Baiviers head to Bavaria

From Salzburg we headed into Germany for the Bavarian part of our vacation. Headed back to the small towns of southern Germany had us really excited. Other than the cold rain for over a week we had an amazing time and if we had known we probably would have spent more time in this region and less in the cities.

We based ourselves in a town called Berchtesgaden for two nights. Our first day we did the Eagle's Nest and Obersalzburger mountain tour. We used a great tour company (thanks Rick Steves) and learned a lot about Hitler, his attraction to the region and the compound he and his top officers created on the mountain. Most of the original buildings have been destroyed but the underground bunkers are still in tact. For Hitler's 50th birthday, his officers had the mountain top building called Eagle's Nest built. It was used as a place for day retreats but contained no bedrooms. Turns out Hitler was afraid of heights and was claustrophobic so he didn't much like the tunnel in, the elevator up or the views from the top. He only visited 14 times but Eva Brown spent considerable time there. Today the building is just a restaurant as, for obvious reasons, there can not be anything remotely close to a memorial to Hitler.

That first night we found a gem in town, the local Brewhouse or Brauhaus. The food and beer was great. Half the town it seemed was there in agreement. We went back on our second night!

To continue with the WWII focus in this region, we spent our second day north of Munich at the Dachau Concentration Camp. Here we sprung for the 3 euro tour which lasted 2.5 hours. The best 3 euros we have or will ever spend! The tour and our guide was incredibly detailed and really brought to life the stories of what visually is a bleak, gray, stone-covered compound with just a few buildings still standing. I can't do the proper justice to the memorial with my stories but I will just say that we learned a lot about the use of these camps in Hitler's rise to power. For example, this particular camp was built in the 1933 and was used as a labor camp for political dissidents or social outcasts. Locking up anyone is these categories bolstered Hitler's rise to power. It's use for systematic extermination is not documented but that certainly would seem unlikely

On our final day in this SE region we thought we would head to Bad Reichenall to “take the cure.” aka. a spa day. Bad = Bath fyi. Turns out there was a great “therme” right in Berchtesgaden so we stayed in town for this interesting adventure. This therme was like a big YMCA with an elaborate sauna space. The woman at the front desk tried her best to help and explain the system but there was a lot of learning along the way. We just have nothing like it in the US. Well we lucked out that Mondays is ladies day in the sauna. Nudity is definitely the norm so I guess it's an interesting place on co-ed days! Oh and ladies day didn't exclude the 25 year old guy who apparently works the bar inside the sauna...interesting! So this sauna is a space that has a whirlpool, 6 different saunas at different temperatures, a room to just fall asleep in lounge chairs, an outdoor COLD pool and lots of outdoor lounge chairs as well. I think the idea is to move between hot and cold but who knows. We enjoyed it in our way but everyone there definitely had a system. I liked the system of the five women in robes, out in the cold with beers.