Day 2: Berchtesgaden & Obersalzburg, Germany

(Click on the colored links and they will give you cool information about that place).

Jeffrey's comments are in black, Josie's are in purple. Sorry for those of you who are colorblind. don't worry, it won't make a difference. Other than you might think Jeff is a little feminine sometimes with his wording and interests...

Day 2

Before we left on our trip, I researched different things we could see around the main stopping points, and found out that we would be very close to some pretty significant WWII sites. I have always been fascinated with the history of WWII and so I planned to see as many sites as we could fit in--we even saw a couple we didn't know about.
 
Our plan for the day was to leave Salzburg, Austria and drive to Berchtesgaden, Germany. Then we would drive to Oberammergau, Germany to stay the night.

This morning we left the Booze Snooze Hotel in Salzburg and headed for Berchtesgaden at the southern tip of Germany. Berchtesgaden is a small town with a river running through the middle of it. It flows from Lake Konigsee, which is just up the canyon. The water is a teal color, and pictures just don't do it justice.

The river that runs through Berchtesgaden.

The drive to Berchtesgaden only took about 20 minutes, but it was probably one of the prettiest drives I've ever been on. The mountains shoot up on each side and the trees, fog, mist, and teal river made me keep saying "wow!" I guess us little Idahoans have a penchant for mountains.

We kept pulling over to the side of the road to take pictures. People were honking at me when I took this one.

Berchtesgaden is on the way to Obersalzburg—the area just up the mountain where Hitler lived, and the Nazi regime mountain headquarters were. I was so excited to see these sites, that when we got to Berchtesgaden I just kept driving, turned left, and up the mountain we went.

Almost immediately, the road inclines and starts winding itself up the mountainside. After several "closed eye turns" (for Josie) and low gear revving, we came to the visitor's center, or Documentation Center. The view was very limited with the fog, so pictures didn't show anything, but we could see enough to know that on a clear day, the view would be amazing.

We walked to a nearby museum and found that they only accepted EURO, which we didn't have. So back to the car and down the mountain we went in search of an ATM.

We searched around Berchtesgaden for an ATM and after asking several people and visiting two different tourist information buildings, we found one. I got my first look at EUROS. They are very small bills, almost like monopoly money.

Since we were in the town, we decided to look around at the shops and old churches and have lunch. I could tell that the town had probably looked the same for the last 100 years. I always try to envision these towns without the cars and people, and it's fun to imagine what they would look like.

The roundabout in the middle of town with the river running through the middle of it.

We ended up eating Hungarian Goulash soup....yes we know. "You had Hungarian food, in Germany? And you live in Hungary?" But we love our goulash soup, and it didn't disappoint.
The churches were open to the public, and even a cat that followed us around. The woodwork was all original--which I love--including the pews, and the floor, etc.

The churches in Germany are a ton smaller than the ones in France and Italy. They are more rustic, which is cool. But many of them only have medieval art (which is kind of disturbing and ugly, in my opinion). I'd much prefer idealized statues and paintings...is that wicked of me? This was one of the nicer ones, though.

Where's Josie?

Me paying my respects, by taking pictures.

Cool door in Berchtesgaden

Center square in Berchtesgaden

This in May 1945, in the same square as the picture above this one, against the left wall.

Fountain in Berchtesgaden

1945 Troops surrounding that same fountain.

Same fountain, to the right.

This is Gene Kelly filming a movie in Berchtesgaden in the early 1950's. They also shot some scenes at the Berghof (Hitler's home that you'll see underneath) before it was demolished.

After we explored the town, got an ice cream for me and a pastry for Josie, we went for round 2 of exploring the mountainside. This time up the mountain, instead of going straight to the museum, we drove straight to where Hitler's house, The Berghof, had been. We found a place to park on the side of the road and started to look around.

In the early 1930's, Hitler purchased the Hotel Zum Turken with earnings from his book, Mein Kampf. Just next to the Hotel, he purchased a home and had it extensively remodeled into a mansion which he named, "The Berghof."

