Austria to Germany

Before leaving Salzburg and making our way back into Germany, we toured the Hellbrunn Palace.  It is an early Baroque villa of palatial size and was built in 1613-19 by Markus Sittikus von Hohenems, Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, and named for the "clear spring" that supplied it.  Hellbrunn was only meant for use as a day residence in summer, as the Archbishop usually returned to Salzburg in the evening.  Therefore, there is no bedroom in Hellbrunn.

The schloss is also famous for its jeux d'eau ("watergames") in the grounds, which are a popular tourist attraction in the summer months.  These games were conceived by Markus Sittikus, a man with a keen sense of humor, as a series of practical jokes to be performed on guests.  Notable features include stone seats around a stone dining table through which a water conduit sprays water into the seat of the guests when the mechanism is activated, and hidden fountains that surprise and spray guests while they take part on the tour.  Other features are a mechanical, water-operated and music-playing theatre built in 1750 showing various professions at work, a grotto and a crown being pushed up and down by a jet of water, symbolising the rise and fall of power. At all of these games there is always a spot which is never wet: that where the Archbishop stood or sat, to which there is no water conduit and which is today occupied by the tour guide.

We also visited the famous gazebo from the "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" scene from The Sound of Music.  The gazebo interiors were shot on a Hollywood sound stage, only long shots of the Austrian gazebo are seen in the film.  The gazebo was originally situated in the garden of Schloss Leopoldskron.   The gazebo was later moved to the other side of the lake to allow tourists to visit it, but after their numbers became too big it was again relocated to the Hellbrunn Palace.  Two more interesting facts about this gazebo is that on the first take of filming, Charmian Carr (Liesl) slipped while leaping across a bench, and fell through a pane of glass.  Although she was not badly injured, her ankle was hurt and the scene was later shot with her leg wrapped and makeup covering the bandages.  And they have to keep the gazebo locked at all times to the public because film fans who were considerably older than "sixteen going on seventeen" were injuring themselves while trying to dance and leap along the seats.  That's hilarious because we all tried to do the same thing but the door was locked!

We decided to visit the Salzwelten Salt Mine on our way out of town.  It is an underground salt mine located in the Dürrnberg plateau above Hallein, Austria.  The mine has been worked for over 7,000 years since the time of the Celtic tribes and earlier.  It helped ensure nearby Salzburg that Austria would become a powerful trading community.  Since World War I, it has served as a mining museum, known for its long wooden slides between levels.

There are several tunnels in the mine and they descend all of the way to Hallein.  Early mining was done by hand and extracted salt rock crystals as a solid.  To improve efficiency, fresh water would be pumped into a cavern.  After several weeks of absorbing salt from the walls, the water was pumped out to a processing plant in Hallein.

An 1829 treaty between Austria and Bavaria was created since the mine actually crosses under the border into Bavaria.  The treaty stipulates that up to ninety Bavarian farmers are allowed to work in the mine.

After purchasing our tickets, we had about an hour to kill, so we wandered through the mine's bookstore and giftshop and toured the Celtic village.  We walked up a really steep hill to the church and listened to a string quartet rehearse for an upcoming concert.  The music was beautiful and the acoustics were amazing.  We finished touring the village learning about the Celtics and its mining community, and went back down for our salt mine tour.

It is a 90 minute guided tour which covers 1 kilometer.  We had to put on white coveralls to protect our clothes inside the mine.  After we donned our white coveralls, we walked outside and up the stairs to the tunnel.  The train appeared and we all squished together, straddling it, for a fun ride through the tunnels of the mine.  It is a 400 meters (1,300 ft) electric train ride into the mine which leads to two sets of 42 meters (138 ft) wooden slides.  When we entered the mine, we got off the train for the walking tour.  The guide told stories and there were animatronics and displays throughout the mine of the salt and miners.   We straddled two wooden rails and slid quickly down to a lower level of the mine.  At one point there were seven slides for the miners to exit but now they only have two for the public to experience.  It was so much fun and we raced each other.  Joe and I came out the champs!  There is also a boat trip across an underground lake before exiting the mine.  It was a lot of fun and we really had a great time.

 All squished and cuddly on the train ride.  It was cold in there so I was glad we could all cuddle.

 Here are the pictures of us walking through the tunnels of the mine.

 

Amber has one foot in Germany and one foot in Austria

 These are the pictures of the slides to the lower levels of the mine.

 

These are the pictures on the boat ride.

 

 

After our salt mine tour, we headed to Berchtesgaden to visit the Eagle's Nest.  We were following our GPS through the small towns when the main road we were on became closed due to construction.  We could see where the construction started and ended but they would not let us pass through.  They wanted us to detour all the way back through the village and around it to get to the other side which was probably a 30-40 minute drive.  Joe found a really narrow single lane shortcut road that headed straight up a hill through some houses that would put us out on a side road perpendicular to the construction road.  We decided to take a chance and squeezed our big van along the road, praying that it would make it and that the road wasn't a dead end.  When we got to the top of the hill, there was a metal gate barricade across the road.  There was no way that we could get through it in the van.

