AS 50th birthday presents go, this would be hard to beat.
Seventy years on and in a new world, we were able to share its breathtaking views and enjoy its natural splendour.
The Germans and Austrians know it as Kehlsteinhaus, but we refer to it as The Eagle’s Nest.
Commissioned by Martin Bormann - Adolf Hitler's private secretary and right-hand man, the chalet was completed in the northern summer of 1938 after a 13-month construction, but was officially presented to Hitler on his 50th birthday on April 20, 1939.
The Eagle's Nest lies on a ridge atop the Kehlstein Mountain at 1834m.
I wanted to go there after seeing a television documentary on its history several years ago.
So when I saw the half-day Panorama Tours excursion in my research, I booked it immediately.
The coach goes from Salzburg's Mirabell Square through the Austrian-German border to Obersalzberg before the tour group boards another bus fitted with special brakes and engine for the ride up the 6.5km long, 4m wide and 22% uphill gradient road that climbs 800m to The Eagle's Nest.
The road is a major engineering feat in itself, built between 1933 and '35.
At the end of the road, you walk through a cold and wet tunnel and then take the original elevator lined with polished brass up the final 124m to the ridge. The elevator is bored through the mountain and cost the lives of 12 men in its making.
On arrival, the chalet remains very much as it was in April 1945, so it can be a little unnerving to think that you are walking in the footsteps of Hitler, Eva Braun, Himmler and other Nazi powerbrokers.
The dining room fireplace still boasts the Italian marble fireplace that was a gift from Mussolini (although some souvenir hunters/allies chipped off bits and pieces once the war was over).
The real prize, however, is outside.
From the beergarden and beyond, visitors feel like they are looking at eye level at the all-encompassing jagged mountains up to 3200m high and the alpine setting of the Bavarian and Austrian Alps are nothing short of breathtaking in all directions.
On our perfect day, we could even see Salzburg.
Take the short walk to the summit and you can understand why a man might feel invincible here and the conqueror of all that he surveyed.
Hitler was unlikely to have enjoyed much of the outstanding view, however, since he reportedly suffered from vertigo.
The tranquility and feeling of peace belies the evil that no doubt was plotted within the walls of the chalet when he wasn't hosting banquets and entertaining foreign diplomats.
The Eagle's Nest survived calls for its destruction after the war and reopened in 1952 as a mountaintop restaurant. It can only be seen otherwise on guided tours.
To complete our day of unbelievable panoramas, our tour bus stopped in the picturesque village of Berchtesgaden and we strolled through town to settle on a drink at the Akropolis Restaurant where we could stare back up at history.
Lesson of the day: Don't judge a country by its capital. While we encountered a few less-than-friendly people and below-par service coupled with overpriced food and drinks in Vienna, the rest of Austria seems to make up for that ten-fold in welcoming smiles and conversation, as well as reasonable prices.
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