Day 10 in Salzburg, Eagle's Nest, Konigsee

Day 10 in Salzburg

It seems that we all had a good night’s sleep and we’ve decided that we are all very healthy breathers while we sleep.  Sue says I do double duty and also saw logs while I breathe so healthily.  We had a nice breakfast at the hotel and the lady for the private tour from Bob’s was here right at nine. 

She, Linde, had a more bubbly personality than the guide from yesterday.  We saw some beautiful scenes of villages, hillsides, mountains, and cows and goats on the way to Berchtesgaden, Germany (Remember that we spent the night in Salzburg, Austria) and our first stop was the Eagle’s Nest.  That is the name the U S troops gave to Hitler’s mountain top meeting place after we took possession of it.  We rode very twisty mountain roads up to a ticket/souvenir/WC area and then had to ride one of their special buses up an even more narrow twisting road; then we had to walk through a tunnel and take an elevator up into the building.  The last road, elevator (through solid rock) and building were designed by one of Hitler’s top men and he had it all constructed in 13 months (which is amazing) and then Hitler used it only about 13 times (because he was afraid of heights) for meetings.  There are only a very few rooms, dining room, kitchen, meeting room, and outdoor patio and NO bedrooms.  Hitler stayed in his mountain home further down the mountain when he was in the area.  It was beautiful and there was lots of snow and ice around this area as you can see from the photos. 

We left there, after doing some shopping of course, and went to the Konigsee which is an alpine lake filled with the water of a melting glacier.  It is said to be the purest lake water in Germany and is of ‘drinking water’ purity.  I just wasn’t thirsty so I didn’t have any. (haha)

On the way to the lake, our tour driver found out we wanted to take the boat onto the lake and hear the bugle played – evidently her instructions did not include the boat ride and we didn’t have time for it before her next tour.  After arriving at the lake and asking the operators about time, she said she could not do it!! We almost gave up, but as you might imagine, we were a little bit stubborn and decided to pay her for the time she had given us so far and let her return to Salzburg, leaving us at the Konigsee.  We could always hitchhike back to the hotel!!!! 

We got our stuff out of her van and said goodbye to her.  We bought tickets for the ride and were soon on a boat on the lake.  The water was amazingly clear and green.  The boat was packed with tourists and the guide spoke only in German or Austrian.  It must have been a funny tour but we didn’t understand any of it.  We saw a very tall waterfall that goes into the lake and we saw the church of St. Bathaloma that sits out in the lake.  We could have gotten off the boat for a nice long hike, but we decided not to do so.  I know just how surprised you are about that too.  The ride back was very quiet since there was no guide talking or bugle playing.  However, some young person boarded the boat and sat next to Linda.  She kept her head turned away from him and kept a scarf over her nose and mouth in order to dilute the stink of him.  She has still been smelling him hours later.

When we got back to the dock area, we did a tiny bit of shopping and there was a big beautiful big black big Russian Terrier named Frodo.  Did I mention he was big??  See the photo to see him.  He had a blue hair clip holding his hair out of his eyes.   We asked about getting a taxi and people kept pointing a certain way.  We walked and walked and walked (etc) all uphill for a long time until we found a large car park with an information center.  The lady called us a taxi van that cost us 45 Euros to get back to Salzburg.  It was certainly worth it.

On the way back in I saw the Media Markt and I got out of the taxi to see if they had a battery for my computer.  They did not have one in stock so I was out of luck.  Here, the story diverges.  The girls went back to Salzburg and  bought roasted chestnuts and then went to the Café Thomasilla (Austria’s oldest coffee house) for sandwiches/cakes, tea/coffee/hot chocolate.  They say it was very good.  On the way back to the hotel, they did a little shopping (surprise, surprise, surprise).  I took a taxi from the Media Markt to St. Peter’s Church in Old Town and enjoyed walking about the church and its cemetery.  The graves seem to date from the mid-1900’s and they are beautifully arranged and cared for.  I saw almost no artificial flowers, but there are many flowers and plants on the graves.  The usual headstones were made of black iron and are quite lacey.  There were also family plots that are behind iron gates and this idea was used in the Sound of Music movie, but the cemetery for the movie was made in Hollywood.  Afterwards, I walked to the café and talked to the other girls a little, but was so tired that I decided to go back to the hotel and rest some.  On the way, I saw an artist selling his watercolor paintings and bought one.  Sarah also bought one as she passed by a little later. 

We rested in our rooms, some of us slept a while, and then went to an Italian restaurant recommended by Melanie, our receptionist.  We had to go back to get the directions repeated to us, but we made the trip and it was successful.  The food and surroundings were excellent.  Again, we all ate to much but this time none of us even had room for any dessert.  We came back to review this blog and photos and then decided upon times for tomorrow.  We will meet the taxi at 10 to take us to the train station for our 11:20 train back to Munich, so we will have breakfast before ten.  Tomorrow we will go by train to Munich and then drive to Fussen where we will spend three nights.  Our time in Europe is growing short.  BooHoo!!!!