Europe by van Day 26

It rained during the night but our boatbuilder’s work held fast and we suffered no leaks.

We drove back up the hairpin bends to the bus departure point where we bought our tickets for the Eagles Nest €62. Three electric buses depart in convoy every half hour. There are several huge car parks and bus parks for the many tour buses so we were lucky to get going early with a place on the first bus, wearing our masks. Only those buses and a few certified vehicles are allowed to use the single track road which had vertiginous drops to the valley floor, hairpin bends and tunnels to reach the platform at the top. From there is was a walk along a tunnel to the gold elevator which whisked us up through the mountain to arrive at the Eagles Nest. (There was a path that said it took 25 minutes but we didn’t think it was worth it as we couldn’t see anything for cloud). The building itself is mainly a cafe though what was Hitler’s sun terrace was given over to a photo exhibition explaining the history of the building.

On returning to the car park we had a look at the museum which was huge and so oddly laid it it was hard to find our way round. There were postcards, photo albums and stories about victims of the Nazi period. We went into the bunkers, some of which had graffiti from displaced persons in 1947. Both the French and 101st Airborne claim to have entered Hitler’s stronghold first in 1945. (I’m not into war films but was persuaded to watch the HBO miniseries “Band of Brothers” about Easy Company and their struggles on D Day, Holland, Battle of the Bulge and entering Eagles Nest. There were so many good actors in it, including Damien Lewis. I liked it for many reasons, one of which was the participation is some of the actual soldiers talking about their memories).

Just as we got back to the van we heard a commotion on the road - shouting and bells clanging. It was a herd of cows, with elaborate headdresses, (the lead cow had a cross on its head) being brought down presumably from summer pastures. The young women were wearing national costume and soon another lot appeared, led by the chap in my blip. It was such a caricature I had to choose it. He really hammed it up for me.

We had a sandwich in the van and planned the rest of the day. We drove about 20 minutes to Ramsau to see the church of St Sebastian. Parking was €5 and then we walked the 2 miles to see it. It’s a pretty church, by a small glaciated river, a wooden bridge and (apparently, as the cloud was down) with a beautiful Alpine backdrop.

Then we decided to forgo the waterfalls and grit roads of a mountain pass for the
motorway and good roads to Bad Tolz, a traditional Bavarian town where we got free parking at a sports centre. I’m watching children playing on bikes and scooters at the skatepark beside the van.

We drove 111 miles.