Day 9 Where Eagles Dare

Wonderful breakfast in the hotel, more of those great sausages, so it wasn’t a one-off last night, they do the wurst business here. A quick hop across the border and we’re back in Germany again, this time to go to Berchesgaten and more specifically, to the Kehlsteinhaus or Eagle’s Nest as it is known. This was a 50^th birthday present to Hitler and the idea of Martin Bormann. It was used for receptions and formal dinners, the fireplace that Mussolini presented is still in situ. You arrive to a visitor’s centre with the interpretive museum, you get the bus ticket and it’s a 20 minute ride along winding alpine road with spectacular views of the valley below, until we disappear into the clouds. On arriving, the next step is to walk down a very long, dark tunnel until you take a brass lift (Yes!) to the top. It’s now a restaurant and doing very nicely thank you. As it was clouded over there was nothing to see and we weren’t going to lunch there so we beat a hasty retreat back down to the car-park for Beer and sausages. We drove back down the valley and Willy commented that it all looked just like a big train-set, true. Our hotel for the night was in Garmisch Partenkirchen which should have been a straight forward drive along the ‘Alpenstrasse’ but Betty had other ideas and sent us to Munich before turning us around back to Garmisch, the next time I must learn how to change the settings on the GPS. This is a picturesque Alpine town where the men wear Lederhosen and the sheep, what few we saw, trembled. Our Pension was the ‘Ludwigshof’ and it fitted our needs perfectly, there was even an extra bed so Willy could get further away from my ‘Schnorkling’. We went out for a stroll and found ourselves in the Irish Bar which was named, curiously enough ‘Irish Bar’. The barmaid was from South Dakota and I should have got her name because she recommended where to go for dinner and thanks to her we ended up in ‘Werdenfelser Hof’. There was a one-man orchestra playing, the type with samplers, drum box, 3,000 programmed songs, he played Johnny Cash and Elvis. All this was a fine accompaniment to a Schwienehaxen each, more wonderful beer and a shot of ‘Berentz’ Apfelkorn (the best in the World). Time for a nightcap back at the Irish Bar. Tomorrow more and it’s our last day on the road.