We followed the map to the bus terminal further up the hill and bought tickets (€13.50 each). After a short wait (and a few purchases) at the gift shop, we hopped on the bus and started our 6.5 km journey to the top of the hill. The road was very narrow in places with spectacular drops off one side with equally spectacular views. It had always been a dream for us to visit the Eagle’s Nest ever since we first saw Band of Brothers (an annual event ever since). The weather was fairly rainy but the views were still amazing. We reached the top of the hill and walked to the entrance – a long tunnel leading to a large elevator. We were the last to get on and there must have been at least 50 people in there.
It was about 12:30 by the time we arrived at the top which was a shame because we needed to get going to Luzern if we were to make it there at a reasonable time. Since it was quite cold and windy, Will and I went for a good explore around both sides of the house while Lou and Gill checked out the restaurant inside. What a phenomenal place for a house! I took heaps of photos and videos which don’t really do it justice.
Inside the restaurant, we sat down to a lovely warm bowl of Goulasch mit Bröt at a window that Hitler himself possibly ate at. It was very powerful thinking about the past in this place. After a while, we returned to the bus stop and made our way back down the hill felling very happy that we had done it.
We decided that it would be a good idea to head out west using the country roads to meet the Autobahn to Innsbruck; however the roads were slow, and there were a lot of trucks on them. We did get to see a lot of breathtaking scenery and tiny villages that we would otherwise have missed. Once we rejoined the Autobahn at Wörgl, we headed on to Innsbruck.
As we were travelling, we discovered that we had arranged to check in at Pension Rösli at 2:00 which was three hours ago. We took the road in to Innsbruck in an attempt to find a computer with internet access so we could contact them and get better instructions to find the Pension. This turned out to be easier said than done as the layout of the streets was chaotic and we had difficulty communicating with them. We spent an hour in Innsbruck before I found a computer, while Lou, Gill and Will found a nice little bakery and had some pretzels. We found our way out of Innsbruck relatively easily and we were back on the Autobahn again.
There were an incredible number of long tunnels which Will really enjoyed. One particular tunnel was over 10 km long! We had dinner at a Viva restaurant at a rest stop in Austria before venturing into Switzerland. We were expecting a kind of elaborate border patrol with security guards and guns but all we saw was a guy in a box who waved us on which we found a bit disappointing! We brushed the edge of Lichtenstein but didn’t have time to stop for a look. It was around 9:30 when we passed by Zürich on the other side of the lake which looked beautiful with all the lights on. After a few dodgy instructions (courtesy of googlemap), we found the way to Luzern.
The instructions to the Pension were straight forward; however they weren’t correct and so we spent almost an hour trying to find our way in the dark in the narrow, confusing streets. Eventually we discovered a map and found out that we had passed by it a couple of times but would never have seen the street sign let alone reached it using the instructions. The man at the front desk was very nice (must not have been the same man that the web reviews talked about), and after putting the car in the Parkhaus just up the road, we were in bed asleep. It had taken us about 10 hours to reach Luzern (including stops) so it had been a very long day and we were all shattered!