#so he spent like 20 minutes creating a layout like looking up guides on the perfect basic sprinkler layout for h is crops

[bluefuecoco]

playing stardew with someone who’s entirely unmodded like huh, i sure hope my mods dont accidentally crash the whoooole game lol

[thegrandstrudel]

June 12, 2019 - Berchtesgaden, Germany

This is the Eagle’s Nest, literally perched high on top of an alp that straddles the German/Austrian boarder. Built for Hitler in the late 1930’s as a place for him to get away from it all, be surrounded by all of this beauty, and to feel closer to heaven. It was a place to entertain guests but there are only 14 counts of Hitler being at the Eagle’s Nest. Turned out he didn’t much care for it. For one thing, it was too high up on mountain and he was afraid of heights. Eventually it became a place for his girlfriend, Eva Braun to stay as well as a place for high-ranking officials to entertain guests.

On a very personal note, and for those of you who have been following the Grand Strudel, we’ve been very interested in understanding the complexities and atrocities of WWII. We’ve been to many concentration camps, Nazi documentation centers, museums of tolerance, museums about the Shoa which is the Hebrew name for holocaust as well as an organization put together to continue the study of the holocaust. We’ve read books and watched documentaries, we’ve spend time trying to understand what happened and why by going to the Jewish ghettoes and synagogues across Europe. While we were not directly affected and possibly some family that I’ve never met most likely were in the camps... I deeply feel it is our responsibility as members of society to seek understanding with the goal of preventing this from ever happening again.

To this end, we made every effort to get to Berchtesgaden on this trip as it is closed during winter when we are usually traveling. It is not easy to get to. You either have to hire a guide which is expensive or you find your on way to the base of the alp, pay for a bus and pass to the top. Because it is only open for a few months a year the crowds are huge. Once you can get on a bus it’s a 20 minute ride up the steep mountainside to the top. Next it’s a walk through a long tunnel to get to the elevator that takes you to the top. There is only one elevator that holds about 50 so the wait is very long to get onto the elevator. Once in the elevator it was a couple minutes to the top.

The elevator doors opened and my expectation was that all those visiting would be of solemn reflection over the monster this place was built for. But when the elevator doors opened the first thing that struck me was the smell of roasted chicken, next I heard the clinking of glasses and plates being served and taken away. The elevator dumped us out into a small foyer of confusion and anxiety where waiters bustled past, loud crowds of people queueing up for the elevator ride down. Muddy walking paths as there was still snow on the ground melting in the sun. Once one got their barring of the layout of the place (see shot above of pathway to little house, the house being the restaurant (in modern day) but was once the retreat space built for Hitler. Very underwhelming.

Kind of the only thing to do was to head out on the top of the alp away from the house towards the peak and appreciate the beauty of where you are standing. The only problem was that people behave abhorrently; taking death-defying selfies, making out, being obnoxiously loud, walking around with eyes glued to Facebook. Standing in line to buy souvenirs like Berchtesgaden shot glasses. Discussing the quality of the coffee they just purchased. Basically everything BUT reflecting on the only piece of land or memorial (if that’s the right word) to Hitler and the Nazi’s and being quieted by their heinous crimes to humanity.

Finally I had enough. I looked around to find a quiet spot to stand and found a tiny, remote perch where no one could see me and where I could not hear anyone. I stood there, took a few deep breaths. Took in the awe-inspiring supreme beauty of where I was standing and caught the first photograph at the top of this post. I did not capture the vast majesty of these kings of mountainous splendor. Of the clear gorgeous lake Konigsee below which we spent time at a few years ago. Of the quieting humility of a higher power, of something m u c h, m u c h greater than you. Of a feeling that you are only a small part of something bigger.

And then it hit me. Overwhelmed by the beauty, that this was created for someone so evil, a place for him and his officers and his lover to “get away from it all” and then this beauty I was staring out at started to chafe. I started to recall so many stories and details about his Final Solution, countless people who innocently were sent to slaughter. How many lives disrupted, ended, irrevocably changed. The incredible loss of lives, artists, writers, storytellers, musicians, scientists, scholars, humanitarians, regular people. All of them. It occurred to me then that there is a special Jewish prayer one says to honor the dead called the Mourner’s Kaddish. So right there, in this place, with one one around me, with the thought of 6 million people who lost their lives and the loss of our humanity for a time... I opened my heart, spoke the Moutner’s Kaddish... out loud and full of purpose and when I finished I started to cry and felt incredibly moved and full of sorrow and reminded myself of the point... to never let this happen again.

I finally found my husband, he gave me a very long hug, wiped my face and didn’t ask any questions as I’m pretty sure he understood.

I will never forget being on top of that mountain. #SHOA