This page of photos was taken during September and November mostly on the mountain where we skiied outside of Berchtesgaden. At the top of Obersalzburg was Adolf Hitler's Eagle's Nest, Kehlsteinhaus, or "Tea House," as it was called by some, his unreachable and impenetrable fortress during his reign of power. I believe the Eagle's Nest has since been torn down and plans are being made to build some sort of resort there. If it's a ski resort lodge or hotel, I'm there when it opens! If anyone knows of any different plans, please let me know.

If you want to know more about this place look in an encyclopedia or
something. It was fascinating to see! There isn't enough room here to
editorialize on this one locale, but it was well worth the trip. Following
are more shots around the same area after I stopped in B'gaden during
my holiday on the way back from Italy. Maybe I'll build an Italian web site
with all the photos I shot there.

"Alps!
Right on!"

Above, another view of Adolf's Eagle's Nest. The only way to get to this place was on an elevator that came straight up through the mountain and emptied out inside the house.

I loved to hike. The weather varied in the fall. One day there would be a little
snow on the mountain, and warm in the valley, and then no snow on top, but
some in the middle. Cold fronts and clouds were unpredictable. This photo, just
a real nice shot, was in the lower valley just west of Berchtesgaden. One of my
traveling companions said he once talked with a 68-year-old woman while hiking
whom he swore was Eva Braun. Yeah, right, Joe P., have another shot, pal!

Most people would take the steps down, Joe P. decided to take his ass down, but saved my camera from destruction! This was in the middle of one of our hikes. A group of us went to B'gaden to ski in November one year, and this was all the snow that was on the mountain. A small contingent of us rented a VW and took off for Kitzbuehl, Austria. That's another story.





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The original concrete bunkers built specifically for the Eagle's Nest
shown in the photo above and the one below still lined the hillside am
Obersalzburg in the sixties. I believe they were eventually covered up.
I tried shooting a photo through the peep hole, but my camera and
flash wouldn't fit. I was hoping to find some bones inside.

Again, some of the Third Reich's barracks can be seen
in the background of this photo.


"Sleep well all 'ye ghosts of the war, for your time
has come... and now it is gone."




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"I said a prayer

on a mountain.

Years later

it was heard."

In the military heaven doesn't last forever.
Time to climb back down the mountain and
see a few more views closer to the ground.

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A small, quaint chapel on Lake Konigsee, not too far from Berchtesgaden, sits
in front of the majestic Alps for a backdrop. Totally isolated from other tourist
traps, you could only reach this spot by charter or private boat. Just another
piece of heaven right here on earth.

These two sisters have a perfect, idyllic setting for
meditation and contemplation. In another world, beaches and oceans are beautiful with their white sand and clear blue water. In a space world, taking a ride in a rocket ship must be awesome. But the Alps and mountains... they're just plain heavenly!






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Inside St. Paul's Cathedral in Salzburg, Austria, the
above photo, is where Julie Andrews married the Baron
Von Trapp in the hit movie, "Sound of Music." Julie's
hills definitely came alive in "S.O.B." a later movie
where she bared it all in front of the whole world.
Julie showed her two pert little hills of well formed
supercalifragilisticexpealadocious fame.

The beautiful, ornate paintings were commonplace on the
dwellings and businesses in all the small mountain towns
and villages in Bavaria and Austria. Most of the structures
dated back to the 1700 and 1800's, and some as far back as the 1600's. There were just too many to show the artwork on each and every one of them.

The quickest and cheapest way around Europe was by train. Arriving,
or leaving, was always an adventure for me as we pulled into, or out of,
the Berchtesgaden Hauptbahnhof. A small related story I experienced
follows below about the European trains.

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I was on a three-day pass in Frankfurt and headed for Munich on a German train one cool day in October. As I sat down in the four-person compartment while the train pulled out of the station, there was a huge Russian man bundled up in an expensive looking overcoat and scarf around his neck sitting near the window, and on the seat next to me near the same window was a little old lady carrying a white poodle lap dog. The old Russian was smoking a cigar, which filled the compartment with pretty foul smelling smoke, which the old lady did not particularly like. She kept asking the man, auf Deutsche, to please put out his cigar, and then she would reach up and crack the window a bit. The old man would quickly scowl at her and close the window. This was repeated several times, and went on for almost ten minutes. The old Russian either did not understand her requests or was completely ignoring her. He just sat there and grunted while she was pointing to his cigar and talking to him. Finally, the little old lady, fed up with the smoke, grabbed the cigar from the old Russian's mouth, opened the window and tossed it out. The old man just sat there with a stunned, and pissed off look on his face. He looked at me, looked back at the little lady, then pulled the window down and promptly tossed her dog out of it! She freaked! True story!
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Okay, so enough home vacation slides, and on to the next page. Back to Berlin and we're almost done with this picture show. There are more comments and my e-mail address on the last page, and in case anyone wants to try and sue me for denegrating them via my web site, get in line. When my next book comes out I will probably have to answer lawsuits from my own family!

Photo Page Elf