The Berghof being remodeled. Notice an entrance to the bunker on the bottom left.

The same entrance as we saw it.

Those that lived in this area were bought out at discounted prices, or threatened until they left. Hitler's inner circle built homes around his. SS baracks and guard shacks were built, and a bunker system linking them all was constructed to make a Nazi headquarter on the mountain.

Further up the mountain is Hitler's Eagle's Nest, which is a mountain retreat that was gifted to Hitler for his 50th birthday. It is still in the same condition it was 70 years ago, and can only be reached by a mountainside tunnel which leads to an elevator shaft that up to the home. Unfortunately, the Eagle's Nest was stilled closed for the season when we visited, but the view and pictures are definitely worth looking up.

On April 25, 1945, the British bombed the Berghof, Hotel Zum Turken, SS baracks, and other homes in the area. These buildings were badly damaged, but still remained intact. Hitler was living in Berlin at the time and was not present for the bombings, however, just 5 days later on April 30th, Hitler killed himself. In early May 1945, US troops arrived to find the Berghof damaged, looted, and smoldering from being set on fire by the SS troops (Hitler's orders).

An aerial view of the bombing of the Berghof (center) and the Hotel Zum Turken (left). You can see the craters scattered around the site from the impact of the bombs. Notice the retaining wall at the back of the mansion...

A bomb crater still above the Berghof site.

The same bomb crater.

The structures remained until 1952 when the Bavarian government demolished the remaining structure of the Berghof to hinder would be sight-seers from coming. (Didn't stop us). Today, all that remains of his house are the entrances to the two driveways, the back retaining wall, and some pipes here and there sticking out of the ground.

The Berghof in its prime.

Propaganda photo from in front of the Berghof.

Visitors at the Berghof trying to get a glimpse of Hitler

After the bombings

I took this picture to show what the site looks like today.

Me standing at the back entrance of the Berghof.

Josie taking a picture of the back retaining wall of the site.

The arrow points right to where Josie is standing in the above picture.

Josie and I walked around the site and I took a piece of the retaining wall as a memento of some sort. Maybe I'll use it in a fireside one day about building on solid foundations....I probably won't bring up Hitler's house in a fireside, but I have a piece of the wall anyways. The only marker on the site is a sign that has recently been added that explains what used to be there.

Hitler hosted several famous figures at the Berghof including Neville Chamberlein, Benito Mussolini, General Von Stauffenberg (person who carried out operation Valyrie), the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and several other kings, dignitaries, and the like.

This video shows one of the meetings of Hitler and Mussolini at the Berghof starting at the 5:25 mark.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH-CJechOJ4

We hiked a little up the mountain and found two entrances to the bunker system build into the mountain side. They are closed up with dirt, but I had read that other parts are accessible from the Hotel Zum Turken, which still stands. So we walked up the mountain and back around to our car, parked in the back of the Hotel.

Above the site.

Just a pretty forest shot.

Johann Brahms stayed at this hotel...

The Hotel Zum Turken with SS troops.

Josie in front of the Hotel as it looks today.

We were the only ones around the site, except for a lady and two kids that passed by on a walk, and it was nice to be able to explore on our own. At the Hotel, the back door was open, and there was a sign that said something about the Bunker, so we walked in and there was a lady behind a half glass window. I asked her if this is where we can tour the tunnels and bunkers and luckily she spoke English and said that it was. She explained that it was a self-guided tour and that for 3 EURO each, we could go down into the tunnels. We talked with her for a few minutes, and I noticed that she had a small box of pins on her desk. I know that Josie likes collecting pins, so I asked how much for the pins, and she said that we could just have whatever we wanted. We picked out three, gave her a few EURO for her help and started our tour.

You start by going down two flights of spiral staircases and then down about 100 steps to the tunnels beneath.

This is the spiral staircase that leads from the Hotel to the start of the tunnels.

The same spot as it looked before.

