Alps

Wednesday, July 23rd to Saturday, July 26th

Located in the extreme southeastern tip of Germany, the Alpine resort of Berchtesgaden was home to Hitler's Eagle's Nest retreat -- not much of the building remains, just a few basement walls are left standing. Just below is the fjordlike Königsee, one of the most spectacular Alpine lakes in the region. You will stay in a hotel right on the shores of the Königssee, in the city of Schönau.

On the day of your arrival in the Alps, you will take a tour deep into the side of a mountain salt mine, called Salzbergwerk, which was the source of Berchtesgaden's prosperity as early as the 1500s. The old Salt Mines offer fun and excitement under the mountain with their train ride, wooden slides, educational film, raft crossing and funicular ride. Visitors are given miner's outfits and a leather seat for the long slide down a polished wooden ramp.

On July 24th, you will spend a day in the mountains. Beginning at the marble-mill you can make an interesting and experience-rich hiking through the Almbachklamm (gorge). To make the klamm passable, 29 bridges and bars were established, 320 stony stairs and a small tunnel were blown up into the rock.

On July 25th, you will get to know Lake Königssee. The king's lake in the heart of Berchtesgaden's Alpine National Park was indeed used by the kings of Bavaria when they spent their holidays at Berchtesgaden's royal palace, formerly a monastery. Electric-powered boats silently glide as many as 700 000 passengers a year over Germany's deepest and cleanest lake. After a romantic cruise over the Königssee you arrive at St. Bartholomew. St. Bartholomew is situated on a peninsula washed ashore by the ice brook, the "Bartholomew-Au". Into this close building ensemble which is near to the shore, the pilgrimage church and the former castle dominate, which form a uniform solidium. About 1 1/2 hours far behind St. Bartholomew is the ice cave at the foot of the Watzmann east-cliff, which one is also defined as ice chapel. This develops from avalanche snow, which is washed out by the water of the ice brook and so creates a gigantic arch. The trip then continues to the other shores of the Königssee, where you will have some free time to wander on alpine pastures and see original alpine huts. In the late afternoon, you will return to Schönau, where you can spend the rest of the day strolling around the charming historical town center with its painted facades.

On July 26th, you will leave the Bavarian Alps and head for Mannheim, where you are invited to join the other congress participants in the closing ceremony.