An incredibly beautiful place with an evil history.
That sums up Kehlsteinhaus, more commonly called "Eagle's Nest" in English. And it is no wonder how it received it's nickname given it's location.
The view truly is astoundingly gorgeous.
I would have greatly enjoyed our visit here, except for the evil history part.Built as a 50th birthday present for Adolf Hitler in 1939, the house and road leading up to it are remarkable feats of engineering. It was intended as a place to take visiting dignitaries and guests. Indeed, Hitler rarely went there as he was terrified of heights. His home was actually further down the mountain in the village of Obersalzburg.
As we entered the villa, all that I could think was that Hitler, the embodiment of evil, once owned this and walked through it's halls. I left the building pretty quickly.
We had gone because GLH really wanted to see it. The elevation is 1834 meters (6017 feet) and he had never been that high on a mountain before.
He had a great time clambering about the summit, looking at the view from all angles and even doing some "mountain climbing" for the camera.
After a quick look around, I was ready to go back down.
While it was a stunning sight to see, I could not get past its history.
3 comments:
I think I would have felt exactly the same!
My favorite bit of trivia about Eagle's Nest: after Germany surrendered during WWII, there was a huge race between the Americans and the French to secure it. Why? Hitler and Goering had looted France of all its best wines, and it was all being stored up in Eagle's Nest. The French won the race, which annoyed the Americans to no end.
love the pics!
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