We were the only people in the whole tunnel system and it was very damp, cold, quiet, and eerie. Luckily they were partially lit. After the first 100 steps, we thought that the tunnels would stop, but they kept turning and then there would be another room and then more stairs down. Josie kept saying, "What if we can't find our way back out?" I assured her that we would.

The same room as the picture above. The gated room to the left is where Hitler kept his watch dogs.

Each doorway had German words explaining what that room was used for and we later learned what some of the rooms were.

The part of the tunnel that led to the Berghof, was bricked off, but the writing on the wall let us know that through that wall was where the tunnel connected under the Berghof. Crazy to think that unknown to the rest of the world, Hitler used to walk through these tunnels. I told Josie, "Even today, how many people know that Hitler had secret tunnels under his house." I certainly didn't.

The hallway that leads to the entrance that connects to the Berghof. It is bricked off now.

Explaining that this is where Hitler, his mistress, and his doctor had rooms and tunnels underneath his house.

We found our way back out of the tunnels and walked just down from the Berghof and Hotel on a walking path. Hitler used to take a daily walk to a little teahouse in the woods, about 20 minutes away. We walked on part of the trail, and came to what is now a golf course. The teahouse was also destroyed by the government and I wasn't sure where it once was, so we stopped at the golf course and just admired the view. Really pretty golf course.

Tunnel emergency exit from the walking path just below the Berghof.

Hitler used to walk straight across what is now a golf course, to his tea house every afternoon.

Next, we finally went to the museum. The museum explained the history of the sites and the Nazi regime in general. We had an English audio tour and it was somewhat interesting. The last part of the tour led to even more tunnels, more extensive and bigger than the others, under what used to be the SS baracks. We walked around these tunnels with a few other people and saw where there used to be underground living quarters, offices, piping, etc.

The look on her face depicts her feelings about the tunnels very well.

An office in the tunnels for Hitlers inner circle.

Then

Now

 It was fascinating how many man hours it must have taken to construct all of these complexes, tunnels, houses, etc. I really wish the Bristish hadn't bombed it all, but oh well.

After the museum, we drove a little further up the mountain towards the Eagle's Nest entrance, stopped at a lookout point high about Berchtesgaden, took some pictures, and turned around. I loved touring the mountain and seeing the sites, as you can probably tell by this novel that you have had to endure, but I found it all very interesting.

We left Berchtesgaden, drove to the tip of Lake Konigsee, it was raining at this point, ate at McDonalds, and headed for Oberammergau, Germany to prepare for Castle day tomorrow.

Josie: Our next stop was a hotel in Oberammergau, a few hours away. Jeff went 120 mph on the Autobahn (every boy’s dream). He followed the Audi that took off right as they passed the sign with three black stripes on it. There were more amazing German farms and rainstorms. We went past a tulip field and Jeff pulled over to take a picture. He came and got me after a second, and led me to a table beside the field. It had little knives on it. Jeff took one, dropped a euro into a container, and we picked our own tulips. We put them in a water bottle, and kept them with us for the rest of the trip:) When they bloomed they were huge! Left them in Salzburg...The forests were so thick and dark—the trees were such a deep green that they looked black; a perfect forest for Hansel and Gretel to get lost in. It made those old stories even more real, with the gingerbread houses and everything!

Tulip field on the way to Oberammergau

Josie with her fresh tulips.

Well, we were almost to Oberammergau and it was to the point where we could barely see, but it wasn’t all the way dark yet. We saw the silhouettes of the mountain range surrounding us and we couldn’t help but “ooo” and “ahh” at the beauty of it all! We tried to keep taking pictures, but that was pointless since it was so dark. It’s one of those experiences that you can’t do any of it justice. 

We had the address of our hotel, but that was it. Good thing it was a small town. We asked for directions at a gas station (I'm glad Jeff isn’t one of “those guys” who won’t ask for information!:) and found the street. We went down a dirt road and I thought I saw a sign with our hotel’s name on it. Jeff didn’t believe me—or didn’t want to—it was outside of the town and up a dirt road. And after last night’s hotel…we were nervous to find what this one was like. But we found it. Knocked on the door, no answer. We finally got the number to call, and an old man said he’d be there in a second.

