Day 17 - Eagles nest and Berchtesgaden

Monday we skipped breakfast (sort of, left over pizza) to get an early start driving up to Eagle's Nest, Kehlsteinhaus. It is one of those things we read about as children and we just wanted to see it for ourselves. We all know the story that it was built by the Nazi's for Hitler and his staff, which is all fact but it truly is an architectural marvel. 

The 6.5km road itself is a feat, with shear drop-offs, tunnels and switch backs. I think it is the steepest road in Germany, that is steep. It was built in about 1.5 years with all safety regulations put on pause.  Many workers were injured or lost their lives building it. 

From the ticket area it is a about a 15min bus ride to the entrance. The buses are fully Electric. They run 8 buses all day long, pretty impressive. 

The entrance to the tunnel says ERBAUT 1938, built in 1938. This tunnel is 124 meters long (407 ft) and leads to a 124m vertical elevator that brings you up to the house. The elevator is huge and all polished brass. 

It is said that when the Americans (The 101st Airborne Division "Screaming Eagles") arrived at the end of WWII the tunnel was full of wine. They and the French literally drank Hitler's wine. 

The views are just ridiculous, I doubt we could get any better views of the Alps without actually hiking up them. 

The building that the Nazi's built on top of the ridge was not damaged during the war, it is now a restaurant. 

It is an amazing setting. 

It was never a house, it did not have bedrooms, it was merely a place for the Nazi elites to meet and bring others to impress them. Hitler's summer house was close by in Berchtesgaden but it was destroyed in the 1950s since the there was fear anything of Hitler's left would be used as a shrine. Those that preserved Eagle's nest had to defend not destroying it. It is a pure money maker now. 

We did take the time to have coffee and a snack at the restaurant, it was such a nice day. 

We decided to skip the elevator and tunnel to get back to the bus pickup, we found the trail of switchbacks down the mountain. It was only about a 20 min walk with spectacular views all the way.  

We rode our prescribed bus at the prescribed time on our ticket. The Germans are very organized and you better be on your assigned bus at the assigned time.  

When we arrived the place was pretty empty, when we left it was  jammed with cars, buses and tourists. We made the right call getting there early. We were especially amused by this tour bus. 

At the parking lot we wanted to view the museum but it was closed so set off for the little town of Berchtesgaden to check it out. 

It was only 5km to Berchtesgaden, what a nice little village. 

We had a refreshment in one of the open area cafés. Yes it was past noon. 

On the drive back we went along Berchtesgadener Ache (river) that was so green I had to take a picture. Other than the rocks are light under the water,  could not tell why it was green, the picture doesn't show it like the human eye. 

We returned to our hotel and were quite lazy.  We took an afternoon nap and then went for a short walk that ended in Beers on the lawn looking at the lake. 

We had dinner at the hotel and retired to our room and watched a movie, Downfall. It is a German movie about Hitler's last days, we watched it with subtitles. It is not uplifting but is noted for the best account of what transpired in the closing weeks of the war.

It was a bit more of a relaxed day, we are winding down our vacation. We will make our way back to Munich tomorrow and fly out about midday on Wednesday.