4 July, Sunday

Happy Birthday, USA!! Today was pretty much devoted to Hitler and his mountain hideout. We rode a city bus up to the Dokumentationszentrum Obersalzberg, a museum built on the site of the Berghof, which was sort of like Camp David for Hitler. It sits on top of Hitler's hideout bunkers, and they are part of the tour. This is a very thorough analysis of the entire Hitler & Nazi cult phenomena, and pulls no punches about how Adolf and his henchmen were able to get most of the country to "drink the Kool-Aid." It's all very depressing, but important information, nevertheless.

After the museum, we rode another bus up to the Eagle's Nest, the mountaintop getaway that the party gave to Hitler for his 50th birthday present. The views there are amazing. Even though it's a little spooky to know you're walking where the bad guys hung out, I guess I'm glad it didn't get blown up after the war.

We had supper at the hotel and watched the local Fire Department looking for somebody in the river. They fiddled around the area with tons of apparatus, a couple of boats and two helicopters for a long time before apparently deciding the whole thing was a false alarm and going home. We tried to finish our walking tour, but we lost the trail and it got too dark again. Berchtesgaden is a really beautiful spot, one of the best we've visited by far. I can see why Der Fuhrer liked it here.

Tickets & hotel card (larger image)

Dokumentationszentrum Obersalzberg

underground bunker complex

underground bunker complex

museum

view from museum

The Eagle's Nest (Kehlsteinhaus)

bus to The Eagle's Nest

bus to The Eagle's Nest

bus to The Eagle's Nest

brass elevator to the Nest

view from the Nest

The Eagle's Nest

mountain identifications (larger image)

Hiking trails along the ridge

3:38 pm

3:43 pm

3:44 pm

3:45 pm

3:49 pm

3:50 pm

Joe pointing at... ??	4:00 pm	4:01 pm
Alpine Salamander	Alpine Salamander	back to the Nest
The Eagle's Nest	view from the Nest	hiking trail down

back to the hotel for supper

A bit of excitement, but a false alarm...

fire truck	scene of the action	fire truck
water rescue crew	water rescue crew	helicopter
helicopter	helicopter	Wassertreppen

Walking around Berchtesgaden

The Eagle's Nest

The Eagle's Nest

Schloss Berchtesgaden	Schloss Berchtesgaden	Pfarrkirche St. Andreas
a steep field	Berchtesgaden at night