He gave us a couple of maps, took a highlighter, and marked every place we should visit while we were there—told us what is was, why it was famous, how long it would take, he made a route…he knew everything. His grandparents bought the place and made a hotel out of it. His dad had it, and now it was his. He’s been there all his life, probably. He was funny and very friendly--told us flat out that we were stupid for staying just one night. We said we’d reconsider.

Up we went over creaky stairs, into a tiny room. It was old, but so rustic and clean! It had a balcony. We were so excited that Jeff booked the room for the next night. It was a great little surprise. After a little more research, he discovered that Bob Hope had stayed there before, which made me happy. I don't think Jeff knows who that is, yet...don't worry though, I'll teach him. I did some homework and we went to bed.

Day 1: Hallstatt & Salzburg, Austria

The American-Hungarian Couple Go To Austria & Germany 

The night before our trip we were just so overwhelmed with everything that we considered putting it off for another week or two. I had almost constantly done homework for the past week, especially the last two days, trying to get things done so I wouldn’t have as much to do over the trip. I’m expected to do 40-45 hours a week for my classes. And Jeff works hard and late almost every day. We started off tired…

Day 1

            Our first day we drove through Slovenia and into Austria. Our main stop was Lake Hallstatt in Austria. If you want to learn more about the town itself, you can click on the link in the line above.  Crazy how old some of these places really are. We still find it entertaining to drive around Hungary; it’s so much prettier than Idaho, in its own way. No tall mountains, but grass and trees and blossoms everywhere. Every single house is fenced and has it’s own little garden. The fields are huge and don’t have sprinkler pipes everywhere. It’s nice and warm—the weather doesn’t tease—and quiet. Jeff says he won’t mind driving, because he won’t be staring out at countless miles of sagebrush and weeds. I tried to do my reading for college, but I get carsick when I do that. Heck, I get carsick unless I’m asleep or eating. Dumb. I made a list of things to do while we were driving, and I'm actually going to show you that list:

-       Listen to PTI (Pardon the Interruption--some sports information thingie)

-       Skype family when we’re someplace cool!

-       Read Little Women

-       Listen to conference talks

-       Read How Do You Measure Your Life OR Leadership and Self-Deception to Jeff

-       Research towns we’ll be visiting

-       Whistle

-       Load pictures of previous day and label them
- Hold hands

-       Write stories

-       Read school books/articles

-       Write school papers

-       “Questions”

I I don’t think we did any of those…except the whistling. I got Jeff to whistle through the tunnels! Oh—we also held hands and I read Little Women.

Jeff's phone wouldn’t load for awhile, and we started getting texts from T-Mobile; but of course it was Hungarian, so we didn’t know what it was all about. Finally we figured we didn’t get internet service outside of Hungary, and the guessing games began. Road signs and Jeff’s instinct were all we had. (I’ve learned not to ever follow my directional instincts). We passed Croatia, and were in Slovenia for a little bit.

Then we finally saw mountains! It’s been 3 or 4 months since we’ve seen real ones. But they were never anything like these. They were completely covered with black-green and light green trees. The mix was gorgeous. The sturdy, gingerbread-house-like Austrian homes were adorable. We’ve never seen anything so gorgeous—and we thought Hungary was pretty in the spring!

I’d never seen anything like it. It’s exactly what I’d imagined in fairy tales—makes sense that a lot of them were created in this part of the world! I was constantly taking pictures out the window. I don’t know why I kept doing it, it was always disappointing when I looked at what I had captured. They were nothing like the original sight. Ah well. I kept taking them, thanks to Jeff’s constant encouragement. I’m glad he was so optimistic. I wouldn’t have been as willing to drive that far. He certainly seemed to be enjoying himself. He got excited about every tunnel we went through, and couldn’t believe how long they were! We’d pop out of a tunnel every now and then, catch a glimpse of mountainous paradise, then be swallowed up again for another few miles. One of the mountain tunnels was over 6 miles long.

