Germany, Day 2

As I mentioned in my first post about Germany, our trip seemed to have a World War II theme, and many of the places on our trip were repeats from my first journey over the pond. 

Except for our second day in Germany, that is. We were staying in Munich, which is not far from the Austrian border. I had visited Salzburg before {for all The Sound of Music glory, of course}, but I had not made it to Berchtesgaden because it is closed during the winter months until May and the timing just didn't work out. 

But Audra and I made a point to see Hitler's Eagle's Nest this time around. It only seemed fitting with the rest of our trip. We took the train from Munich to Berchtesgaden {and apparently overpaid for our tickets, according to the conductor on the train}. We had some time before our tour started, and so we walked around near the train station. Berchtesgaden is in the Bavarian Alps, and so we had some spectacular views as we waited for the tour to start.

If you ever get a chance to visit this area, I highly recommend the Eagle's Nest Historical Tour. Our tour guide, David, was amazing. The first part of our tour was a bus ride up the mountain to Obersalzburg, a tiny town above Berchtesgaden. As we drove up, David pointed out the different buildings that had once housed some of the highest ranking men on Hitler's staff. Unfortunately for us, it was a bit cloudy, so any gaps in the clouds were immediately taken advantage of.

At Obersalzburg, we went through one of the bunker systems carved into the mountain. The entrance was through an information center on World War II, which proved very interesting. The one point that I found most impressive was the idea that the Germans didn't talk about Hitler after the war. It wasn't until the last twenty years or so that even images of him began to be released. It seems strange that, here in America, we have been inundated with Hitler and his Nazi regime in so many ways. Holocuast literature is one of the most popular genres, with everything from Number the Stars to Night,  and Maus to The Book Thief. Then you have movies and shows and even episodes of The Twilight Zone, where the spirit of Hitler is helping Dennis Hopper spread his neo-Nazi agenda. It seems that we keep reminding ourselves of what he did to prevent it from happening again, and even though the German people felt the same way, they went about it differently. 

The bunker system was amazingly intricate. It was intended to be an air raid shelter, a place for Hitler and his staff to plan, and a refuge for Hitler and his fellow Third Reich leaders. 

The final destination on the tour was also the highest. We took a bus up to the Eagle's Nest. The entire trip was a well-oiled machine. We went up the mountain on a one lane road, and as we went up, we came to places where there were buses pulled over, waiting to go down. Everything was perfectly synchronized. When we got to the top, we weren't even all the way to the top. Standing where the bus left us, we could look up and still see the Eagle's Nest hovering above us. We walked down a tunnel that was exactly 1834 meters long. The light fixtures and everything were the same ones Hitler had used. This tunnel was how his guests would arrive. Their chauffeurs would drive down the tunnel and then back out, turn around, and then back back down the tunnel, so they could drive straight out once they had picked up their guests. Let's hope that sentence made sense. 

After walking down the tunnel, we boarded the original brass elevator to take us up to the tea room built for Hitler for his 50th birthday. The elevator goes up 1834 meters {the same distance as the tunnel}. We went through the building, stopped at the famous windows where there were many photos of Hitler taken, and then went outside. And then it became very clear why Hitler loved this spot. On one side of the building, you looked down the mountain to the German city of Berchtesgaden. On the other side, the Austrian city of Salzburg. Hitler, who wanted to unit all the German speaking peoples of Europe, found great meaning in this place, being an Austrian citizen. 

I have to say, if I were planning on taking over the world, I'd want to do it from a place with a view like this. One of the people from our tour was from Australia, and he remarked to my sister, as he was frantically taking pictures of the view, that they don't have mountains like this in Australia. We also met a guy from New Zealand on our tour--it was amazing how many people were there from all over the world! 

While we were going down the mountain, we saw some goats on the mountainside. Wearing bells. So adorable! We were able to walk around downtown Munich some. We got to see the Glockenspiel in Marienplatz at the New Town Hall building, although it wasn't doing its animatronic thing.

We went into the Hofbrauhaus but didn't end up eating there. The wait would have been ridiculous, so after taking some pictures, we went across the street for some American Cuisine at the Hard Rock Cafe. 

Only one more country to go--I have hardly mentioned our time in England! That'll be coming soon, I promise! 

~Stay Gold!