So we drove to Berchtesgaden for some delicious cheese cake and coffee, set amidst the Bavarian mountains. At the Konditorei where we bought the cake and coffee, an older lady pushed in to pay for her order first. With my limited ability to comprehend German, I heard her say when she was finished something about "now you can serve the Americans". I blurted out "Australians!!", and she turned to me and said in near perfect English: "Oh, sorry... I think there is a big difference. Have a nice day!"
Then we headed to the Eagle´s Nest (Kehlsteinhaus), Hitler´s mountain hide out, completely destroyed and now rebuilt as a tourist restaurant. Amazing views, overcrowded by aging Germans. There´s lots of interesting photos of the place before, during, and after the war.
On a mission to see as many things as we could with the car, we headed to the town of Hallein looking for the Salt Mines. We were given a tourist brochure for the area and there is a summer tobogan ride in the town of Bad Dürrnberg. SOMMERODELBAHN!!!!! So much fun.
It brought back many fond memories of Canada going up a ski lift - albeit in very different in the summer time.
SOMMERODELBAHN!!!!!!
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=sommerodelbahn&sll=47.654288,13.093042&sspn=0.02515,0.030298&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=14
So we get on this little yellow plastic bucket and fly down a metal track for 2.2km at crazy speeds. Totally exhilerating. Afterwards we all had smiles on our faces from ear to ear, feeling like just like the excited children we really are :) !!!!
So if anyone gets the chance to go do this, we highly recommend it.
For a final activity we zoomed off on the Autobahn to the town of Mondsee, where there is a nice small town on a lake with beatiful views of the mountains in the background. Especially nice at sunset.
Today we see our last bit of Salzburg before heading off to Munich to see it before the Oktoberfest craziness.
Later!!!!
Matt & Shailee!!