Every few hours we saw an ancient, abandoned, crumbling fortress at the very tip top of a mountain, overlooking everything. It’s incredible what people used to be able to do without machines or technology. It was nice seeing old things on their own, without seeing the new take over. Amazing mountain drives; until the road got incredibly curvy. Then I slept.

We could tell that there was some kind of valley on the other side of the trees, so we stopped at a look-out spot and saw Hallstatt. It’s a little town completely surrounded by mountains (it’s basically built on the side of the mountain), and situated just above a huge lake. Incredible sight. We wound our way down there, to the other side of the lake.

           

We went to the edge of the lake at first, but a group was singing along with a guitar and that bugged Jeff haha. There were also giant flies and tattooed old men with their shirts off. The town was definitely nicer.

We went through some more tunnels to Jeff’s delight, and saw some little waterfalls. Once I found a free bathroom, I agreed to walk around the town. (It was really hazy that day, sorry some of the pictures are kind of "bleh". But just imagine all the green being 5 times as bright!)

This waterfall goes underneath of where we are standing and then flows through the little town's narrow streets and eventually into Lake Hallstatt

First we descended old steps then walked through churches and their graveyards. There was a beautiful view of the lake over the rooftops and the churches—awesome sight.

The graves in the city actually are a part of what make Hallstatt famous. All of the graves here are within the last 100 years or so because the city simply runs out of room, unearths the old graves, keeps the skulls, and displays them in the church to the left. They decorate and date the skull and for 3 EURO you can look at the hundreds of skulls. We spent our trip budget on other things....

HALLSTATT

The city center was cute and fun. I love the building with a red flag on it. They plant a tree right next to the wall, and it just grows up, right against the walls! So cute. We saw it a lot in Austria.

Instead of relying solely on his directional instincts, Jeff bought a large map of Austria. We unfolded it all the way a few times, and it covered both of us as well as the whole dashboard. We definitely looked lost every once in awhile. After Jeff drove for a bit—and I slept—I felt the car stop, and he told me to come outside. We exited the car, got out our cameras and documented the picture-perfect bright green fields and mountains. The temperature was perfect, and no sound of cars whatsoever. The pleasant silence almost seemed abnormal, but it was so refreshing. I could have been happy there the whole trip.

We finally arrived in Salzburg that evening, after lots of circling, wrong roads, and U-turns. Then we went ALL over, searching for our hotel! (Hence the lack of pictures. It was pretty stressful).

Lederhosen--it was a national holiday that day, so lots of people were dressed up

We finally found it--the Snooze Hotel--and were extremely disappointed. I wouldn’t take off my shoes. Jeff said he’d get a disease if he sat down on the chair. Were we just being picky? No.

We didn't look around Salzburg that night, but did get to see a lot of the town trying to find a place to eat. It was a rainy night and we ended up eating at a nice Chinese restaurant. We then headed back to the hotel and I did homework while Jeff researched where to go the next day, booked a hotel, and loaded pictures onto the computer. Next stop, Germany.

Trip!

Every three months, I am required by my company to take two days off from work and go on a vacation. It's a nice perk and we took full advantage of this opportunity.

We have been thinking of where to go for weeks, if not months, and it was a really hard decision. Hungary is surrounded by amazing places that all seem to be the same distance away. We researched different places and finally came up with our plan. We would drive through Austria, into Germany, and then to the Berne, Switzerland Temple.

