Berchtesgaden was a very wet experience.
Monday I took a train from Venice to Villach, Austria then from Villach to Salzburg. In Salzburg I caught what I thought was the one-hour train to Berchtesgaden. The train only ran to Bad Reichenhall, a small town halfway between Salzburg and Berchtesgaden.
The train shutoff, the driver packed up for the night and got off the train. Everyone on the train had to go the rest of the way by bus. I still do not understand why the train quit running so early.
The bus ride was not bad, and I ended up arriving in Berchtesgaden earlier than I would have with the train. When we arrived, it was the rain storm of the century. Luckily my hotel was literally in sight of the bus stop, but I still got soaked running with my luggage to the hotel. To make matters worse, my umbrella broke in the midst of my 100 yard dash to the hotel door.
In the end the only thing that got really wet was my backpack. All my books got wet. The first order of business in the hotel room was to unpack my entire bag and open all the books to let them dry. In a way it looked as though I were cramming for a final with all the books laying open around my bed.
Despite the rough start, things got better when I got to the hotel. I stayed at the Hotel Bavaria, which oddly enough is not listed in the Lonely Planet guide. I found it a couple weeks ago searching on Google for something in Berchtesgaden. It was a great find. The place is actually more of a bed and breakfast than a hotel despite the name. The room was very nice, and I even had a private bathroom (unlike Venice).
The Eagle’s Nest
Tuesday morning I grabbed my warm clothes and headed up Mount Kehlstein to visit the infamous Eagle’s Nest. The Eagle’s Nest was built by the National Socialist Party (Nazi Party) as a present for Adolf Hitler’s 50th birthday. The house sets on top of a mountain in an area called Obersalzberg where all Hitler’s cronies set up camp in the late 1930s.
Despite its infamous history, it has one of the best views in the world. From the Kehlsteinhaus, as it is known in German, I could see Berchtesgaden below and Salzburg, Austria in the distance. It was simply amazing. Although it was about 30 degrees Fahrenheit on top of the mountain, I still had a great time just setting there and gazing into the valley below.
The best part is that the main room of the residence, where Hitler played host to foreign diplomats, is now a restaurant. It is funny to think that the room where that sad excuse for a human being once sat is now home to a restaurant full of tourists, many of whom are foreigners. The restaurant was good. I had a Wiener Schnitzel and a beer from the famous Hofbräuhaus in Munich.
I ended up staying at the house for around four hours before I caught a bus back down the mountain. Halfway down I visited the Dokumentation Obersalzburg, a museum that focuses on the forced Nazi takeover of the Obersalzberg area where they built their southern headquarters. It took me nearly three hours to go through the museum.
At the end of the museum is part of the underground bunker network constructed for the Nazi elite that is open to the public. It was very interesting especially since it was the first time I had ever been in a bunker.
I did not return to my hotel until 7 p.m. Unfortunately, Berchtesgaden as a city closes well before that time. I took a walk around the city after returning from Obersalzberg, but could not find anything open. I spent the rest of the day relaxing in my room or on the balcony which had a great view of the mountains.
Overall, Berchtesgaden was a good side trip. It was nice to be able to break up a trip full of big cities with a small city where I didn’t constantly have one hand on my wallet and other on my camera.