Salzburg pt. 2: berchtesgaden!

Ok!  Time for some pictures from Berchtesgaden!  This will be the short version; when I have some more time, Joe, and if you're interested, I can type up some more stuff.  So basically, Berchtesgaden is a small town just on the German side of the border with Austria.  In fact one of the mountains that directly overhangs Salzburg is the Unterberg, and basically if you climb over that mountain you end up smack dab in Berchtesgaden.  So the two towns are VERY close together.  This map sort of shows their relation:

So the main mountain shown here is Untersberg ...and if you look at the little names around the edge of the map you can see that Salzburg is off to the upper-right of this picture, and the town of Berchtesgaden is of course near the bottom.  In the little writing at the bottom right you can see the name Obersalzberg, which is the name of the mountain that the Eagle's Nest is built on, and into which the bunkers were built.  Hitler's residence and buildings for many of his staff were also located on the Obersalzberg. 

Anyway.  I am a map nerd, so I feel better now that I have properly oriented you.  :)  (You are probably dying of boredom...so I will move on.)  This picture is fairly explanatory...I took it from the bus we took from Salzburg to Berchtesgaden.  It was a very scenic drive although once again it was pretty cloudy so we couldn't get the full effect.  Oh well.  

The weather was a minor hindrance in an otherwise FANTASTIC day.  I LOVED this tour--it was very very history-heavy and the guide was very well-informed and gave alot of very fascinating and detailed information.  I will give you the very short version here (though you might already know alot of this, Joe):  

Fairly early on in his career (say, the very early 30s, though I'm not positive on the year), Hitler lived in a house on the Obersalzburg (to refresh:  this is the mountain that overlooks the town of Berchtesgaden).  After the NS party came to power in 1933, that house was hugely expanded (though for sentimental reasons he incorporated the old house into the new one) and became known as the Berghof.  Over the next decade large portions of the mountain were taken over by the NS party and it became a sort of unofficial party headquarters--most of the top-ranking military figures and civil staff eventually had residences and/or offices based there.   This of course involved an enormous amount of construction.  One cool thing we saw (most of the buildings have been destroyed so there is little evidence still visible of the buildings that used to exist) were the dormitories built for the SS men (and their families) who guarded the place.  

Anyway all of that is in addition to the bunker-system, which was built during this same period (roughly from 1933-->the end of the war) and was pretty massive.  It was designed for use as a shelter from bombing, etc., but also for used for storage.  As things got more dangerous (so, during the war) alot of business was conducted in the bunkers as well, I believe.  

The last part of the complex---in addition to the town of Berchtesgaden, the 'mini-town' Hitler built on the mountain above it, and the bunkers---is the Eagle's Nest.  In a way it is the most sensational of them all but also the least important, in terms of how much it was used.  It was built as a present for Hitler's 50th birthday (which was in 1939) by Himmler, I think.  The craziest part is that not only was this building erected on the VERY PEAK of the mountain (I got vertigo just thinking about the construction workers up there, it is actually on the edge of the mountain, no joke), but an entire road up the mountain was also built JUST to access this one building.  I think the guide said it cost something like the equivalent of 130 million dollars in modern money.  And the kicker is that Hitler only visited it 14 or so times.  He didn't like it that much apparently because he didn't like heights and was also claustrophobic, and the last part of the way up involves taking an elevator up a shaft cut into the rock.  So he didn't even spend that much time there.  It is fairly famous though as it was seen as a sort of trophy by the Allies...everyone wanted to get there first.  To this day there is still some debate as to whether the Americans or another army (the French?  I forget) got there first.

SO.  I am sorry for how long that was.  That is the short version, I promise.  :)  Anyway if you are still reading at this point...here are some pictures of inside the bunkers!  Not great because of how dark it was, but they still give some idea. 

This one is just a basic shot looking down one of the tunnels.  You can see that in this one the walls are very rough and haven't been finished, but many of the bunker areas  were apparently beautifully finished as nicely as any house would have been:  carpet, plumbing, wood paneling, the whole shebang.  

