2011 - Switzerland, Austria - Day 4 - Bavarian Alps, Germany and Salzburg, Austria

We had planned to go to Hitler’s Eagele’s Nest this morning, but a big rock had fallen in the road, so it was closed. So we took a little Sound of Music tour and drove into the Bavarian Alps in Germany and saw the Eagle’s Nest and where Hitler’s home was. For the Sound of Music tour, we saw the real Abbey where Maria taught. Then we saw the mansion on the lake that they used as the back side of the house in the film, and we saw the tree lined street they were in the trees, and the gazebo. Mom loved all this, since that is her all time favorite movie. And of course, the Mirabell gardens from yesterday had several scenes in the movie. We then crossed into Germany and drove through the Bavarian Alps as far up the mountains as we could. We stopped at the top and we were really close to Hitler’s Eagle Nest and could see it very well. The Eagle’s Nest was built on a mountain peak above Hitler’s home. It was used mainly to impress diplomats. He didn’t use it much because he was afraid of heights. His house was bombed at the end of the war, and only part of a wall remains. Now there is a hotel/resort built there. We saw that well from where we were as well. Amber and I went on a short little hiking trail and got some good pictures. It was absolutely gorgeous. It was a very beautiful drive. We then drove towards Salzburg. We saw the cathedral from the road where the wedding took place in the movie, near the beautiful Mondsee lake. We drove through the city of Melk, where a huge cathedral was, and drove along the Danube for several miles. We got to our hotel in Vienna around 5:00 p.m. Some of our group paid for a night out with dinner and entertainment. We had to pick and choose our excursions, since we didn’t have the money to do all of them. We chose to do the sightseeing excursions, and skipped the dinners and entertainment ones. I like to see as much as I can. I can go without food and just eat snacks just fine. But Amber and I decided to see what was near the hotel. We walked for a few blocks, and decided on a little place selling Snitchels. I got a Snitchel sandwich for 3 Euro, and Amber got a fish sandwich.