Bertchesgaden

Cassidy has been earning Girl Scout badges this summer. One of the badges is called "On My Way". For one of the required activities she needed to plan a day trip. She had to figure out how long it would take, how much it would cost, how we would get there, ect. So she planned out a trip to Berchtesgaden, the Salt Mines and the Eagle's Nest. We had to calculate how long it would take us to get there, and how much it would cost for gas. She also planned the foods we would eat. She then presented her presentation to Stewart. We discovered that we had better go this month, because the Eagle's Nest closes in October and we may be leaving before it opens in the spring. After Cassidy had presented the plan, Stewart decided that a four hour drive there and four hour drive back is a little much for one day. We planned a weekend to stay overnight in Garmish. We left on Friday after school and spent the evening swimming in the pool at the Edelweiss Lodge.

The kids were scared to go into the mine. They put everyone on a mine train and take you underground. Thomas held on tight to me and covered his ears with his hands. He said it was really loud. Once inside they had fun walking about and touching the walls. Pictures were not allowed inside the mine. And since our kids understood the man telling us that in German, I was obliged to comply. The train is one of the things kids remember best, the other is the slides. But upon approach to the slide the boys didn't want to go down. In fact Thomas was ready to walk down the dark pathway himself to avoid going on the slide. But as you see we forced him on the slide. It would have been great if we would have know we were getting our picture taken on this slide, we might have looked at the camera. I was instructed to hold onto Cassidy's shoulders. I was losing her about the time this picture was taken. The kids all had fun and couldn't wait to go on the next slide. They all wanted to go first.

On the way out the kids were not scared of the train. I guess it must not have been as loud going out, because Thomas didn't cover his ears. As we were leaving we all received a small (about 1 inch high) canister of salt. Zachary wouldn't give his up and fell asleep in the car grasping onto it tightly.

The Eagle's Nest
We were not sure we would make it here today. The sky was cloudy all morning. But it cleared up when we left the Salt Mines. So we raced to the bus stop. Unfortunately, we hit a detour in the road. But we made it onto the last bus going up.

The road was windy and the bus driver drove fast. The boys loved it. We then took the bronze elevator up to the top. We had about an hour to hike around before catching the last bus down the hill. Stewart took Zachary and Cassidy up the hill.

It was a beautiful day, cool and sunny.

The scenery was beautiful and we even saw a faint halo completely surrounding the sun.






Thomas was tired and didn't want to hike up the rest of the hill. So he casually posed for pictures.

























After we got home I pulled out my old photos of the Salt Mines and the Eagle's Nest. I went there when I was a teenager. I spent the summer with my Aunt Cissy and Uncle Tom in Germany. The required clothing has changed for the Salt Mines, but the mine itself is the same. I had several pictures of inside the mine. And it was a cloudy day at the Eagle's Nest when I had gone. It made for some great pictures of the mountains close by, but today's were much more impressive. But I did remember getting the little canister of salt then too.