I thought this was really neat:  it's a barrel that hasn't been opened and has been sitting in the bunkers ever since the NS were still here.  You can see on the top the word "Wehrmacht", the name of the German general armed forces (as opposed to specialized units like the SS or the Luftwaffe).

This was FASCINATING:  it is a room in the bunkers in which a huge safe was kept, which you can see tipped over on the floor.  After the bunkers were taken by the Allies, someone tried to blast it open; it didn't work but tipped it over, where it has lain ever since and has never been opened.  And no one knows what is inside, apparently.  This could have just been something the guide said I suppose, but he seemed pretty solid so I don't think he was joking. 
Another look into one of the side-hallways.  You will notice that all of the rooms and hallways look SUPER bare, in spite of what I said earlier about them being nicely furnished etc. Apparently this is because after the war the Allies turned a blind eye for a few weeks while the local people came in and completely stripped the place bare.  They took anything that could possibly be lifted or unscrewed, right down to the tiles on the floor, the light sockets, the plumbing fixtures, everything and anything.  (This had a lot to do with the fact that they had just come out of a war economy, their country was pretty much demolished, so they had no access to ANY kind of materials or supplies, even if they happened to have money.)
Authentic graffiti from one of the companies that came through here early on after the region was taken by the Allies.  You can see that it is dated the 5th day of the 5th month , 1945.  It also has the regiment etc. of the soldier who wrote it.  I don't know what all the abbreviations stand for, maybe you will have a better guess Joe.  
Walking through one of the tunnels.

I am so sad that this one turned out so dark!  I already lightened it up alot, this is the best I can do.  Oh well.  You will just have to believe me when I tell you that that dark blob to the left of my head [ :) ] is an escape tunnel that was built in case of the bunkers being completely overrun--it just leads out into the woods on the mountainside.  And it is situated at the very end of a hall, behind three different machine gun emplacements... so it was to be used only as a REALLY last resort.

The view as we came out of the bunkers...cloudy but still a pretty view.  

The view looking down out the window of our bus as we drove up the mountain towards the Eagle's Nest!   That is a SHEER DROP, people.  I was seriously freaking out during this part of the ride.  Like, at one point I had to close my eyes.  And was tempted to move to the other side of the bus, to shift my weight to the mountainside-side of the bus, even though I knew this was CLEARLY IRRATIONAL and my weight was not going to make the difference between us hurtling off the side of the mountain, or not.  BUT.  There was NO WALL, or anything.  Just the road, and then this DEADLY DROP.  Oh my lord.  This prairie girl did not handle it too well.  Although it was awesomely hilarious cause about halfway up the guide was like "I would just like you all to know that we have been doing these tours since 1955 and our bus company has a perfect safety record"  and I must have laughed a little hysterically cause he was like "oh someone is nervous at the back?"  It was awesome.  But yeah, I was glad to get to the top.

So at the top of the road we got to ride in the elevator, which I didn't take a picture of, but I found this one online to give you an idea of what it looks like:

And this is what the tunnel looks like leading into the mountain, in order to access the elevator (this one also I didn't take).  The light fixtures are original !  

This is me in the 'sundeck' portion of the Eagle's Nest...sort of a gallery along one side that would have given an AMAZING view, had we been able to see anything at all except thick white clouds.  :)  The windows have glass in them now but originally they were open to the air.  

This is a picture of Hitler sitting on the same sundeck, back in the day.  

And here is a picture I found to show what the view WOULD have been, had it been sunny out:  

OK!  Gotta finish with these quickly as I am talking far too much.  So this next one is a fireplace inside the building...the cool thing to notice here is how much the marble of it has been chipped away.  This was done by American GIs after the war who wanted to take a piece home as a souvenir!  

This is part of the buildings that has been turned into a restaurant.  We had something to drink here before we went back down.  

And this is the three of us on the balcony outside...I wanted to go outside to say I'd done it, even though there was no view to see!  So behind us it is...surprise surprise...white clouds.  Hah.  Left to right it is Alice (she's the one moving to Victoria next year, who I did the first part of the trip with), Sam (just did a degree in Oxford), me.  Not bad for a self-portrait I think. 

OK that is all I've got for now!  Hi to my, like, five readers.  :)  Love, Becky.