Last year, Loraine came home from France with airplane parts. This year, she’s going home with parts of Adolph Hitler’s driveway.
We spent the day around the Berchtesgaden, Germany area, an area that Tony the Tour Guide knows like the back of his hand because he spent most of the 90s working here. As a result, we were able to see all kinds of things off the beaten path, things most people aren’t even aware of, including the location of what basically amounted to Hitler’s second home.
That’s all that’s left of the place, which was bombed by the Allies during the last days of the war and then destroyed—except for this wall—by the German government in the early 1950s. Because Tony’s spent so much time around here, he knew that the final blast blew brick and concrete down the hill on which the house sat, so we spent a few minutes walking around and looking for souvenirs, where Loraine found not only brick from the driveway but pieces of camouflage netting that had been placed over the house.
Now we just need someone to perform some kind of ceremony to remove whatever residual evil spirits may reside in the brick!
Otherwise, it was just a day of “ooh”-ing and “aah”-ing over some incredible scenery. You know, scenery like this—
Here’s a picture that just, I‘m sure, does not do justice to the way it looked in real life—
It’s a meadow that sits between three sheer cliffs of rock, each reaching at least 2,000 feet in the air. When we turned the corner to come in to the meadow, my jaw dropped and my camera came out. Like I said, no picture could ever do it justice. I’m just glad I got to see it in person
Here’s what we looked at while we ate lunch—
It’s a lake called Konigssee, which like the meadow also sits between sheer cliff walls. It’s part of the German national park around Berchtesgaden, and it’s a lake ringed with hiking trails. The place was packed, but with views like this, you can see why!
And speaking of Berchtesgaden, we got to see the city from an entirely different angle than most people—
Tony almost killed the rental car getting up the hill to see this view, but I’d say it’s worth a few stripped gears and some burning transmission fluid, right?
Okay...now onto today’s animal news. First of all, they found the cow that had been missing down here for almost a month. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, read the blog I wrote a couple of weeks ago (you'll find it under "August" on the right hand side of the page) called “Beware the Cow”. As it turns out, Yvonne the Cow was found safe a hundred or so kilometers from here in a little town called Muehldorf. It appears Germany’s long national nightmare is over.
Here’s a German dog (although not a German Shepard) who wants to say “hey” to everyone reading this—
And here are the rules German dog owners have to follow when they’re out with their pets!
On the whole, though, it seems the dogs over here are a lot mellower than American dogs. They don’t bark as much, and they actually obey their masters when told to do something.
So...nice doggie!
Finally, I SO wish I had space in my suitcase for this—
It’s a 5 kilo container (over 10 pounds) of Nutella. Or as I would call it, a good dinner.
Tomorrow, back to Austria for one last day of fun.
(jim@wmqt.com)
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