McGuire Space A Adventure, Fall 2014: Berchtesgaden, Revisited

As I am writing this blog entry, we are listening to the Georgia - Missouri football game on the computer. 1st Quarter, Ga 6 - Mo 0. Just waiting for Auburn to start. It is 6:45 pm, Austrian time.

Today was another interesting day. We drove back into Germany to Berchtesgaden and found out what we had missed on our first trip. The first time we visited the Eagles Nest, we came away feeling like we missed something. Today we found out what it was. Berchtesgaden, the Eagles Nest, and Obersalzburg are 3 separate locations. Berchtesgaden is a pretty little mountain village in the valley below Obersalzburg. The Eagles Nest is a "tea room" set on the very top of the mountain above Obersalzburg and Berchtesgaden.

Unfortunately for the residents of Obersalzburg, Hitler chose to visit Obersalzberg while on vacation in the late 1920's. Unfortunately for the residents, he loved it there. As he grew in power and stature, his financial bottom line increased. He then bought a home in Obersalzerburg. As he rose to power in Germany, the Nazi party started buying up all the property in Obersalzburg. Those who sold out early, fared well. If you balked, then that made for a bad decision. The Nazi's were getting your property, one way or another. One of the last families to hold out were faced with an ultimatum...sell today or go to Dachau tomorrow. They sold.

So, Obersalzburg went from being a sleepy mountain village to being a tremendous enclave for the Nazi party. It was also the location for a secondary base of government of the Nazi government,

Plans for the invasion of Poland were made here. There are miles and miles of bunkers underneath Salzburg. We went down into some of the bunkers. We probably went down under the mountain 100 feet. It was like a city underground. Machine gun guard posts are located all through the tunnels.

If you visit the Eagles Nest, stop at the Documentation Center, and find out the history about Obersalzburg. There are beautiful views at all levels. After Linda and I finished our trip into history, we had a delicious lunch of sausage, sauerkraut, and roast potatoes. We topped this lunch off with a traditional German dessert, Apple Strudel. There is something about having Apple Strudel in the Alps.

Zum Turken was a hotel that was part of Hitler's compound. It housed the Hitler body guards.