Another day.

Another mountain. This one is all about a man championed by the press and set up as a Savior for a country in turmoil. Oops, I got sidetracked. What country am I referring to? Oh yeah, Germany. Must be Hitler. We went to the Eagle's Nest, his mountaintop retreat. Turns out he was a bit fearful of heights so didn't spend too much time here. And even though we hitched a ride on a bus and then an elevator they should have provided oxygen tanks for the remaining hike up the trail.

The building has been turned into a restaurant. It should have been a museum, I am not sure it's proper to enjoy a meal there.

Geoff, Eric and Emily were distracted by climbing the cliffs.

In the house I grew up in, we had a crow's nest. A room that could only be accessed by a ladder. The view here was substantially better but alarmingly less shenanigans with the crows.

The base of the mountain is filled with bunkers. Four miles of tunnels provided safety when the Nazi's realized they might not be invincible.

We spent our last afternoon at Dachau Concentration Camp. If Disneyland is the happiest place on earth, what is this? I'm sorry but this place was horrific. The iron gate has the words "work makes you free."

This area, to the sides of the trees, was originally filled with barracks built to house 250 in each of the 30+ buildings but each eventually held 2000.

They slept several to a bunk when the barracks were overcrowded.

Here's the prison within the camp. Which made me question, weren't they already in prison?

I'm not sure how to describe these pictures, the whole tour was sobering. The building below housed the crematorium and the gas chamber.

The room fascinated me. I don't know if that's the right word but what were they thinking? What was wrong with these people? How could they justify this?

Yeah. Never Again.

We had a car

and it was parked at the hotel. We walked and walked and climbed this steep hill (this would have been considered a mountain in OK, just so you get a little perspective) to get a view of Wurzburg. This was a town that was destroyed during WWII and obviously has been rebuilt. Geoff served here while on his mission, so after a brief deliberation we made him the designated tour guide. He never lost us try as he might.

We started down here, so I'm not kidding you when I say we went on a hike up to the Marienberg Fortress. Even the guidebook says you can easily walk to everything BUT the Fortress. Who is paying the guide?

The fortress, built in the 13th century was rebuilt after the 30 year war of the 17th century and housed the prince-bishops. Whoever they are. It's not that I don't care, I just kept wondering if it was okay to live like that at someone else's expense.

I am not sure what type of protection these flowers are providing at the fortress but we spent some time looking at them when we were patiently staying out of the rain.

Do you see the little boy looking out the window? This basement room was full of statues trying to get back on their pedestal. Kind of creepy.

We couldn't go inside, but then you've seen one fort, you've seen them all.

This was the entrance to the exit, or the ausfahrt to the einfahrt as they say in German.

This picture is the interior of the Residenz Chapel, necessary for the exclusive use of the prince-bishop? And apparently textbook Baroque. Who knew? We arrived here after our mountain trek only because we forgot to enter earlier.

This next Church was actually the first church we entered as we made our way across Bavaria. It was impressive, they all were. We eventually grew tired of more pews, altars, statues and nuns than anyone can fathom in a lifetime.

The inside was big and dark and cavernous.

This was the Church next door.

It was big and light and cavernous.

The ceiling was grand, nobody likes a plain old ceiling.

Nobody likes plain anything.

All of the Churches were beyond ornate. Almost made you forget what you came to confess.

In the basement of this Church were someones remains. It was spooky even before Geoff stepped on a floor tile that tilted and then rocked back and forth. His eyes grew large. Was it the Holy Grail? Where is Indiana Jones when you need him? Eric tried unsuccessfully to reach the underworld. The rest of us ran out of there.

Another few blocks of walking we toured the Residenz with an "English" guide who was German and didn't really speak our native tongue. Oh well, she had a sweet spirit and we got that someone spent some moulah on that little homestead. It was the new home of the prince-bishop because apparently the fortress was too far from the Church. They were having a car show out front that day which seemed out of place but the DeLorean was cool.

The back of the Residenz was more impressive without the car show and instead a spectacular garden.

The flowers, trees and bushes were extraordinary. And the grass was unmowed and full of weeds. It was still impressive and who doesn't love when the trees make a canopy over the walkway. If you are going to walk all day you might as well do it somewhere lovely.

We went to Church in Wurzburg. Geoff gave a talk. We still had a good time in Wurzburg.

My favorite day

in Germany began with a short and scenic hike to Hohenschwangau, the starter home for "Mad" King Ludwig II.

Before taking this picture I complained that when I got the camera out, the subjects frowned, walked away, put their hands in front of their faces, or turned their back and I merely suggested that they instead smile and put their heads together. So there you go.

When did it go out of favor to include statues of old friends over the garage? I think it's a nice addition. The tour did not allow photos inside but I assure you it was spectacular.

The kitchen was down in the basement, near the torture chamber probably. For some reason photos were permitted here, but not sure if those cooks were original.

The view was amazing in every direction. We hiked down and then took the bus back up to Mary's Bridge on our way to King Ludwig II's parade of homes offering of Neuschwahstein.

The castle was right there (scaffolding and all) if you had the guts to walk out on the bridge. The ground and raging waterfall was a long way down.

It looks like we are the only people on the bridge, and that would have felt more safe, but we are five out of fifty, at least, which does not give you much confidence when the wood was bending under your feet. They say the boards are replaced. . . .
when they break.

From the bridge it was a short hike, with stupendous views, to the castle that inspired Walt Disney. I could imagine a fairy tale ending here.

Do they look right at home?

We rode the horse drawn carriage down to the valley. The driver asked the kids to sit up front with him and insisted on taking our picture. It was such a beautiful ride, which included this view of the castle.

They must have had a good time, finally they're smiling!