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| Emily enjoying the scenery when the rain finally stopped and the sun came out. |
From Munich we rented a car (Europcar) and drove two hours south to Berchtesgaden in the German Alps. It is right on the Austrian border, 30 minutes from Salzburg.
Tip: at the rental car place, the clerk asked if we were leaving Germany and I said no. I didn’t realize that the highway would take us into and then out of Austria (maybe 10-15 minutes total). When we exited the highway (still in Austria), we and a few other cars were flagged to pull over and we were slapped with a 120 Euro fine for driving in Austria without a sticker in the windshield. I asked where to get a sticker and was told any gas station for 10 Euros I could get a 10-day sticker. We got one for the return drive!
Berchtesgaden was a mixed bag—my daughter really wanted to visit Hilter’s mountaintop house and so I rearranged the trip and took out a visit to Heidelberg so we could go here. The house is one of the only remaining structures that was a personal possession of the Nazi high command, and it was called Kehlsteinhaus at the time. It is located at the top of the mountain, Obersalzberg. In the picture below, you can see it perched on top of the mountain. It basically has a cafe and a hall with about a dozen images with descriptions. So, I booked a tour that was highly recommended as providing more info than we would get just visiting on our own.
Sunday, just before we left Munich, I got an email saying that there was going to be a train/bus strike starting Sunday night that would impact tours on Monday (our day) and Tuesday because the only way to visit is to take a bus to the elevator that you then ride to the top. Since we had reservations in Berlin on Wednesday, we said we couldn’t rebook and decided to visit as soon as we arrived in Berchtesgaden on Sunday while the buses were still running. We did just that and visited the site in the cold rain and couldn’t see any of the views from the top because we were in a cloud.
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| A map of Obersalzburg showing the Eagle’s Nest perched at the top. |
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| What it looks like not covered in clouds. |
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| The cafe in the former dining hall. |
The following day we visited the Berchtesgaden National Park, including Konigsee (Kings Lake), which is like an inland fjord, and in the afternoon the sun finally came out and we enjoyed some wonderful mountain scenery.
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| Konigsee |
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| Requisite photo of flowers near the Berchtesgaden parking lot. |
We are glad we visited and saw the historical site and especially glad we got to enjoy some refreshing mountain air after all our time spent in cities.
Speaking of cities…next stop is Berlin.
What an interesting experience, though not ideal circumstances. Seems there are strikes everywhere right now. Wishing you continued fun and safe travels to Berlin.
ReplyDeleteSo did the mountaintop house have any historic eerie feel to it? Too bad about the rain. And who knew about the Austria sticker. My husband just finished a book called On Hitler's Mountain by Irmgard A. Hunt. Whoa it seems pretty potent. I plan to read it sometime. You might have seen that book there - the author grew up in Berchtesgarden. Enjoy your trip!
ReplyDeleteThe Eagle's Nest definitely felt historic--not much has changed since the pictures from the 1940s, and I had recently read some books in which heads of state where escorted to the mountaintop for intimidation, so walking through the tunnel and riding the elevator up was a bit eerie.
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