Day one of week fourteen started with mushrooms on toast and then we left the campsite at Winkl, drove down to Berchtesgaden and then up a very steep hill to the Hintereck car park for a trip up to Kehlsteinhaus, also known as Eagle’s Nest. The building is situated right on the top of a 1,834m peak and was a gift to Adolf Hitler. It was used for visiting dignitaries and meetings during the Second World War and is the only Third Reich era building still standing in the area. We bought a ticket and boarded one of the fleet of buses that left at 10:10am. Up to seven buses run every 25 minutes to take tourists up the snaking road that took 3,000 workers thirteen months to build. At the end of the 17 km road, you walk through a rather dark, damp and gloomy 124 metre long tunnel to a strange round room with a domed ceiling.
As we walked through the tunnel we were surrounded by a group of Germans, all singing their hearts out and the acoustics in there were brilliant. Strangely, as we all waited for the elevator to arrive, Rodney and I both had the stupidest feeling that we were being herded somewhere slightly evil; we’re not sure if it was the Germans singing, or just the knowledge of the past history of the place. The lift doors opened and the two of us, plus the full choir, all squeezed into the shining brass and mirrored elevator, still the original one from 1938, and we were taken a further 124 metres up to Kehlsteinhaus. From there you can walk up to another peak which overlooks the building and there are also numerous walks that take you out amongst the other mountains and valleys.
It really is a most stunning view and from up there you really could feel like you’re in charge of the world…in your dreams. We didn’t spot any eagle’s, but two crows did a pretty good swoop and glide fly past, while the choir gathered under the large wooden cross and started up their rousing songs again. I had a strangely uneasy feeling standing in such a beautiful place but knowing that such terrible decisions and resolutions were made there.
Most of the building is now a restaurant and we had a quick peek around a couple of the rooms; apparently Hitler’s study is now a store room for the café. We enjoyed a hot chocolate (not enough chocolate, too much cream) sitting in the café outside and then boarded the fancy elevator for the trip back down. It was nice to emerge from the long tunnel and revel in the view of the mountains again while waiting for the return transportation. There are fabulous views from the bus, all the way up and down, especially as you swing around the hairpin bends on the single lane road; we were both glad Eileen hadn’t had to tackle it.
Back down in Berchtesgaden we failed to find a telecom company, but managed to find the Hofbrauhaus for a thoroughly Germanic hot lunch. We ate meat and potatoes, Schweinknacken, while sitting on high benches covered in sheepskin rugs; I had problems climbing up to sit, as the benches were so high, but the sheepskin rugs made them very comfy when you finally got up there.
Our next stop for the day was at Bad Reichenhall where we queued for half an hour at a Telecom shop, only to find that they had sold out of Internet sim cards. The embarrassed and apologetic shop assistant pointed us to the centre of town where he said we could find other companies who would probably not be waiting three days for more sim cards to arrive. With Eileen on a parking meter with only half an hour left, we jogged for ten minutes in to the city centre and found O2 with no queue and spent twenty minutes setting up and purchasing a German sim card. We had to give a German address, despite showing British passports, so we now live in Klaushäuslweg, Winkl…! I quite like that. We got back to Eileen, just as the hour expired and, feeling a bit hot and bothered, we hit the motorway, grateful that we didn’t have to purchase a motorway pass which we had to do in Austria.
We headed west, past Traunstein, to Camping Seehäusl in Stöttham. At 5:30pm we obliviously drove straight past the “campsite full’ sign and found the reception office, unusually situated in the centre of the cramped little campsite, right on the edge of the Chiemsee. The owner was really friendly and said that as it was getting late and we only wanted one night, then if we didn’t mind, we could park in his car spot next to reception and he would charge us only a cheap rate and gave us the €7 internet for free. We didn’t mind at all, so we checked in, accessed his wi-fi which then enabled us to set up our new sim card for our own mi-fi, and it worked perfectly. We were still so full up from our lunch that we passed on dinner and made it an early night
After thanking and paying our friendly campsite owner, we drove the road that takes you right round the Chiemsee hoping for some lovely views of the lake, but unfortunately we only got a few glimpses. In Gstadt, the car park had confusing signs about no campervans, so we continued on to Prien and did a bit of food shopping. Having already seen two of King Ludwig’s four castles, we passed on getting a boat out to Herrenchiemsee and opted to head for Nuremburg instead.
I was expecting big flashy motorways in Germany, but so far they had only consisted of two lanes, no hard shoulder and with very short slip roads on and off; which can make it a bit tricky in a right hand drive campervan. So it was quite a relief when somewhere closer to Munich, the road became more like what we expect of a motorway and we were even able to overtake the occasional very slow moving truck. It was a smooth run on the ring road around Munich and we tootled on up the A9 to Nuremburg, all up about 235 kilometres, with only a short break for lunch beside the motorway. We both felt a bit flat when the mountains faded away behind us. We’ve spent a month on, under and amongst the mountains and it seemed sad to think that there will only be hills and flat lands for a long time now.
A lot of time on the motorway was spent looking at number plates to spot non-German ones; Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Spain, Lithuania, Poland, Netherlands, Denmark, Great Britain and even Finland, I think seventeen was our final total, but I bet there were others we missed. It’s not a game we can play in Australia, all vehicles there are Australian, that’s it, full stop. Back in the campsite in Winkl, there was a big fancy four-wheel drive vehicle from China; now that’s quite a trip! And back in Venice, ew had parked near a large campervan from Canada; we’re not sure how they got across the Atlantic and unfortunately we never managed to spot the owners to ask them.
Around 3:30pm we arrived at the huge Nuremburg campsite and found it was completely full due to some Audi / BMW petrol-head event happening over the weekend, so we pulled out of the campsite in the woods, straight on to what appeared to be a cross between a race track and a giant car park. That put us in a bit of a spin, but a kindly official in a high viz jacket pointed us in the opposite direction and we decided to cancel yet another city and find a smaller home for the night.
The A6 took us further west and then we turned up the A7 to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, checking in to Campingplatz Tauberromantik in Detwang around 5:30pm. We had driven much further than intended and been on the road almost all day. We won’t be visiting Nuremburg, a Michelin two-star city, but we’ve found a nice campsite and will spend some time in Rothenburg, which scrubs up nicely as a Michelin three-star town.
Lamb has been non-existent in the shops in France, Italy, Switzerland and Austria, so when we saw it for sale in Prien we bought some and I cooked it up for dinner; it was delicious and we hope we can buy some more in the shops soon. Now why is it that we eat lamb and veal, but we don’t eat piglet……?
