Saturday, July 16, 2011: “Living On the Edge”

Day 8: Salzburg and Berchtesgaden, Germany

We had yet another wonderful day of motorized travel. We could really get used to this! From the Salzburg train station we caught the 840 bus to Berchtesgaden, Germany—in the states it is a bit more difficult than hopping on a public bus to get to a different country; in Europe it is that easy. We drove through another side of Salzburg, across the German border, and to (what the locals claim, and we agree) the most beautiful part of the Alps.

Once in Berchtesgaden, a picturesque Alpine town, we caught another local bus to the Obersalzberg, which is home to a Nazi Documentation Center and a bunker Hitler built after the Battle of Stalingrad, when his victory did not look as imminent. We visited this later in the day. We first caught yet another bus that took us to the highest point we could get to by road: Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest. He was given this alpine retreat as a 50th birthday present. What a spot for vacationing (according to our book he only visited this home 14 times). The weather was perfect for our trip high into the Alps: not a cloud in sight and we guess temperatures in the mid 70s. After our bus dropped us off we boarded an elevator that took us up another 400 feet. Our ears, and poor Beth’s sinuses, were going absolutely insane as we climbed higher and higher. Our pictures do not do the views justice! Simply stunning!

After a short lunch at the top of the Eagle’s Nest we headed back down the mountain to the Documentation Center and Bunkers. Sadly, for historians, there is not much left in the area. At the end of the war, the victorious allies destroyed most of the memorabilia, papers, and anything that could help to create a potential pilgrimage for neo-Nazi activists. We wish we had left more time in our day to listen to the English audio tour through the beautifully crafted documentation center. The center was full of reproduced propaganda and photographs from WWII. However, all the descriptions were in German! The English audio guide would take about two hours, which we didn’t have. Rick Steves has been our guidebook throughout this trip and this is the first time he has led us astray—according to his book the documentation center was not really that exciting. Both Beth and I agreed that a German perspective on WWII and the Nazis would have been fascinating. I guess we will have to come back!

After walking through a small portion of the bunkers (Hitler, via slave labor, had four miles of tunnels dug throughout the mountain to protect him and his government) we boarded one of the last busses headed back to Salzburg. We had another tasty meal and headed back to our hotel. If you are thinking we have been headed to bed early these past few nights, it’s because we have been. We travelled a little too hard throughout Italy and it is catching up to us. We are still seeing all that Salzburg has to offer but not enjoying the nightlife quite the way we did in Italy. Tomorrow we head for Vienna and our last few days in Austria. We can’t believe we have been here for a little over a week already—time is flying because we are having fun! Miss and love you all!

Beth and Jesse