Berchtesgaden & Koenigssee

Yesterday Shanna & I took a USO tour with some friends of ours to the town of Berchtesgaden, Hitler's Eagles Nest, and Koenigssee, a huge lake made by a glacier, which sits surrounded by mountains.  Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate...it was foggy, raining, and cold all day.  We've decided that we're not going to book any more USO tours where the destination is even partly weather dependent.  We could have driven ourselves and made it a day trip, and waited for a nice day.  But it was a learning experience, and while the weather didn't cooperate, it WAS an interesting trip, and we enjoyed seeing it with the group of friends we've made here.

The tour bus left base at 0430, which means we had to get up EARLY...0300 to be exact.  The drive, with the 30 minute break we took for breakfast, took about 4 1/2 hours.  Most people slept along the way, so it wasn't that bad.  When we got to Bertesgaden, we switched buses and got on a special bus designed for the steep 27 percent incline going up the mountain to the Eagle's Nest.  Part of the experience is supposed to be the spectacular view, but with the massive amount of fog up there, you couldn't see more then 15 feet in front of you.  It was interesting to hear the tour guide talking on the drive up, though.  The workers who built the Eagle's Nest were from all over Europe, and were not forced labor.  Italians were brought in for the marble work, for example.  It took a total of 13 months to construct, and during that time the workers did not leave the mountain.  Below is a picture I took on the patio outside...it will give you an idea of how foggy it was.

When we got to the top, we disembarked and walked down a long tunnel.  At the end we got on an elevator made from polished brass on the inside.  It took us up 124 Meters (406 Ft) to the top.  The Eagle's Nest was used by the Americans from 1945 - 1952.  When they turned it back over to Bavaria, it was schedule to be destroyed much like most things that belonged to or reminded people of Hitler.  The Mayor of Bavaria stepped in and requested they not destroy this, and save it as a historical monument.  It was allowed on the condition that it never be turned into a memorial to Hitler or a museum.  In order to make that work, and still keep it open to the public, the dining parts were turned into a restaurant which still operates today.  We walked through the restaurant area, and then to Eva Braun's tea room where the guide told us all about the Eagle's Nest.  We were then allowed to walk around for an hour and eventually met down at the bus stop near the tunnel.

When we got back to the bottom we noticed on the entrance to the tunnel that the front doors (made from metal) had names & dates etched on it.  The soldiers from the 101st Airborne that first got to Eagle's Nest in May of 1945 had left etchings of their names & dates and they are still there today.  It was amazing to see, and I'm glad it was never removed.

We took the bus back to the base of the mountain, where we then were given a guided tour of the underground bunkers in the mountain.  These were put in place to both act as an a shooting range for the SS, store documents, and the event of an emergency, be an escape route off the mountain.  It was never finished entirely, but parts of it are stable enough to tour.  Below is an etching in one of the bunkers left by French Soldiers that entered on May 5th, 1945.

After that we had time to tour the museum at the base of the mountain, then took our tour bus to Koenigssee. The fog on the mountains was actually pretty, but of course, a nice day would have been preferable.

There was a bunch of shops that led to the lake.  I actually found a hat big enough to fit my head for my Oktoberfest outfit!  I was excited about that.  We found a tavern to eat dinner at, then took some pictures in front of the lake.

At 5:30 we all met back on the bus and left to head back home.  It was a LONG day, but we all had a good time, and it was neat to once again see things I'd only read about previously in our history books.

Click here or any of the pictures above to view the photo album.

Shanna's Birthday Weekend

Shanna's birthday was this past Sunday, August 15th, but we made a weekend out of it.  It started early Saturday when I signed us up for a USO trip to Evelin's Spa in Bingen-Büdesheim.  The USO rep was driving, so we all met up on base at 8am.  It was a small van with me, Shanna, and 6 other ladies.  Needless to say I had my headphones ready, because it would have been a LOOONG 2 hour drive (each way) without them.  Bingen-Büdesheim is a quaint little German town.  There were multiple wineries, and you had to cross over a small brook to get to the town.  When we walked into the Spa, the ladies who ran the place had coffee, tea, and water set out, as well as two pound cakes the owner's husband had made that were DELICIOUS.  This was definitely a place geared toward the ladies...they had strict rules for guys who wanted to use their bathrooms:

After the small breakfast they let us know that they could only take 4 people at a time, so the first four went, and the rest of us waited.  The Spa was attached to a small stain glass window shop, and the Spa owner had arranged for us to watch the guy who owns the shop make some of his stain glass figurines.  It was actually pretty interesting watching him cut the glass, solder them together, and make things.  After that Shanna & I walked around town.  All over the place they had grape vines stretched around, going from building to building as shown below.

We stopped into a wine shop where the clerk spoke very little English.  Between the little English she knew, and the bit of German we knew, we were able to buy a few bottles of wine.  Eventually we made our way back to the Spa.  It was lunch time now (which they provided) so we sat down to eat.  The owner had walked over to the butcher across the street and purchased Salami, Ham, and cheese, and made us sandwiches.  Since it was all fresh from the butcher, it was REALLY good.  Then the spa treatment started.  First it was a facial and foot rub, then it was a full body massage.  It was VERY relaxing, but my only complaint was they used enough oil to lubricate a car, so when we were done, you could feel it all over your skin.  The ladies seemed to like it, but Shanna & I weren't big fans of it.  Other then that, though, it was great. As were were getting ready to leave, the owner came over & asked Shanna what her favorite color was.  She told her, and the lady said they'd over heard us talking about how it was Shanna's birthday, so they gave her a free stained glass heart.

