Honeymoon Days 5&6

Our first full day in Salzburg, we hopped in the car and headed back to Germany for our Eagle's Nest tour in Berchtesgaden.  We completely overestimated how long it would take us to get there, so we had the morning to walk around this lovely little town nestled in the mountains.

The town of Berchtesgaden, Germany.

At 1:00, we boarded a bus with other Americans for our English tour of Obersalzburg and the Eagle's Nest (Kehlsteinhaus).  The description of the tour said it was more historical than sight-seeing which was just what we wanted.  We learned so much about the Third Reich and saw many of the original houses that members of the Nazi party lived in.  Many buildings were destroyed when the allies bombed the mountain, but our tour guide pointed out where buildings used to be.

Former homes of the SS or Third Reich members.  The homes are now used for subsidized housing.

We then went to the Documentation Center that detailed Hitler's "takeover" of Obersalzburg and subsequent building of a significantly sized bunker system.  The bunker system survived the bombings and a portion of it is now open to the public.

The Eagle's Nest atop Kehlstein mountain.

A portion of the bunker system that survived the bombing by the Royal Air Force.

After walking through the bunker system, we headed up the mountain on a one-way road in a specially equipped bus.  We traveled through six granite tunnels built especially for Hitler and road up a polished brass elevator through the heart of the mountain and directly into the Eagle's Nest.

You walk through the last of the six granite tunnels to get to the elevator.

Contrary to popular belief, the Eagle's Nest was not Hitler's home.  His home was halfway up the mountain and was destroyed years ago.  The Eagle's Nest was Hitler's 140 million dollar birthday present from Martin Bormann.  It had no bedrooms and was mostly used for meetings or entertaining.

We made it to the top just in time to catch a few photos of the view outside before a torrential downpour started.  There were a few more shots I wanted to get, so we braved the rain in our rain jackets and with the umbrella to snap a few more photos.

Our view from the Eagle's Nest.

I highly recommend this tour if you are ever in this area!

The next day we got up bright and early for our Sound of Music bike tour!  It started at the Mirabell Palace and we traveled eight miles to see all the locations in Salzburg where the movie was filmed.

The first place we passed was the fountain where they sang Do Re Mi.

We then passed over the Salzach River again to head to the fountain that Maria passes while on her way to the Von Trapp's home to be their governess.

After that, we made our way up a rather large hill to the convent where they filmed the scene of Maria leaving.

We then went to the house that was used as the back of the Von Trapp's home and the lake where the canoe scene was filmed.

Then we saw the house that was used for the front of the house.  It's currently used as a dorm for students studying music in Salzburg.

Lastly, we visited the gazebo.  According to our tour guide, the doors are now locked because a woman in her sixties was singing the song "I am sixteen going on seventeen" using her own age and fell and broke a hip...eek!

After our tour, we packed up our little car and headed towards Vienna.  On the way we stopped at Mauthausen concentration camp and it was an equally emotional experience.

The entryway to Mauthausen.

The prisoners at Mauthausen worked in a quarry and were forced to walk the "stairway of death" carrying slabs of rock.  The stairway was rebuilt in the 1940s so it is currently much better than it was.

The quarry at Mauthausen.

The "stairway of death."

We then drove the final miles to Vienna for the last few days of our trip.  Stay tuned for days 7&8!