 1 Friday 2 July, 2010 We are scheduled to leave Bavaria the day after tomorrow and we are forced to prioritise the things we want to see. We decide to visit the Kehlsteinhaus (called Eagle's Nest in the English Speaking world) 150 kms and 1½ hours down the A8 Autobahn to Berchtesgaden. |
 2 Friday 2 July, 2010 We drive to Obersalzberg a short distance from Berchtesgaden township, park the car and buy our €31 tickets for the bus ride and entry to the Kehlsteinhaus (steinhaus = stone house). |
 3 Friday 2 July, 2010 In the parking area at Obersalzberg, the Honda Gold Wing Club was out for a ride. Even though the Eastern part of Germany still has some catching up to do, the western part is very rich. |
 4 Friday 2 July, 2010 The bus ride was 6 km on a single lane road. The drivers are obviously used to driving the winding road, so the speed up was a fast & constant (my guess) 70kmh. The road cost 30 million RMs to build (about €150 million in 2007 euros) and includes five tunnels but only one hairpin turn. |
 5 Friday 2 July, 2010 The road has been closed to normal traffic since 1952. On the bus, we (or I) learned that the Kehlsteinhaus was now a restaurant and that we were not allowed inside because it would disturb the diners. This news pissed me off. |
 6 Friday 2 July, 2010 From the entrance we walk through a cool, slightly damp tunnel to get to the lifts that take us to the plateau above. |
 7 Friday 2 July, 2010 The Kehlsteinhaus was a 50th birthday present for Adolf Hitler to serve as a retreat and a place for him to entertain visiting dignitaries. |
 8 Friday 2 July, 2010 The Kehlsteinhaus was commissioned by Martin Bormann, with construction proceeding over a 13-month period. It is at a height of 1834 metres. |
 9 Friday 2 July, 2010 It was completed in the summer of 1938, prior to its formal presentation to Hitler on his 50th birthday on April 20, 1939. |
 10 Friday 2 July, 2010 Hitler only visited the Kehlsteinhaus around 10 times, and most times for no more than 30 minutes. As a result of the lack of a close association with Hitler the property was saved from demolition at the end of WWII. |
 11 Friday 2 July, 2010 Today the building is owned by a charitable trust and is used as a restaurant. It is a popular tourist attraction, particularly for Britons, Canadians and Americans attracted by the historical significance of the Eagle's Nest. |
 12 Friday 2 July, 2010 All in all, it was a very disappointing experience to come all this way, to spend this much money, to stand on a hilltop like hundreds of others in Bavaria simply see a restaurant draped in scaffolding. |
 13 Friday 2 July, 2010 Instead, we should have visited the Köenigsee below us, Germany's third deepest lake. |
 14 Friday 2 July, 2010 The lake is noted for being the cleanest lake in Germany. For this reason, only electric driven passenger craft, rowing and pedal boats have been permitted on the lake since 1909. |
 15 Friday 2 July, 2010 The lake is located in a Jurassic rift formed by glaciers during the last ice age. It stretches about 7.7 kms in the north-south direction and is about 1.7 kms at its widest. |
 16 Friday 2 July, 2010 Now, if you like peace and quiet and a little privacy, this is it. |
 17 Friday 2 July, 2010 The town of Berchtesgaden is below us. |
 18 Friday 2 July, 2010 The Kehlsteinhaus was to be the target of a Royal Air Force bombing raid on April 25, 1945. |
 19 Friday 2 July, 2010 However the Kehlsteinhaus proved to be a small and elusive target, so the Berghof area was targeted instead and severely damaged. |
 20 Friday 2 July, 2010 Standing here looking at the cross, it struck me as curious that this savage and inhumane war was fought between Christians. |
 21 Friday 2 July, 2010 Several anti-aircraft positions were present about 100 metres up the ridge behind the Kehlsteinhaus. This is the base plate of the only one remaining. |
 22 Friday 2 July, 2010 We walked around the top and the views were indeed spectacular, but so are the views from every other peak in the Bavarian/Austrian Alps. |
 23 Friday 2 July, 2010 We decided to leave and catch an earlier bus than the one we were booked on. |
 24 Friday 2 July, 2010 The limestone cliffs upon which the Kehlsteinhaus was built are quite apparent here. They are part of the Northern Limestone Alps that continue on to the outskirts of Vienna. |
 25 Friday 2 July, 2010 After catching the bus back to Obersalzberg, we visit the Bavarian Government's information centre. I read somewhere that this is the only museum about Hitler in Germany. |
 26 Friday 2 July, 2010 The information centre is on the site of the guesthouse used by Martin Borman's visiting dignitaries. The remnants of homes (clustered in the Obersalzberg area) of former Nazi leaders Adolf Hitler, Hermann Göring, and Martin Bormann were all demolished in the early postwar years. |
 27 Friday 2 July, 2010 The displays inside the museum are warts and all. It must be horrific for modern Germans to visit here but not as much for me - all of the text was German. |
 28 Friday 2 July, 2010 I enter the Obersalzberg bunker system. A map describes each section and its purpose. |
 29 Friday 2 July, 2010 This area contained tanks for diesel fuel (for the generators) and fresh water. |
 30 Friday 2 July, 2010 The bunker systems consisted of multi-level tunnels lined with concrete and bricks each with its associated power, heating, ventilation systems and anti-gas protection systems. |
 31 Friday 2 July, 2010 Most entrances and emergency exits were covered by protected machinegun positions. The anti-aircraft defense centre included a concrete tower containing a periscope and a stairway leading to the surface. |
 32 Friday 2 July, 2010 The bunker was fully self-contained with its own supplies of water, diesel fuel, food and air. It had its own sewage system and its air could be filtered and recycled in case of a poisonous bomb attack |
 33 Friday 2 July, 2010 This is an elevator shaft intended to connect to Hitler's Berghof bunker with a planned additional tunnel system some 50 feet beneath where we are standing. The rusting steel was the mounts for the elevator machinery. |
 34 Friday 2 July, 2010 The bunker system was tunneled through limestone and water seeps easily through it. Sixty five years later there is a considerable buildup of stalactites. |
 35 Friday 2 July, 2010 A movie theatre runs a continuous showing of Hitler's atrocities. Not surprising that the theatre was empty. |
 36 Friday 2 July, 2010 I think this is a shame. Unfortunately, much of the bunker system was badly defaced by the same idiots who like to scratch their names into trees, rocks, toilets and public monuments. |
 37 Friday 2 July, 2010 Much of the system had to be walled off with iron gates to protect what remains. Like it or not, this is history and it should not be defaced like this to spoil the message that this complex carries for future generations of all the democracies - freedom is so easily lost. |
 38 Friday 2 July, 2010 We finished the day at this Bavarian restaurant called Tolzer Scheisstatte. Jenni looked up the dictionary to find a verb ‘scheissen’ meaning ‘to shoot’ and this did not make sense. She later found out from Rolf that behind the restaurant is a shooting range and now the restaurant’s name made sense Next stop: Munich and the Sonnwendfeier |
