A Traveled Grad Student: Day 9-Monday... Munich Area!

Today's adventure began with a 2+ hour car ride to the Eagle's Nest near Berchtesgaden, Germany. The Eagle's Nest was a private retreat given to Hitler on his 50th birthday. Getting to the Eagle's Nest proved to be a little more difficult then anyone intended. 2 vans were required to transport everyone to the Eagle's Nest, while the 3rd van headed in the opposite direction to check out Ludwig's Castle. The fastest route to the Eagle's Nest required a short, but expensive, jaunt through Austria. Apparently, the Austrian Autobahn is a toll road and if you do not stop to pay the toll, prior to entering Austria, a 120 euro fine is handed out by a 'friendly, English-speaking' Austrian once you cross that border. That was interesting, but nevertheless we persevered! We finally found our way up the winding roads of the Austrian Alps to the bus stop that takes you the rest of the way up to the Eagle's Nest. It is required to take a bus since it is a one-way road past the bus station. Once you make the journey up on the bus, to a small landing area, a short 2 minute elevator ride takes you up the final distance. The elevator ride was very short, the line to get on the elevator was very long! But at least we were out of the rain. The view once we got off the elevator was spectacular!! A short hike up a little higher and the view was even more breath-taking!

View of the Alps along the trip to Berchtesgaden

Sweet car we saw at the train station

View from the top of the Eagle's Nest

Me with the gorgeous view behind

The Eagle's Nest, from the bus drop off

Bus drop off, through the tunnel was the elevator to the top

The clouds starting to roll in

Motorcycle parking at the Eagle's Nest. Notice the trike with the 2 wheels in the front? Interesting!

Dave and Adrian at the top of the Eagle's Nest

Snow at the top!

KSU!!

Kyle posing

After we finished up at the Eagle's Nest we began the journey back to Freising, with a pit-stop in Salzburg, Austria for some shopping!! Salzburg is the birthplace of Mozart and also the setting for 'The Sound of Music'. Today is a religious holiday in Germany so pretty much all the shops (except a few souvenir shops) are closed. We were hoping they didn't celebrate this holiday in Austria, but no such luck! We did find a flee-market type event going on along the Salzach River, so we checked that out! After a little shopping we found a cozy little Greek restaurant and had a wonderful supper before heading back to Freising.