We started the day a little later than usual as we were both a bit tired from yesterday, plus it was raining quite a bit.

Headed to Obersalzburg first, just over the border in Germany to visit the Eagle's Nest - the birthday present for Hitler that was given to him for his 50th birthday by the Nazi party .

After making a few wrong turns (some were deliberate I tell you!) we worked our way back to Obsersalzburg via tiny back streets of Bavaria that look like they'd be lucky to fit a horse & cart down, let alone two passing cars! So cool to see all the Heidi Houses up close though. I can see why Hansel & Gretel thought a house made of gingerbread would be perfectly normal!

Apparently, the Eagle's Nest project had over 3,000 men working on it 24 hrs a day & they completed everything including the roads, tunnels, and buildings in just 13 months! Germany efficiency at its best! Tom, our English tour guide, gave us lots of other interesting information (that we've now mostly forgotten) but here are a few we remembered:
- Hitler only visited the site on 14 occasions as he had a fear of heights
- Eva Braun was hidden from sight for most of the time as they propaganda machine wanted everyone to think Hitler was above the desires of the common man (he was practically a god after all!)
- the whole mountain was declared a secure site, the Germans built a fence around it, and anyone living on the mountain was evicted (voluntarily at first & then by force later)
- Eva Braun visited the site much more frequently, although it's rumoured she was often accompanied by one of Hitler's generals in particular
- Hitler & Eva had a wedding that was so short, even Hollywood would blush . They got married right at the end of the war & then 1 day later, they both committed suicide in their bunker.

The building & its surrounds are an impressive sight ... and would have been much more impressive if we could have seen something more than white clouds out the window. There were some huge patches of snow around though so that was really cool (pun intended).

Also met some fellow Perth people, one of whom had never seen snow before so had just built his first snowman ... with his bare hands! Crazy man! We took a photo of course.

Next, we headed back down the mountain to have a late lunch at Echstubel, a cafe right on the edge of Lake Konigsee (the King's Lake) ... which has one of the most amazing views in Germany! Yes, we're on a mission to eat at all the places in Austria, Bavaria and Switzerland that have the most amazing views ... we're doing pretty well so far!

When the waiter found out we were from Australia, he asked whether we had any "waterproof money" with us as he collects the bank notes like these from around the world . I sold him a $20 note!

Mum had a wander through the shops at the Lake & then we drove through the cute town of Berchtesgaden (didn't get out as it was still raining) then decided we hadn't had enough driving for the day so went to see Lake Chiemsee, one of the biggest lakes in the district.

When we arrived there, we decided to rename it Lake "Nothing-to-Chiemsee" as it's just a really big, boring lake amongst farmlands. Looking to the GPS to try to salvage our trip, it suggested visiting a big castle called Schloss Herremchiemsee, a mere 13km away.

OK ... that sounds like it could make this part of the trip worthwhile!

But when we got there, we found that yes, it's 13km from where we were ... but you have to take a ferry out to an island to get there and they'd all finished running for the day.

Thanks you stoopid GPS!! Grrrrrr

The town you leave from, Prien am Chiemsee, was a lovely lakeside holiday village, but I'm not sure what everyone does when they go there!

So back onto the autobahn and at 140km/hr, we were back in Salzburg in no time at all! I SO wish I had my car here to take advantage of the autobahn though! *sniff sniff* Even at 140km/hr, there were plenty of cars overtaking us like we were standing still .

One funny observation about driving on the smaller roads here is that when they do roadworks, they just put up some barriers & flashing lights then go home. How does the traffic get around the fact that there's only one lane? They just figure it out amongst themselves as there are no traffic management systems in place. OMG! Australians would have a heart attack!

Back in Salzburg, we went to the same beautiful Italian restaurant we ate it a couple of days ago before the puppet show & the guy even remembered what drinks we ordered! Impressed!

Back to the room for a slightly earlier night than usual.