It is a skip over the border, a 17km bus trip on the #840 to reach the old Nazi wartime retreat of
Berchtesgaden, Germany.
Ten minutes and the high, grey peaks were in view, residual snow outlining the valleys. Another ten and we crossed the German border, and by 9:00 we were there.
Berchtesgaden itself is a town, where old the old Nazi cronies had their private retreats during the war. Now it is a beautiful place, all modern chalets (it was bombed during the war) along the river and up the hillsides. The sharp grey peaks cut the sky above; these lower slopes are heavily forested, a mix of pine and hardwoods.
We transferred busses, and started a steep climb up to the Documentation Center, where we bought tickets on the special bus to the Eagles Nest. This last road is so steep the regular busses can't take it, thus the extra charge. It is €16 each round trip, and the busses set out every twenty five minutes.
When you get to the Documentation Center, you should hustle right over to the ticket window, because the tickets are time stamped to a specific departure. We were lucky and only had to wait forty minutes, people coming later might have to wait hours.
The road up is spectacular, one way only, so there is no traffic but the bus grinding through five tunnels and some hair pin turns. We got off, and got our tickets stamped with the return time of our choosing.
We guessed two hours would be good, giving us enough time to explore.
You come out of the elevator right into the Eagles Nest itself. It was stripped bare, and is mostly closed off now, except for a couple big rooms that are now a café.
Still, you can get a taste of what must have been at one time, with the layout of the rooms, the huge beams for the ceilings, the massive stone and giant view windows. Here is a rundown of the history.
We grabbed a view table in the café (This is a joke. They are all view tables.) and I ordered an apple crumb cake with whipped cream, coffee (slightly frustrating to me, the Austrians and Germans make American style coffee, I can't get a good cappuccino or caffè macchiato to kill me), and Gail got a large size white wine.
We walked a packed gravel base path up to the summit for the spectacular 360• view over the mountains, down on the Eagles Nest, the Königsee and well into Austria. The short trail was packed with people, almost a line to the packed summit. But it wasn't hard to get away on top and create a little private space by simply sliding over the wire barrier, or ducking behind a rock.
Crowded as it was, it was still beautiful.
There is a big cross with a giant edelweiss on it, and a sign pointing out the surrounding peaks.
We came down after two hours (Which I would recommend as a minimum time if you plan to walk, eat and take photos. We could have stayed another hour.) and rode the special bus down, only to find that there is a dead time in the return bus, from about 11:45 till 13:15.
After sitting in the shade, enjoying the view and cooling breezes, we were finally heading back to Salzburg.
A bunch of kids got on the bus in Bertschesgaden and started getting off a few stops later. One of the two kids across from us, probably seventh graders, was wearing (what else?) a California T-shirt. When he got up to leave, Gail just blurted out, "See talk, California!"
Both boys looked at us in total surprise.
The boy remaining asked, "Where are you from?"
When we replied California, he was really interested.
So, we had five minutes till his stop, and he spoke in very good English while I spoke German, and we had a good time practicing and learning words.
We found out he is still in school for two more weeks but then has eight weeks off. He learns English in school (I told him to tell his teacher he spoke with us and that his English is very good. It is certainly better than my German. The nice thing about talking to a kid is they want to learn and speak slow and clearly which then helps me out as well. And he isn't quick to jump in and help me out either, so I can just remember on my own.)
His teacher is Irish, so his grasp of English actually surprised me, considering I can't hardly understand Irish myself!
But he explained it. His parents own a gas station, and they teach him Amerikanish. Plus, he learns from working there.
So, speaking of Hitler and the war, throughout Europe they have these brass "stumbling stones" placed in the pavement. They are memorials to the Jews who used to live at a particular address, and they note the date of birth and the date of death, and in what camp. You can read more about it here as well.
I did not see any of these stones in Italy, but they are scattered throughout Salzburg.
In addition, the primary bridge over the river Salzach was built by slave labor during the war. The bridge is still in use, but a lighted memorial is at one end.
We walked a way up the hill, under the castle but above the dom, for dinner at Stieglkeller Brauhaus. Unlike the other brauhaus, they have a variety of beers, about ten to choose from. So we chose the most promising four, and got small sizes of each. They were the Weissbier (wheat), the Stiegl Paracelsus Zwickl (their all-natural brew, which I found bitter), the signature beer called Goldbräu, and a Pils..
Then, we selected our favorite, which happened to be the weiss beir, the traditional wheat beer, for the real drinking.
I had a delicious roast beef dinner, and Gail had a really good pork roast. We even had a beer Tiramisu for dessert. Interesting flavor, that one.
The beer garden was beautiful, with views out under the trees and over the old city of Salzburg. While we were there, we met a nice guy, sitting right next to us, who was from Switzerland.
During dinner it started to thunder and lightning, then it just poured down rain. We were dry under an umbrella, under the trees, but trapped.
Not to worry!
There was plenty of beer to be had, and we just spent a few hours talking with our new Swiss friend, laughing about trips to Morocco and Italy, until the rain broke and we made a dash across town to get home.
We fell asleep to the cooling breezes and the sound of the rain.
Finally. Some cool weather.