Once we got back to base, we drove to a Pizzaria I'd seen that looked good.  I had to laugh at the inside of the place...it felt like 1985 all over again with the old fashioned cigarette machine and the Alf trashcan.

When we got home I gave Shanna her bday card.  I had thought about getting the standard Hallmark card at the PX, but decided to go local.  I walked down to the Rewe near our house and got her a card in German.

I didn't notice until after she opened the card that it said "Geburststagskind" instead of "Geburststag".  That changes the meaning from "A cheers on your birthday" to "A cheers to the birthday child".  In my defense, though, I've never seen a child's birthday card with Champagne flutes on them.

Sunday, her actual birthday, was a relaxing day.  We purchased an NFL pass to watch all games live, and games that have already aired on demand, so we spent the day watching the football games that had aired the day & night before.  We had dinner, then I took her & the dogs downtown to a surprise dessert place I'd found, the Cupcake Boutique, where we had cupcakes & milkshakes.  It was pretty good!  We walked around town for a bit, then headed home.

This is unrelated to Shanna's Birthday, but it doesn't warrant a separate post, so I'll add it here.  Tuesday evening when Shanna got home from work we headed downtown to get our Oktoberfest outfits!  They are pricey, but we'll be using them at least 3-4 times this year, and we'll use them for the next few years too, so it's worth it.  Below is a picture of what we got:

When Shanna got home yesterday, I put everything on, grabbed a stein, and was ready for pictures!  I didn't have enough beer in the house to fill a full stein, so I used apple juice for the picture.  Come Oktoberfest, though, it'll be beer. :)

Ulm

This past weekend Shanna & I did some traveling.  Two friends of ours, Jenny & Chris, had invited us to go with them to explore a city nearby called Ulm.  We met them at Patch Base, got some deli sandwiches from the Commissary, and hit the road.  They have a Dodge Caliber, and one feature that I love is the glove box is air conditioned, so we could leave our drinks in there and they stayed cool.  Before we got to Ulm we stopped in Giengen at the Steiff World Teddy Bear Museum (click the link to read more about it).  Jenny wanted to get a souvenir for her niece whose birthday was coming up. We considered taking the tour, but decided 8 Euros to see a Teddy Bear museum wasn't worth it.  We walked around the town for a bit, then headed out.  

We had one thing we wanted to visit in Ulm...the massive church at the center of town.  It's the tallest church in the world at 161.53 Meters (530 Feet).  There are 768 steps that lead all the way to the very top.  When you see the pictures we took you'll notice how they progressively appear higher & higher...that's because while it's 768 steps to the top, there are "breaks" at various points along the way so you can catch your breath and see the view.  I'm definitely glad we did it, it was a neat experience.  When we got to the last "break" before the very top you could see for miles & miles.  At that point you were 143 Meters high (469ft).  Here's where it got tricky.  Up until that point there were two sets of spiraling stair cases, one that was for going up and one that was for going down.  At this point there was only one spiraling staircase, so people were going up & coming down at the same time.  It was narrow, so you had to turn sideways and slide by people.  I was the only one who decided to go the last 20 meters up.  I figured I'd come this far, I might as well go all the way.  It took awhile to get up because at the top there was not a lot of room.  You had to stand sideways, flush to the wall, to move.  The pictures & the view made it worth it, though.  

After we got back to the ground (which was MUCH faster then going to the top, I might add), we walked around the town for a bit.  There wasn't too much to see, so we stopped at a local tavern and had a few drinks.  After that we stopped at an Italian place that was right along a brook with a large turning water wheel.

The pizza was AMAZING there...if we're ever back in Ulm again we'll definitely be heading back there.  After that we headed back home.  It was a lot of fun, the church was neat, but mostly it was nice to spend the day with new friends.


Sunday was a relaxing day where we didn't do much, but one thing of note is we went to Stuttgart's Summer Fest.  That's right, another fest.  During the summer months they seem to have one fest or another every single weekend.  There wasn't anything too special about this one, it was live music, food, and drinks, but it was nice to walk around with the dogs downtown.  Normally we take the Ubahn, but it was a nice afternoon so we decided to walk there.  We had dinner at a Spanish food tent that was set up...it was good.  I had to laugh at how acclimated we've become to the price of beer here, though.  The place we ate charged 3.30 Euros for a 12 oz beer and we both had the same thought...wow, that's expensive.  We've really gotten used to the half liter (17oz) beers that usually cost between 1.50 to 2 Euros.  Afterwards we walked back home, put on some TV, and called it a night.  Below is a picture of Murphy sitting under the table while we ate.  What you can't see is Milo is under me, sitting down, so people would walk by, see them, and get a big kick out of it.  A few kids even came up to pet them.

One last thing before I post the link to the pictures.  If you look at the picture of the church I posted above (the larger one on the website I'm going to link to below) you'll see the design at the very top.  For perspective, I posted a shot that I took while looking straight up at the top of the church while I was on top...it shows you how high up we were off the ground.


Click here to see the pictures, or click any picture in the post above.