Central Europe 4

Berchtesgaden is a town with a dark history, since it was home of the Southern Headquarters of the NSDAP, Hitler’s political party. A large mansion (the Berghof) was built for the leader with a huge panorama window offering a great view of the mountainous surroundings. Unfortunately the Berghof was destroyed by the Allies at the end of the second World War. Preserved was the Kehlsteinhaus, also known as Eagle’s Nest, on top of Mount Kehlstein. This tea house with amazing views was constructed for Hitler’s 50th birthday, but he rarely visited it. To get there, a new road was constructed in 13 months, as well as a 124m tunnel in the mountain, leading to an elevator taking the visitor 124m up to the Kehlsteinhaus. The great surroundings would be reason enough to visit Berchtesgaden. However, I also wrote an essay about it in elementary school, and since then I have always wanted to visit the place. That is exactly what I did on Wednesday morning. First I visited part of the Documentation Obersalzberg museum with exhibits on the mountain and the Nazi era. Although interesting, I got anxious to get up to the Kehlsteinhaus. The long queues in front of the ticket office showed I was not the only one. Four buses at a time are going up, and four are going down, crossing halfway where the road is wide enough. From the parking lot at the top I walked through the granite tunnel and got into the brass elevator up to the Kehlsteinhaus. The views were indeed amazing. Afterwards I visited the remainder of Documentation Obersalzberg before cruising through Austria to Bratislava, capital of Slovakia.