Saltzberg

We picked up our car and left Munich. We drove to Jechling, Germany. We were so close to the border that our phones were connected to Austrian cell towers. We pulled into our lovely apartment after stopping to play at a park. We got dinner ready and went to sleep planning to see many amazing things tomorrow (though we didn’t know what).

In the morning we woke up and had breakfast. Then we left to go to The Eagles Nest. The Eagle’s Nest was built by Martin Bormann starting in mid-1937 Hitler only visited fourteen times in his life even though it was built especially for him. He didn’t like it as he was afraid of heights and he did not like the elevator up from the road to the house as he was afraid it would be struck by lightning. He was never told that it was struck by lightning two times during construction. We walked outside and up the cliff aways. I climbed on the rocks and we saw the incredible Alps. The fog was right at the edge of the mountain so on one side you could see for miles but on the other, you couldn’t see ten feet. We went back down for some food and I got the spaghetti. It was so good. The fireplace in the room was a gift to Hitler from Mussolini, the leader of Italy at the time. After the capture of the Eagle’s Nest by Allied Forces, the troops decided that they wanted souvenirs so they began chipping pieces of the marble fireplace off. They only stopped when the US Government said that doing so would be considered a crime of theft from the US Government. We rode the elevator back down and got on our shuttle bus to the bottom like we had come up. The road twists and goes through tunnels and is only 13 feet wide! It was crazy in a long bus. We got in our car at the bottom and drove home.

The next morning we drove to Saltzberg and did the salt mine tour. We got on ugly mining suit things and hopped aboard a small train-bench. then we drove into the mountain I could not have stood in the tunnel. We got off in a huge cavern and saw a laser show about how salt is formed. and then slid down a wooden slide to the bottom of the pit. We went fast! We continued walking to a 3d model of the mine. It showed where salt has been mined over the years and how it was mined. We kept going deeper and deeper until we reached an open cavern but something wasn’t right when we looked over the railing to the floor we saw ourselves. The area was called Mirror lake and it is so still that it reflects everything. you can even see the roof. We took a boat across accompanied by more cool lights showing the reflection. We went up a small inclinator before walking to the little bench train. We rode it out into daylight and sun! We got our picture from the slide and some salt and went home.

Today we went to Eisriesenwelt. Now I know that sounds like the house of an odd ruler or an exotic disease but it is actually a natural ice cave. Only the first 1km is icy and the rest of the 42km into the mountain is just regular cave. We decided to do a tour of the caves. Now, most people would expect large lights and metal staircases but we were amazed to find all the light in the cave was provided by us carrying Carbide lamps and some magnesium carried by our guide. We walked up 700 stairs on the 1km walk into the mountain and as we went we saw where staircases and handrails were being consumed by the ice over time. We went up some massive ice slopes and even through a tunnel that had been carved under the “Ice giants castle” we saw all the old staircases sticking out of the ice above us. We saw an ice lake and went up at the steepest point a 45* angle. We also meet some Canadians who we learned were also lacrosse fans! All in all, we had a great day! We left cold but happy bound for more adventures soon!