The Eagle's Nest and Our Final Hourse in Salzburg

After this last night’s sleep in our beloved little bed and breakfast, the Trumer Stube, Austin and I woke up early to book a last minute tour of “The Eagle’s Nest.” For those of you who are not history buffs, “The Eagle’s Nest” was Hitler’s second home in the Bavarian Alps just outside the German town of Berchtesgaden on the Austrian-German border. The compound consisted of a single story house with a concrete bunker underneath. If I had thought the Hohensalzberg heights and views were amazing, it was nothing compared to “The Eagle’s Nest,” which was actually on top of a mountain in the Alps!

The sheer audacity of the project was baffling as steep cliff faces rose up around the construction site in all but one direction. It was quite beautiful with mountains, valleys, trees and rivers surrounding you on all sides. Also, due to the location of the house at the peak of a mountain, it was quite solitary, calm, and relaxing. When I think of the Furher sitting up there on cool summer days just 65 years ago, I think how oddly his genocidal thoughts contrasted with the serenity and life on that mountain perch. Moreover, I think about how odd it is now that the privileged home of the once unstoppable Hitler have been converted to a bustling restaurant for the common man. Meanwhile, the rest of the compound has been laid open to the trampling feet of tourists from around the globe. It just goes to show how fleeting human life, power, and glory can be on this Earth. It is for this reason that I am all the more resolved to place my ambitions and identity in something far greater than this existence – God.

Therefore, my trip here to Salzburg has been one of the best experiences of my summer so far. Not only did I learn something about another culture, another history, another city, but I learned a great deal about myself. In a world in which I was constantly confronted with the victories and ruins of the past, I could not help but think about my present and my future, my motivations and my life, my hopes and my dreams. So thank you Salzburg, thank you Austria, and thank you my family for allowing me the opportunity to better myself and to strengthen my commitment to my faith in Christ.