As we pulled up to it, a mailman was just leaving in his truck.  Joe honked and hollered out to him in German and he stopped and got out.  Joe asked him if there was any way to get through the gate.  The mailman stated that this was a border gate between Austria and Germany and it had been closed for 20 years.  Nobody had passed through that barrier for that long.  They talked for a few minutes and then the mailman pulled some keys out of his pocket.  He had a key to the padlock on the gate.  We could not believe it!  He unlocked the gate, we drove through, and he locked it back up.  We were yelling our thanks out the windows and Joe tried to tip him.  He refused the tip but finally gave in when Joe got out of the van and insisted.  He shook his head as he got back into his mail truck.  Crazy Americans!

We were on our way laughing at the entire situation and when we passed the construction we could see that they were only working on a little section of the road.  It was ridiculous that it was completely closed.  We saved so much time by pressing our luck on that tiny little road.  And we sure got lucky by meeting that mailman!

We didn't grab a picture of the gate but we did get one of the sign!

Pausing to take pictures of those clouds rolling in over the mountains and the beautiful green fields

We arrived at the Kehlsteinhaus (Eagle's Nest), a chalet-style structure situated on a ridge at the top of the Kehlstein mountain at an altitude of 6,017 feet.  You have to ride a bus along a 4 mile long and 13 foot wide road to reach the Eagle's Nest.  It includes five tunnels but only one hairpin turn and climbs 2,600 feet.  It was built as an extension of the Obersalzberg complex erected by the Nazis in the mountains above Berchtesgaden.  The Kehlsteinhaus was intended as a 50th birthday present for Adolf Hitler to serve as a retreat and a place for him to entertain visiting dignitaries.

The last 407 ft. up to the Kehlsteinhaus are reached by an elevator bored straight down through the mountain and linked via a tunnel through the granite below that is 407 ft. long or you can hike the trail up the mountain to reach the summit.  The inside of the large elevator car is surfaced with polished brass, Venetian mirrors and green leather (the elevator is still used daily).  Construction of the mountain elevator system cost the lives of 12 construction workers. The main reception room is dominated by a fireplace of red Italian marble, presented by Mussolini.  Damage to the fireplace was caused by Allied soldiers chipping off pieces to take home as souvenirs.

Although the site is on the same mountain as the Berghof, Hitler rarely visited the property.  Apparently he got altitude sickness so it has been suggested he only visited the Kehlsteinhaus around 10 times, and most times for no more than 30 minutes.  As a result of the lack of close association with Hitler, the property was saved from demolition at the end of the war.

Today the building is owned by a charitable trust, and serves as a restaurant.  The restaurant features an indoor dining area and an outdoor beer garden.   The lower rooms are not part of the restaurant but can be visited with a guide.  They offer views of the building's past through plate-glass windows.  Graffiti left by Allied troops is still clearly visible in the surrounding woodwork.   It is a popular tourist attraction and can be reached on foot (two hours of walking) or by bus from Obersalzberg, the road having been closed to normal traffic since 1952.

Poor Marquessa!  She just looks COLD!

The bus ride to Eagle's Nest was amazing.  It was windy and the road was so narrow.  At one point I thought we had hit a walking tourist.  We were inches away from her.  The girls and Sam got tickets to ride the elevator but of course, Joe planned on taking the hiking trail so Jake opted to hike with him.  They started hiking and we would meet them at the top.  The views were spectacular but it was really cold on that mountain.   We walked through the building, saw the restaurant, and looked at the museum portion with the posters of information explaining its use during the War.  Then we went outside to hike around and take pictures.  The clouds were really low and it was a little bit windy.  I was freezing. 

The boys were busy hiking all over the rocks and the girls were busy shivering and taking pictures.  Sam climbed up to that rock first and we were trying to get Joe and Jake to get up there quick so we could get a picture of all three of them but they couldn't hear us yelling so Sam got down first and was hiking somewhere else while Jake and Joe hiked to that rock.  There was another man there and he would not move for about 10 minutes.  He would stand up and adjust his pants, or his legs, or his camera or whatever and then sit back down.  We were laughing so hard and yelling and motioning at our boys to just push him off so that Sam could get up there.   Sam was oblivious to all of this while he was hiking so when we showed him the picture, he joked that people would just think that "he had really let himself go" over the past few years.  

When we were done hiking and when I couldn't take the cold any longer, we hopped back in line to ride the elevator back down while Joe and Jake started the trek down the mountain.  When we all met back together, we grabbed a snack at the gift shop and waited for our bus ride back.  Within five minutes of sitting on the bus, rain clouds started rolling in really quickly and it was pouring by the time we got back down to the parking lot.  We raced to the van and headed to Munich to check into the Holiday Inn.