Salzburg, Austria and  Munich – June 21

The trip up the mountain to see Eagle’s Nest was absolutely breathtaking as the road was winding round many switchbacks on the excursion bus followed by a walk through the tunnel that was perfectly excavated and still working well after 70 years or so.  As well the polished brass lined elevator that took us to the top of the lookout point of Hitler's lair known  as the Eagle’s Nest.  The highest peaks in the immediate area are around 2700 meters or less than 9000 feet in elevation.  

A view of the valley from Eagles Nest.  We were blessed to have a very clear, sunny day 

At the top of  Eagles Nest - Karen and Vernell Katsung and Wes Sime

Hitler was vulnerable to panic attacks and claustrophobia so he had the elevator lined with brass to appear larger for his personal comfort and feeling of security.  We heard the many stories of how  Eagles Nest was constructed at Hitler’s bequest and supposedly as a surprise for his birthday.  However, due to Hitler’s fear of heights, he did not spend much time at the Eagle’s Nest. He was also concerned that since there was only one way up to the fortress, that he could be easily trapped and captured. 


Hitler's mistress, Eva Braun, had a small bedroom in this structure & spent a lot of time just waiting for Hitler to visit.  She was lonely and became depressed and attempted suicide several times.  By the way, there were 44 attempts on Hitler’s life during the war years and he survived them all only to take his own life along with Eva in the last days of the War.

Eagles Nest in south Bavaria (Bayern)

History tells us that the Eagle’s Nest was built in less than one year just before WW II. Unbelievable resources and manpower were devoted to this construction and the heavy granite and limestone for building purposes were carried up the mountain by the workers.  The tunnel and the elevator for example have lasted to this day in use as they were originally.  Yes indeed, whatever we want to think about the Third Reich and Hitler’s misguided beliefs and plans for the world domination, we do understand that German engineering is superb and we can learn a little from the dedication and conscientious work ethic therein.

But our local guide repeatedly described Hitler as one who had few successes in his life.  He was good at speaking to large public audiences and mesmerizing the audiences.  He knew how to select people to surround him to get things done.  However, he was not accomplished in any skill other those mentioned above and had no formal educational degree. 


As we headed to Munich, we stopped for lunch in a charming little town named Berchtesgarden. With plenty of time to get on to Munich, Xenia our tour guide gave us a full two hours to browse the area and find out way to lunch. The group scattered and then convened in smaller units for example, Andrea, Wes, Roger and Steve Lindeman found a quaint little outdoor cafe with very pleasant atmosphere for a beer and brats. While hanging out a while we got re-acquainted from our childhood and adolescent experiences at a deeper level than we had ever experienced previously. The conversation shifted around from Steve to others, but he stepped up and shared the history of his high school and college experience which amazed us all.


As many of you heard on the bus later in the trip, Steve had been destined to take over the family farm from his father, Franklin Lindeman. He was the youngest son in the family and his father had a plan in mind to have him gradually invest his time and energy into the farming operation, but Steve seemed to have different ideas. He worked at Wilsons, the meat packing plant in Albert Lea just long enough (3 days) to figure out that it was not his cup of tea. Then he worked almost a year at a local manufacturing job to make his own money to go to school in LaCrosse at the Univ of Wisconsin.


The stories Steve told about his adventures were much like Mark Twain, though in modern times. He bought a house as a sophomore in college; he wrestled and played Rugby and still had enough time to work more and invest in two more houses before he graduated. After getting his degree in business and becoming a leader in the University he ventured out into the restaurant and bar business in the busy college community which catered to a rowdy crowd of kids and young adults who had money to spend and could be unruly at times. Steve had to be his own bouncer in addition to running the entire operation. He and John Perschbacher now have something in common. Later Steve started his own food service as an extension of the bar and developed a large following that still is thriving even though Steve has long since left that business.


Taking a year off from business after selling the bar/restaurant, Steve traveled around the world stopping in various ports of call to work for a few weeks or a month such that he had more money in his pocket after the trip than that which he had started out with. Now that is a lesson for all of us to learn from -- travel and make money instead of spending it in wads.


Lastly we have to share Steve's adventure in boxing as well as ultra-light flying. Steve figured out that if he joined in the local boxing competition, he would get wonderful free advertisement for his bar and restaurant. The only problem was that he had to train hard and fight hard putting his face out there to be punched by the other guy. Steve says he won 10 out of 13 matches during his short career as a pugilist so he must have done well to preserve his good looks for today. Later Steve tried flying his ultra-light plane (without much flying instruction or a license required) to elevate above the ground a couple hundred feet with a banner under his wings advertizing his business.  Unfortunately during a test flight, he went up when there was a little too much wind and alas you can guess the results. Having trouble getting the plane back on the ground, he made a simple error in turning the wrong way which destabilized the plane and he clipped a tree top sending him into a nosedive to the ground 30 feet below.  Ouch, that hurts me just writing about it. Steve spent a week in the hospital recovering from that and he never flew again. No surprise.


We have another "flyboy" in the crowd as we learned that Bob Wittmer took flying lessons intending to become a crop duster pilot when he was young and naive (this was b.k. that is before his wife Kathy came into the picture). He was smarter than Steve however, having taken enough lessons to know that he was not good enough to fly that close to the ground with heavy tanks of chemical around telephone poles, wires, etc.  So he retired early and got into the grain elevator business. But now that the kids are grown and he has some more time, he is planning to start flying once again. Anyone want to get a little jumpseat flying time with Bob??