At the end of the tunnel, the floor would rotate so Hitler would never have to turn his car around. We got in the famous golden elevator which was super cool that took us up to the main building. To be honest, I thought it was going to be much bigger but it was actually pretty small. Hitler didn't go up to the Nest very often, less than a dozen times because he was too paranoid and scared. There was a fireplace in the main room (which is now a restaurant) that the Americans graffitied when they stormed the place ('MURICA!).
There wasn't much to see inside so we went outside. There were some awesome views from the top of the mountain. There was even some snow up there. It was a gorgeous view.
The line for the bus was long so we decided to walk down to the main place. It was a nice little walk down. Al and Cor had a snow ball fight, of course. Children.
We did a little shopping then got back on the bus to head down the mountain. Once back in the van, Bernie took us to a spot where we could see the Nest from below.
Bernie then took us to the little lakeside town of Konigsee. Pregnant Jess wasn't feeling up for the little hike so she and Mom stayed behind while Bernie took the rest of us into the woods for an amazing view. A little way in, we saw this guy making little trinkets and signs out of wood. Dad thought it would be cute to get for Mom so we had him make one that said Kemp on it. He said he would have it ready for us when we got back down.
After a few minutes of hiking, we stopped for a great view of Lake Konigsee. It reminded me of the lake in Harry Potter when Harry is riding Buckbeak for the first time. It was beautiful.
We went a little lower to get an even better view and to feel the water. It was freezing!
We headed back up and picked up our sign on the way. It turned out really cute. We met up with Jess and Mom, they were putting their feet in the water.
We did a little shopping then headed back to the van. We went to this other little town to grab some lunch. Jess and Cor went to get some bratwurst, Al got some pizza, and the rest of us went to a little bakery and got some sandwiches. I normally am very picky about my sandwiches so I said don't tell me what's in it, I'm just going to go for it! I didn't realize there were big chunks of onions on it and almost puked. Moving on... we walked around the little town for a while. There was a cool painting about the difference of wars that Germany has experienced over the years.
The artist had originally painted people from the town on this building but people began to recognize themselves and take offense so he changed them all into monkeys.
We then headed to the salt mines. We walked around outside a bit while Bernie got our tickets. They had little huts and stuff to represent what the area used to look like hundreds of years ago. It reminded me of places you used to go to on school field trips in elementary school. We then went inside and got our jumpsuits on. I don't think we've ever looked better.
And now begins one of the weirdest experiences I have ever had. We were in a group of about 12 people - us and two other small groups. They had us straddle this little train that took us deep into the mountain.
We rode the train for a while. Once we were pretty deep in the mountain, we got off and walked a little ways in.
They had this little video set up to tell us the history of the salt mines in Austria. It was really weird... It was kind of childish and it's like they were trying to be funny but it was just weird. We walked a little bit more and then got to the first chute slide. Our guide didn't speak much english so he didn't really explain anything to us. We were just supposed to sit on these two wood planks and not put our feet down. So in other words, I am just supposed to blindly trust that if I get on this little slide, I won't die on the way down?! I was freaking out haha they didn't tell us how to stop or where we were going or anything. I went with Al and was freaking out the whole time. It ended up not being as bad as I thought but it was still freaky.
Cory's face is a good indicator of how I was feeling.
"This is the weirdest thing we've ever done!"
I survived the first ordeal. We then got on this boat and sailed across this creepy lake miles below a mountain. Does this sound creepy to anyone else?! I kept thinking an inferi from the sixth Harry Potter book was going to jump out and grab my foot. We went walked through more mines. Cory kept scraping the top of the ceiling, making salt rain down on us. He kept licking the walls too. Why'd we bring him again?
We went down one more chute slide and watched more of the weird video. I seriously cannot emphasize more how weird this was. Dad came up to me as we were walking through the mine and mentioned that we are currently miles in and under a mountain. No one knows where we are or what we are doing. That's really comforting Dad, thanks.
And then we entered Germany and I was sure this was when my life was over.
At the end of the tour, we got on these super long escalators to take us back up then back on the train thing to take us back out of the mountain. I wanted to fall down and kiss the ground but I thought that might be a little strange so I refrained. As a little keepsake, they gave us little salt shakers. We changed out of our suits and bought our pictures. It was seriously one of the strangest things I have ever done. I still don't know how I feel about it.
We headed back into Salzburg. Bernie dropped us off at our hotel. He was the best! He was so knowledgable and fun to be around. I liked that he laughed at everything, including his own jokes haha he was super fun.
We cleaned up a bit then went to the same Italian restaurant we went to the other night. The waiter was so funny and cute. He was all self conscious of his bald head.
And to end the post, I just wanted to share this little video I took of Cory. Enjoy!
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