Road Trip Day 5: The Eagle's Nest

Three years ago today at sunrise on the shore of Lake Michigan in Wisconsin, Dan asked me to be his wife and I said "Yes!" We did already have the church booked, the invitations printed, and the decorations purchased so it was probably the best answer! I certainly have never regretted it for one second.

Now exactly 3 years later we're far, far away from Lake Michigan celebrating 14 months with an amazing son that God has blessed us with......and we're spending a week traveling around some of the most beautiful countryside in Southern Europe. Pretty amazing what 3 years can bring!This morning after breakfast, we packed up our things to move into a new B&B, ran Jackson around the property to burn up some of his endless energy supply, and said auf wiedersehen to the horsies before driving the few miles down the road into Berchtesgaden, Germany - Dan's #1 European Wish List destination.On the way, we made a pit stop at a roadside stand shaped like a giant strawberry and picked up some amazingly delicious erdbeeren (strawberries)! What else would you buy from a strawberry-shaped roadside stand, right?Rich with history, romantic Berchtesgaden is an alpine ski town situated in a part of Germany that pokes into Austria, just 15 minutes from the musical mecca of Salzburg. While the Bavarian town draws enough tourism through its charm, outdoor adventure opportunities, and fjord-like Lake Königsee, it's often Berchtesgaden's connection to World War II that draws tourists in by the bus load each day.

It's immediately easy to see why Adolf Hitler fell in love with the beauty of the area and finished up work on his political manifesto, Mein Kamf, just a few miles away in Obersalzberg. It was in this same location that he had his mountain retreat built along with an elaborate compound from which he masterminded many of the events of WWII.

Today that compound has been mostly destroyed (thanks to Britain's Royal Air Force at the end of the war) but part of the underground bunker that was prepared for Hitler's last stand can be toured when you enter the Obersalzberg Documentation Center (which we did).But most history buffs flock to Berchtesgaden for a look at Hitler's Kehlsteinhaus, or "Eagle's Nest." Gifted to the Führer for his 50th birthday, the chalet sits perched on the edge of a 6,000-foot peak and has a seriously steep road leading up to it. Funny enough, Hitler had a fear of heights so he rarely visited the mountaintop retreat although his mistress, Eva Braun, was known to hike up there often to get her tan on. After taking the bus ride up there in a bus designed specifically for the steep climb, Dan and I are in awe of Eva's athleticism! The photo below is looking down from the Kehlsteinhaus and gives you a little perspective:Today the Eagle's Nest has been converted into a restaurant and we ate lunch there in the dining room that houses Hitler's original marble fireplace. Chunks of marble are missing from the mantle - war souvenirs taken home by the troops that came through after Hitler's suicide.Dan and I like watching Band of Brothers so we felt a special appreciation for the scenes in the HBO series that were to have taken place here.

Not a bad place to stop for lunch...and Jackson's first taste of sauerkraut......which he did NOT like!Dan and I toasted to a historical and delightfully non-Italian lunch.Lunch of wurst, kraut, and hefeweizen was served with a view that could only be beat by the view awaiting us just outside the cafe's doors, beyond the Kehlsteinhaus. We made the steep climb up into the cloud-covered peak jutting up behind the Eagle's Nest for an unforgettable bird's eye view of Berchtesgaden and Salzburg below.Below you can see the beautiful Lake Königsee in the distance.Jackson tried to take a piece of history home with him.Of course, that was before he fell asleep at ANOTHER famous place.We checked in to our next B&B, the Mayringerlehen - another dairy farm almost within sniper range of the Eagle's Nest. In fact, we had a view of the chalet from our bedroom window.Jackson was happy to explore the grounds and enjoyed meeting and greeting the animals on sight: cows, goats, chickens, giant bunny, and guinea pig.Dinner was at an outdoor cafe in downtown Berchtesgaden while the sunset caused the Alps behind us to glow a slight pinkish-orange color.In tribute to neighboring Austria and the Sound of Music, I ordered the schnitzel with noodle. Dan opted to have dessert for dinner - a traditional Austrian dessert called Kaiserschmarrn that the waiter assured him was okay to eat for the evening meal. I'm pretty sure Dan will want me to learn to make this sweet, caramelized pancake dish with raisins, applesauce, and powdered sugar. On a not-so-tasty note, a bird dropped a bomb in Dan's beer.The waiter said "This is considered good luck in Germany!" We just thought it was gross.