Today Courtnie and I visited the Kehlsteinhaus, which the Allies termed the Eagle's Nest. The Eagle's Nest is rumored to be Adolf Hitler's 50th birthday present; the Third Reich era building sits atop the summit of Kehlstein near the town of Berchtesgaden. The building was used as a "Diplomatic Reception House" by the Nazi party for government and social meetings, and it also hosted the wedding of Eva Braun's sister. The project was completed in 1938 and the elevation is 1834 meters.
The way most people access the Eagle's Nest during May to October is via bus from further down the mountain that transports you to the elevator that's in the middle of the mountain which then lifts you into the Eagle's Nest! However, since it is the off-season, Courtnie and I had to hike up to the summit! Everything online told us it would take about two hours if we followed the road but unfortunately it snowed most of the time we were on our way up, so it was a difficult couple of hours!
We posted pictures of what the Eagle's Nest would look like on a clear day with the surrounding mountains along with photos from the past. It was interesting to see something from that specific part of history that was not destroyed during or following the war.
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| Since this road is not in use during the off season the tunnels have no lights and the road is not plowed. |
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| A guy we met on the bus told us that to hike to the summit wouldn't be easy with the weather, and he was correct |
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| Not a fan of these tunnels |
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| Souvenir shop at the Eagle's Nest |
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| Eagle's Nest |
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| The Eagle's Nest is actually quite an architectural feat! Just the fact alone that the building sits perched on the very summit, but the creation of the elevator shaft inside the mountain into the building is insane. The construction of building on the summit resulted in 12 workers dying during the construction. |
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| Inside the building there is still the red Italian marble fireplace gifted by Mussolini. I wish we could go inside because I think it is possible to see the chipped off pieces of the fireplace from the Allied soldiers that had taken some for souvenirs. |
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| After WWII, many wanted to destroy the building due to its ties to Hitler, and similarly, many buildings in Berchtesgaden were used by the Nazi party and were destroyed. But fortunately the Eagle's Nest was left due to its architectural significance. |
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| The Eagle's Nest was also in a scene of the TV series Band of Brothers |
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| Stairs to a view point |
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| Running out of steam |
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| We had to go through four tunnels by the time we reached the summit, and towards the bottom of the mountain we finally saw another set of footprints so we had the mountain pretty much to ourselves. |
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| Survival Lesson #64: always leave a "pee arrow" so you know that you are still on the right track. Courtnie has many talents |
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| Older photograph of the Eagles Nest |
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| What it would have looked like had it not been the winter time |
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| Photo from 1945 that shows the entrance tunnel to the elevator |
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