Austria/Germany 24^th – 26^th July

Salzburg – my favourite city from our 1990 trip.  Bikes out again.  We bought the ‘Salzburg Card’ and spent the next 48 hours visiting everything in the area that we could.  Love to get good value for our money and we did!  The Fortress, catacombs, a river trip, a cable car ride and more.

On our second day we popped back to Germany to visit Eagle’s Nest which is perched atop a sheer sided peak. It was given to Hitler for his 50^th birthday.  It is said that Hitler suffered from vertigo and rarely enjoyed the spectacular views himself.  The road up is certainly impressive, as is the brass elevator to reach the top.  Wasn’t a great day weather wise but we explored the area in the cloud and had a yummy hot chocolate at the restaurant.

While in the area we went to the Berchtsgaden Salt Mine.  After donning attractive overalls we were whisked by a little train deep into the mine.  Very clever use of audio visual techniques to explain the extraction process.  We descended to the two levels via a slide – great fun and the friction warmed our bottoms! 

Today before we left we revisited Hellbrunn – the Pleasure Palace of the Salzburg Archbishops, famous for its trick fountains.  Greg volunteered to sit at the dining table and ended up with a very wet crotch as water squirted up through a hole in the seat.  Nick caught it on camera.  I ended up with a wet bottom when I was ambushed from behind!  All in good fun.  Tomorrow we visit Mauthausen Concentration camp near Linz.