![\"Eagle's](\"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/3-Eagles-Nest-up-top-of-bus-stop.jpg\")
<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>This morning, we woke to sun and better temperatures.\u00a0 We went down to breakfast and then asked a couple of questions about where to go today.\u00a0 We also needed help with the safe since it appeared locked and we couldn\u2019t use it.\u00a0 Petra came up to help us.\u00a0 Wolfgang, her husband, told us the Eagle\u2019s Nest was the best place to go.\u00a0 It was cheaper than the Jenner Mountain lookout.\u00a0 He promised that we would be able to see even with the clouds.<\/p>\n
Apparently, there is a cam that operates up at the Eagle\u2019s Nest and the hotels all check it to advise their guests if the day looks good for a trip up the mountain.\u00a0 Today was one of those good days.<\/p>\n
We drove up the mountain in that direction and parked at the bus station.\u00a0 You buy a ticket for the bus and the tour at the bottom.\u00a0 Then you ride in a bus to the entrance.\u00a0 A tunnel takes you into the mountain where you find an elevator lined with gold material.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think it is 14 carat, but it is shiny.\u00a0 The elevator takes you up to the first landing at the Eagle\u2019s Nest.<\/p>\n
Now for a short history lesson.\u00a0 In 1937 and 1939, the Socialist party built this summer home for Adolf Hitler as a present.\u00a0 This became the main location where Hitler and his generals planned the war and strategies.\u00a0 The house is small, but extends into the mountainside.\u00a0 The location is in Germany, but overlooks Austria, which is Hitler\u2019s birth country.<\/p>\n
We stepped out into the hallway of marble and made our way outside.\u00a0 At first, it is breathtaking that you are in the clouds with only the white fluffy stuff around you.\u00a0 As the clouds move, you can get a glimpse of the scenery around the mountaintop.\u00a0 We could see the Konigssee Lake off to the west.\u00a0 To the north was Austria.<\/p>\n
We walked east of the platform and down some stairs to a point that overlooks Austria.\u00a0 At first, the clouds were full and we couldn\u2019t see anything beyond the point.\u00a0 They slowly cleared and the valley into view.\u00a0 Then clouds moved in and swallowed the view from us.<\/p>\n
We made our way back up to the platform so we could move around to the west.\u00a0 The main part of the building had been turned into a restaurant.\u00a0 This included the patio on the western side of the house.\u00a0 We continued to walk around the house and went up the stairs away from the Nest.\u00a0 This took us further up the mountain.<\/p>\n
The clouds swirled around and provided openings here and there to view different parts of the valleys on all side of the Nest.\u00a0 It was like a dream to have the clouds suddenly open and expose the scenery.\u00a0 Then the white would start to cover up and then all of the view was gone.\u00a0 You would be looking at a white moving cloud with no way to see behind it.<\/p>\n
We continued to move up the mountain.\u00a0 There was a cross erected with a memorial for 1951.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure what it was for exactly.\u00a0 We used this as a marker when the clouds would start to go over the path, which didn\u2019t obscure things, but gave it a spooky feeling.<\/p>\n
At the end of the trail, there was a canyon through the mountain that stopped at an overlook showing the granite walls opposite.\u00a0 You could see a rock fence that someone had made to create an enclosure in a small valley.\u00a0 I assume this was a shepherd who uses the spot to house his animals as he has them in the pastures up here for the summer.<\/p>\n
We climbed further up to view the northwestern side of the mountains.\u00a0 Here, we could see the Kongissee Lake when the clouds would break.\u00a0 There were benches arranged in the rough terrain so you could sit and admire the mountains.\u00a0 As the clouds moved around, I got a great view of the range with clouds lining the tops.<\/p>\n
The climb back down was a little rougher for me, but slow and steady means that I got down safely.\u00a0 We started moving back toward the Eagle\u2019s Nest and stopping to view the valleys on either side.\u00a0 With the restaurant close by and the patio full of visitors eating, the crows were lining up to try their chances at getting something to eat.\u00a0 Rich got a couple of great pictures of some very fat crows waiting around.\u00a0 Reminded me of that cartoon with the two crows.<\/p>\n
I stopped to look at a sign that explained the mountain range and the different heights of the mountains.\u00a0 It was in German so it was a little hard to tell what was being said.\u00a0 I tried to take pictures so I could study it later.\u00a0 One of these pictures turned out with the Eagle\u2019s Nest at the top of it.\u00a0 I thought it was pretty cool.<\/p>\n
We returned to the elevator to go back to the bus parking.\u00a0 At this time, there wasn\u2019t much of a line.\u00a0 We were on the elevator pretty quickly.\u00a0 Even a couple with a small dog got on.\u00a0 Poor dog knew what was coming and was lying down and wouldn\u2019t move.\u00a0 He looked a little sick and was glad to get off at the bottom.<\/p>\n
When we stepped out, we were met with a sea of faces.\u00a0 The line to go up to the top was going well out into the tunnel.\u00a0 Wolfgang was right about getting there early.\u00a0 I went out to see if we could change the time for our bus trip back down the mountain.\u00a0 The desk told me to talk to a bus driver to arrange an early departure.<\/p>\n
We waited until the buses arrived and started to load.\u00a0 I approached one of the drivers to ask if we could ride down on his bus earlier than our ticket was stamped for.\u00a0 He was an older gentleman.\u00a0 He took my tickets and was shaking his head like he didn\u2019t know if he could do that.\u00a0 In the meantime, he was ripping off the stub he needed for the return.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t understand at first and Rich had to tell me that he was having fun with me.\u00a0 I laughed then.<\/p>\n
