Berchtesgaden Trip: Traveling and the Hinterbrand Lodge
We woke up Tuesday morning and rolled up the sleeping bags, took down the tents, loaded up the van and were on the road by about 10:30. The trek from Interlaken, Switzerland to Berchtesgaden, Germany is just over 6 hours. We have a love/hate relationship with our GPS – which we affectionately named Queen Elizabeth because of her British accent. We couldn’t live without her but sometimes she takes us on the most interesting paths and we think she must be having a jolly good laugh about it inside. Apparently today the ‘quickest route’ led us straight into the Ferry line at Lake Constance. Seriously? We couldn’t go around the lake? Nope… across. Lucky for us the ferry was boarding right then, there was no line and we drove straight on. It ended up being the perfect bathroom stop. letting us stretch our legs for a little while as we sailed for 15 minutes.
I’m leaning a bit but this kid is really gaining on me. I love it. He does too.
Heading into the beautiful Southern Germany Berchtesgaden area…
The Hinterbrand Lodge
So, our week in Berchtesgaden had been planned for a year in advance. Our friends, the Bowsers (friends from Washington who now live in Ramstein) had just spent a week there and wanted to recreate their trip with a bunch of friends. We sat down at the Stake Pioneer Picnic a year ago with the Chuggs and Flakes (friends who had just moved to Ramstein) and planned it out. The Bowsers were the brains behind the whole trip. They invited 5 more families from Ramstein (60 people total), gathered us for a BBQ to chat about everything and made detailed plans for food prep and clean up. It was totally organized and awesome.
We stayed in the Hinterbrand Lodge. A previously Nazi owned lodge confiscated by the US Army after the war and now used as a retreat for US Army personnel… for FREE… the only catch… your group has to have a reason for being there and a mission statement. Since most of us are in the medical field, Eric Flake, (Pediatrician) came up with a mission statement about strengthening and nurturing families by having fun and spending time together… (Isn’t that the mission statement for all our vacations?) The Bowsers had to book a year in advance, submit a request and fill out all the required paperwork. On arrival they were given the full tour and pages worth of strict instructions… but between the 9 families it was a cinch. Every family had a duty each day – bathrooms, empty garbages and recycling, sweep floors, etc. Then two families each night prepared and cleaned up dinner together. All the other nights we just walked in after a fun day sightseeing, grabbed a plate, ate dinner and then started into games. It worked great.
The Hinterbrand Lodge is about 6km from Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest, which we past as we drove up the steep hill to the Lodge. The view of Berchtesgaden from the top of the mountain is quite beautiful.
Another cool lodge on the way to ours…
The main part of the lodge housed half of the families, had a huge kitchen, a few bathrooms with showers, dining area, and small movie room. The big families (Johnsons, Chuggs, Flakes and Barclays) stayed in four individual cabins close by which had bunk beds for 12, a fridge, sink, tables and chairs.
Oh, and MICE!!!! When we got there the man in charge casually mentioned that there were a lot of mice this year. …Oh, that’s nice! CRAP. I hate mice!! The first night after spending the evening in the main lodge we entered our cabin to get our little kids in bed. Emily and Luke were the ones to spot the little critter as he dashed under the table across the carpet and under the fridge. They excitedly/nervously told Chris and I who entered just behind them. Chris immediately stuck a broom handle under the fridge and it dashed out again racing around the cabin floor – we were up on a bed and caught a couple glimpses of him but didn’t officially see him leave or where he ended up. Chris ‘assured me’ wink, wink – that he had dashed out the open door. Cringing every time I stepped I held Matt and was about to take a step down the outside steps to the Main Lodge when I saw a mouse two steps below me. Eeekk. Then I made Jared walk in front of me to scare it away while I walked. We tucked the kids in, double checked to make sure we had ZERO food in the cabin outside of the fridge and headed back to the main lodge to play games. At midnight when Chris and I headed back into our cabin, Chris saw the mouse do the exact path from under the table to under the fridge. So he hadn’t left. Instead of alert me he just quietly went about the business of making our suitcases into a wall that would force the mouse into heading outside. Then he casually said, “Um, Lisa, you’re going to want to get on the top bunk.” I shuttered and bolted up there without even looking behind me. Chris made me watch the doorway just to make sure the mouse left. He poked the broom handle under the fridge and the mouse ran straight into the suitcase several times around the circle until he finally ran out. Ugh. After it happened I was kicking myself that I WASN’T videoing the whole scenario from my top bunk vantage point. Darn. Luckily that was our last mouse sighting – but it didn’t stop me from getting a little nervous around the whole place. Lots of our friends saw mice all week. The Flakes had quite the exciting time with a couple mice in their cabin (especially when retold by a couple of 7 year olds) that we laughed and laughed about. Was it worth the FREE housing price to have to share it with mice? I guess so.
On the first night we had our mandatory ‘group meeting’ which we made into a Family Home Evening. For one of the activities Eric made all the kids get in a line from tallest to shortest. We had 39 kids staying at the lodge between the ages of 2 to 15. That’s the size of a small primary! All of our kids had friends their age and they were absolutely in heaven. Their favorite part of the week was anytime we were back at the Lodge just running around the property and playing games with their friends. Remember that Axis and Allies game that Ryan had carried on his lap the whole way so he’d have it here? Well it was well used. Every minute that we were back at the lodge Ryan, Carter, Luke B, and the Barclay boys were playing either Axis and Allies or BANG. They had so much fun. Katie, Hanna, Emma B and Sierra were inseparable – having sleepovers in the main Lodge or at each family’s cabin. Emily, Megan and a mass of little girls and boys ran around outside playing and taking care of the toddlers while the adults chatted and played games. Pictured below: just the Johnson, Chugg, Flake and Bowser kids who were left at the end.
Matthew and Dad standing on the front terrace of the Lodge…
The picture above was on the wall inside the Lodge along with a write up of the history of the Lodge…
Full History of the Hinterbrand Lodge:
In the year 1903, Countess Caroline zu Ortenberg, a member of the Bavarian Aristocracy built the house, and because of her achievement of having been the first lady to climb to the summit of the Hohe Goell, she named the house “Goellhaeusl”. The Countess spent only a few summer months of each year in her house accompanied by many international aristocrats. After her death in 1920, the ‘Goellhaeusl’ was sold by Mr. von Abegg, who, at that time, had his residence in Berchtesgaden. During the years 1920 – 1934, the house was very seldom inhabited. In 1923 the German poet Dietrick Eckart, to whom Adolf Hitler dedicated the 2nd part of the book “Mein Kampft” hid at the Goellhaeusl to avoid being arrested by the German police. In memory of his stay at Goellhaeusl the house was renamed “Dietrich Eckart Lodge”, after it had been enlarged and rebuilt by the Reichsbund Deutscher Beamter in the year after 1927. In 1942 the NSDAP (Nazi Party) made the Dietrick Eckart Lodge an annex to the Platterhof Hotel. After the war in autumn of 1945 the Lodge was confiscated by the US Army and has been used since as a ski-lodge for members of the US Forces and their families. In the year 1950, the headquarters of the Berchtesgaden Recreation Area renamed the Dietrick eckart Lodge, the Hinterbrand Lodge. Hinterbrand, translated means “behind the Brandkopf” which is the name of the peak directly in front of the Lodge.