There were only a few premeditated things we planned to do while in Germany, one of them was to visit King Ludwig’s castles and the other was to see the Eagle’s Nest. Today was the Eagle’s Nest. We promptly boarded the tour bus at 8:30am and headed towards the German/Austria border which was just over 2 hours away. The forecast for today showed a 30% change of precipitation so we were keeping our fingers crossed for decent weather. As we made our way past the city limits we were surprised with the beautiful green fields that seemed to roll on forever with the equally majestic Bavarian Alps in the background. The clouds began to part allowing the sun to peek through so we captured a few pictures from the bus.
Our first stop was the museum which was located about half way up the mountain. In the museum we learned that the Eagle’s Nest was a 50th birthday gift given to Hitler. It was designed as a teahouse and was later used by him for diplomatic meetings with other world leaders. The museum was small and every exhibit was explained in German, so without any English translation, we weren’t able to learn as much as we would have liked. Regardless, we enjoyed looking at the old artifacts and walking around the barracks. We still had about an hour and a half before our shuttle bus was going to take us to the summit so we decided to have a quick bite to eat. Dani ordered a Bavarian pretzel, just to give you an idea of the size of this thing I asked her to hold it up to her head while I took a picture, see photos. We finished off our hot chocolates and headed out to wait for the shuttle. While waiting, it began to rain so we were thinking that we might see some snow on the summit.
The shuttle ride to the summit was exciting for me but was shear terror for Dani. The road had many switchbacks which made it seem like we were driving off the cliff when the driver made a sharp turn. Dani immediately regretted snagging the window seat, but I had no problem pushing her towards the window so I could get a better look ;-) Getting off the shuttle we felt the 0 degree celcius air blow right through us so we bundled up as best we could before getting on the lift that would finally take us to the very top.
Finally, we were at the top… well almost. We still had to hike about 100 feet up the slippery steps before we were there. On the peak we experienced a variety climate changes even though we were only there for about an hour. Upon first arriving, the sun was shinning again which gave us a great view of the valleys below, then came the clouds which limited visibility to about 50 feet. Next up, snow… well not heavy snow but small flurries which lasted about 10 minutes. Finally the sun shone again and it was time to head back down the lift to the shuttle.
Even though it was a looooong bus ride and the weather was cold we’re both glad that we decided to take the trip (it was the only day in which we were in Munich that the tour was offered). We’d recommend this trip to anyone who is thinking about visiting the area, the panoramic view are amazing!
Our first stop was the museum which was located about half way up the mountain. In the museum we learned that the Eagle’s Nest was a 50th birthday gift given to Hitler. It was designed as a teahouse and was later used by him for diplomatic meetings with other world leaders. The museum was small and every exhibit was explained in German, so without any English translation, we weren’t able to learn as much as we would have liked. Regardless, we enjoyed looking at the old artifacts and walking around the barracks. We still had about an hour and a half before our shuttle bus was going to take us to the summit so we decided to have a quick bite to eat. Dani ordered a Bavarian pretzel, just to give you an idea of the size of this thing I asked her to hold it up to her head while I took a picture, see photos. We finished off our hot chocolates and headed out to wait for the shuttle. While waiting, it began to rain so we were thinking that we might see some snow on the summit.
The shuttle ride to the summit was exciting for me but was shear terror for Dani. The road had many switchbacks which made it seem like we were driving off the cliff when the driver made a sharp turn. Dani immediately regretted snagging the window seat, but I had no problem pushing her towards the window so I could get a better look ;-) Getting off the shuttle we felt the 0 degree celcius air blow right through us so we bundled up as best we could before getting on the lift that would finally take us to the very top.
Finally, we were at the top… well almost. We still had to hike about 100 feet up the slippery steps before we were there. On the peak we experienced a variety climate changes even though we were only there for about an hour. Upon first arriving, the sun was shinning again which gave us a great view of the valleys below, then came the clouds which limited visibility to about 50 feet. Next up, snow… well not heavy snow but small flurries which lasted about 10 minutes. Finally the sun shone again and it was time to head back down the lift to the shuttle.
Even though it was a looooong bus ride and the weather was cold we’re both glad that we decided to take the trip (it was the only day in which we were in Munich that the tour was offered). We’d recommend this trip to anyone who is thinking about visiting the area, the panoramic view are amazing!
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