Our plan was to leave on Tuesday, April 30th after work and start driving as the next day was a national holiday that I got off from work as well. We ended up leaving on Wednesday, May 1st and didn't make it all the way to Switzerland, but we had an amazing time and I loved Austria and Southern Germany. We drove over 1,000 miles and I would do it again tomorrow if I had the chance. Here is a outline of our itinerary which we will be posting more in depth in the coming days and weeks. We took A TON of pictures like the one below:



Wednesday May 1, 2013 (Day 1)

Drive through Slovenia and into Austria
Stop at Lake Hallstatt, Austria
Stay the night in Salzburg, Austria

Thursday May 2, 2013 (Day 2)

Drive to Berchtesgaden, Germany and walk through the town
Tour the former Nazi compound in the mountains just outside of Berchtesgaden
Drive to Oberammagau, Germany and stay the night

Friday May 3, 2013 (Day 3)

Walk through the Pilgrimage church
Tour Neuschanstein and Hohenschwangau castles in Fussen, Germany
Stay the night in Oberammergau, Germany

Saturday May 4, 2013 (Day 4)

Tour Linderhof Palace
Stay the night in Salzburg, Austria

Sunday May 5, 2013 (Day 5)

Breakfast at top floor of hotel with a panoramic view of Salzburg
Walk to the Salzburg Fortress
Go to Mozart's birthplace
Walk through Mirabell Gardens
Walk through Salzburg Cathedral
Visit Klessheim palace
Drive home to Kaposvar

This is the route that we ended up taking. Counting Hungary, we were in 4 different countries (Hungary, Slovenia, Austria, Germany), traveled over 1,000 miles, and had a great time. 

Pécs ("Page"), Hungary

We were invited by our Branch President and his wife, son, and daughter to go to a concert at a relatively new building. The roof starts at ground level, and spirals up like a snail's shell and you can walk all the way up the roof! We didn't get a very good picture of it, but it was cool. Pecs is a lot bigger than our little town in Kaposvar. It has a university, and is very old.

The concert we went to was an African a capella group of 2 women and 4 guys. They sang in their language at first, did some weird clicks with their tongue and a few crazy hoots and hollers, but they also sang in English: Stand By Me, Summertime, Christian music, etc.

Sorry--no pictures of the performers.

It kind of hit me as they were singing--English really is the main language of the world. I may not have known what they were saying in their African language, but I understood the rest of it. If the Hungarians present didn't know English, they wouldn't know what was being said throughout the whole concert! There are so many people in Hungary that want to learn English so they can get better jobs and leave Hungary (the unemployment, wages, and overall economy here is terrible). Anyway, I'm just lucky that I'm American because I'm not good at learning languages.

Locks. They have couples names or dates on a padlock that they leave on this gate for...sentimental reasons. Jeff thinks it's the cutest idea ever! Hahahaha if you know Jeff, you know I'm kidding. There's also a bridge covered with locks in Salzburg, Austria, we noticed.

The princess...

...and the frog ;)

Here is a wall with VINES on it! Yay...
Whenever I go on about how cool vines are, Jeff says, "Ya--spider heaven."

The outside of an ancient tower.

The inside of it;

and the side.

Our tour guides are in the front: Bettina (Betti) and Bence "Bens-uh" (Benson). They live in Pecs, and are in the same branch. They're both in between our ages (23-24), and are really nice. Betti works as a translator for Jeff's company, and Bence is the Branch President's son. They offered to show us the town, and we had a fun evening with them. Afterwards we taught them how to play Qwirkle (fun game--Jeff and I thrive on it), and we talked about the differences of Hungary and America. They both went to England on their missions. No, they aren't dating, dang it! Not yet...
Bence had a dart board in his room, and Jeff LOVES darts! And is good at it--owes it to playing baseball so much. So of course Jeff won the first game, and of course I missed the board and sent a dart through the head of Bence's paper mache figure.

There aren't enough trees in Idaho! We take so many pictures of trees...we've been deprived.

Behind him is a Turkish building that was painted over on the inside and turned into a Roman Catholic church.
Sorry to take all the focus away from you, Jeff.

City Square. We had ice cream, listened to music, and walked around--just lookin' at all the old things.

Old city walls (centuries +)

Doors to a church. There was a wedding in it!
We saw the bride and groom come out, and the little flower girls throwing flower petals into their path.

Here's the church.

Did you know Franz Liszt was Hungarian?

Backyard view from Bence's room.