This summer my husband and I traveled to Europe, to visit Toiny and her family and see some of the world. Now, we were supposed to travel around with Toiny and have her show us all the amazing things – but, she fell (Pride Before Fall) and was on bed rest, leaving us alone on our adventures. After the stress of no longer having a built in tour guide wore off, we embraced our new travel plans!

One of my favorite legs of our trip was our time in Salzburg (and surrounding areas), and especially our one day tour of some of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.

Our first stop was the Kehlsteinhaus (Eagle’s Nest) – a building used during the war, perched atop to Kehlstein peak outside of Berchtesgaden Germany. The weather was not great on the day we headed out, it was chilly and cloudy. The entire drive from Salzburg to the mountain I was so afraid it would be too cloudy to see anything. But, we got lucky. After taking in the incredible building itself, we headed out and up the mountain, on top of the world. Oh, the view! Just standing up there, looking out, it was far and away the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. It was so peaceful and no matter which way you looked, it was tiny villages or beautiful forests as far as your eyes could see. Breathtaking.

From the balcony of the Kehlsteinhaus, this was taken moments after we arrived – see below for a picture taken 30 minutes later!

This photo was taken from the same balcony (the other side of it) about 30 minutes later, the clouds had rolled in – but luckily, we got to see the view before they did!

One of the things that I can’t get over is the nonexistent warning signage. At home, if we were climbing anywhere like this, there would be ropes and signs telling us to be careful. Here, there were no barriers or warnings at all, climb at your own risk!

My husband and I, on top of the world!

Now, I could take you through the rest of our day in detail, there was so much that we saw and so many favorite moments – but I’ll skip through most of it to share just one more from this day. We were on a tour bus, and as our time was winding down, the bus driver gave us a choice. They had a group of passengers to pick up in about 75 minutes, so they could either drive us back to Salzburg or, if we were all interested (there were about 13 of us on the tour) they could take us to the Königssee for a very quick visit. We all chose to go see the sea – and it was so worth it!

The touring company dropped us off, and told us where to go. “We leave in 60 minutes,” he said, “it’s about 25 minute walk to the viewing platform and a 15 minute walk back. Back is downhill. Don’t be late.” Off we went – we could see peeks of the sea between the trees – it’s brilliant color was like nothing I have ever seen before. This is a natural lake, and considered the cleanest in Germany, only allowing electric vehicles passage. It is tucked in the mountains, making it so scenic and serene. Truly a breathtaking view, and we’re so glad we were able to get this ‘bonus’ adventure on our trip!

I was so enthralled with the mountains, and the incredible views they provide. I loved a lot of the architecture we saw on our travels as well, but nothing compares to the natural beauty.