We rode down to the bus station and walked around the building the Documentation Center, strange name for a museum, was charging admission and I didn\u2019t feel I was that interested in seeing the information on how the Eagle\u2019s Nest was built.\u00a0 We went on down to the parking lot to find our car.<\/p>\n
The lot was jammed packed!\u00a0 We were only a handful of cars when we came in.\u00a0 In the row next to us was a beautiful older Jaguar convertible.\u00a0 I had to take a picture, it was so beautiful.\u00a0 This would be something I thought my cousin, Mark, would have loved.\u00a0 It was a nice example.<\/p>\n
We got in the car and made our way through the masses to get back to town.\u00a0 We continued around the traffic circle and went out to Konigssee Lake.\u00a0 This is an emerald green lake that lies to the northeast of Berchtesgaden.\u00a0 I noticed there was hiking in the area and a boat ride from end of the lake to another and then back again.<\/p>\n
It was after lunch time by the time we arrived and parked.\u00a0 Most of the lot was full, but we got into the overflow in a grassy field not far from the Tourist Information.\u00a0 We started walking down to the lake to purchase tickets.\u00a0 On the way, Rich saw the brotchzeit stand that sold brotchen and wurst.\u00a0 Since he was hungry, he stopped to buy one.\u00a0 We saw overlooking the old train station, which is now a restaurant, while he ate.<\/p>\n
We continued our walk through the shopping and cafes down to the lakefront.\u00a0 We were able to purchase tickets and jump right on a boat that was just getting ready to leave.\u00a0 Most everyone on the boat was German.\u00a0 I saw a few faces that probably weren\u2019t originally German.\u00a0 As the guide started to speak, I could pick up very little of what was said.\u00a0 I had the English brochure, but figured we could make it through the explanations.<\/p>\n
About halfway down the lake, the captain and the guide switched places.\u00a0 The captain retrieved a trumpet from a case by the stairs and proceeded to play pieces of music.\u00a0 He would play a phrase and we could hear it echoed back to us from the mountains.\u00a0 It made his single instrument sound like a brass section.<\/p>\n
We stopped at St Barnabas Monastery as the first stop on the tour.\u00a0 You could get off the boat here, walk the shore, hike on back to the end of the lake, or enjoy lunch in one of the restaurants.\u00a0 We stayed on the boat.\u00a0 We were able to move to better seats so we could get pictures.<\/p>\n
The boat filled with more people and we continued to the end of the lake at Salet.\u00a0 Everyone got off the boat.\u00a0 The captain told us in English that everyone had to get off.\u00a0 We got in line to get onto the next boat leaving.\u00a0 We found seats near the back of the boat, sitting with a lady and her little white poodle.\u00a0 You can take your dog just about everywhere here.<\/p>\n
All along the way, we saw waterfalls, hiking trails, ice caves, and mountain structures.\u00a0 It was very pretty back on the lake.\u00a0\u00a0 The boats that run up and down here have been electric since 1908 and this is supposed to be the cleanest lake in Germany.\u00a0 Definitely, the green color of the waters is beautiful.<\/p>\n
We got St. Barnabas again and some people got off.\u00a0 Rich and I moved to the back of the boat so we could have window seats.\u00a0 The back of the boat was full of kids in their late teens and early 20s.\u00a0 They had obviously been drinking.\u00a0 There were laughing, giggling, teasing, and playing jokes on each other.\u00a0 You could tell the troublemakers because the group kept saying their names.\u00a0 One of the guys was always whistling some part of a tune throughout the rest of the ride.<\/p>\n
We came back to Konigssee Seelande harbor again after about an hour and a half.\u00a0 The town here is so beautiful with typical German buildings and homes.\u00a0 There are boathouses all along the shore for the fishermen and the tour boats.\u00a0 It had an almost East coast sort of feel.<\/p>\n
We started back up the road and decided to stop for kaffee and kuchen.\u00a0 Rich was running low on his caffeine levels.\u00a0 Rich ordered plum kuchen and I got a cappuccino as well.\u00a0 Somehow, the plum cake here is so delicious. I don\u2019t think it was just the boat ride either.\u00a0 We enjoyed our coffees and watched the crowd walk by.<\/p>\n
Finishing up, we headed back to the hotel where we rested up and cleaned up a bit.\u00a0 After 6:00, we walked up the hill to the Golden Bear.\u00a0 We had decided this is where we were eating tonight.\u00a0 We sat inside since it was damp and chilly outside.\u00a0 We were seated a large table, but only there by ourselves.\u00a0 We ordered beers, since this is where the good dunkel was at.\u00a0 We ordered our food and sat back to enjoy.\u00a0 This was a wonderful experience of German food and beer.\u00a0 We rested and then ordered apple strudel and coffees to end out the night.<\/p>\n
We paid our bill and walked around the market square to try and wear off some of dinner.\u00a0 There was an umpa band playing in one of the biergartens.\u00a0 We stopped for a bit to listen.\u00a0 We decided to walk around the back side of the street to go down to our hotel.\u00a0 There wasn\u2019t much traffic and the hill was less steep than taking the graveyard route.\u00a0 We still had to negotiate the big hill right over the hotel though.<\/p>\n
Back in our room, we settled in and did our own thing.\u00a0 For me, that was downloading pictures and writing up blogs.\u00a0 I got all caught up, except for today\u2019s.\u00a0 I attempted to get started writing, but soon couldn\u2019t keep my eyes open.\u00a0 I\u2019ll finish this one tomorrow.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>