle: the childhood residence of King Ludwig II, who later built Neuschwanstein Castle
view from the village below
forest & waterfall near the bridge
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