This day we had set aside to go to Berchtesgaden and maybe see the 'Eagles Nest'. I had wanted to go there 2 years ago, but that was the winter when this region had record amounts of snow. It was the time when the roof of the sportshall in Bad Reichenau collapsed and killed 18 people. The Berchtesgadener area normally receives more snow than the area around Garmisch Partenkirchen. The previous day (last two uploads) was cold. The temperature hovered around -15C all day and as the sun disappeared behind the mountains it began to drop. By 21:00 it was down to -18C. I was secretly hoping for a record cold the next day. But in the middle of the night the temperature began to rise. By morning the temp hovered around -10C and the sky was overcast with cirrus. We found out that the Foehn had started to blow. The effect of the Foehn on the German Alpine Region is similar to that of the Chanook in Montana, where large swings in temperature can occur within a 24-hr. period. It always heralds a change in the weather. Anyway we set off to see (hopefully) the Eagles Nest. At Obersalzburg is a new exhibition/museum chronicling the history of the aqcuisition of the property of the Eagles Nest and surrounding area by the Nazi regime and the building of the bunker. During summertime this is the point were a bus takes visitors to Kehlsteinhaus (often referred to as Eagles Nest). There is no service during winter months. So after we looked at many of the exhibits, listened and watched audio/video and walked through the bunker fortifications, all the while keeping our own council as to this past, we were ready to leave. But there was an open road, and since I didn't see any reason not to drive it we followed it through a tall forest for about 3 miles until we came to this valley. This is called the Scharitzkehl Alm and I liked it instantly. No traffic, no people, just 3, 4 cars parked for the people that cross-country skied there. The little hut is called the 'Goellhaeusl' and the mountain behind it is the Hohe Goell (2522m). The first thing that came to my mind was that I would not want to live there, the mountain seemed immediately behind the hut, and I had visions of avalanches. My POV elevation is about 1000m, that gives it a vertical drop of nearly a mile, but the top of the peak is about 2 miles distant as the crow flies. The direction is toward the southeast. Hitler's retreat 'The Eagles Nest' is about one mile (as the crow flies)off to the the left of this picture in a northeasterly direction. This picture was taken on 3 January 2008. Thank you for viewing and commenting on my last upload.