I had originally thought that Doug, John, Sarah & I would go to Nuremburg today. We’d been talking about it all week and were going to buy tickets early Friday morning. I suspect that Sarah changed her mind though, meaning everyone else changed their mind, and we ended up going to Eagle’s Nest instead.
Eagle’s Nest or Kehlstein is Hitler’s bunker in the south of Bavaria, straddling the German-Austrian border. I was fine with going, since it had been on my list of things to do, anyway. We left the apartment around 8:00am and caught the 8:48 train toward Salzburg. The train there was packed & we could only find seats in first class, which we had to give up once they began checking tickets. It cleared out quickly, though, and we were able to sit at least for the last leg of the trip. In total, it takes nearly three hours to get to Kehlstein using a combination of trains and buses and the ride there isn’t particularly pretty. Luckily, travel within Bavaria is extraordinarly cheap (27 Euros for up to 5 people anywhere in Bavaria).
If you ever have the opportunity to visit Kehlstein, I have one major suggestion — go with a tour group. For some reason, the company that currently runs Kehlstein only allows registered tour groups to visit the actual house. The poor saps, who like us, pay 15 Euros to simply take a bus and elevator up to the house, aren’t even allowed to see the inside of the house except for the portion which currently houses a restaurant. I was already a little pissed that Hitler’s secret bunker cost money to visit, and this didn’t make me much happier. The view from the top is quite pretty, though — you can see for miles when the sky is clear & it’s nice to grab a beer in Hitler’s old home.
Even for a somewhat overcast day, the Eagle’s Nest was very crowded. Every bus was full & there were people all over the top of the mountain. Certainly, some of them came because of the EuroCup which is taking place in nearby Salzburg. We saw several Greek, Russian, and Swedish jerseys at the top of the mountain.
On the way back, John, Sarah & Doug grabbed a couple beers at the Kiosk & started drinking on the train. I was already falling asleep, so I decided to stick to Coke. Lame, I know. I knew that we were meeting Sarah’s coworkers later that night, anyway, so I decided I was safe enough waiting a couple hours — at least until after dinner.