Berchtesgarden, Germany

The American military runs a couple of resort areas in southern Germany for personnel stationed overseas who have leave time but want to spend it in Europe rather than returning to the US. As a University of Maryland faculty member, I was authorized to use these AFRC (Armed Forces Recreation Centers) facilities, and my favorite was in Berchtesgarden, site of Adolph Hitler's summer home. I've stayed many times at the General Walker Hotel (in the '40s a Gestapo headquarters and now returned to the German government), taken the elevator up to Eagle's Nest (the actual site of Hitler's house and a magnificent viewpoint), ridden the ferry across the Königsee out to the lovely red-domed church at Sankt Bartolomä, made the obligatory sidetrip to nearby Salzberg, Austria (where the hills really are alive with the sound of music).

My favorite area activity is a visit to the salt mine just outside Berchtesgaden. You dress up in a shabby jacket and trousers (to protect your own clothing), have your picture taken with a dozen other people on the long electric tram which whisks you to the beginning of the walking tour (the upper photo is an example, from my very first visit, in 1972; I'm the guy with the hair, the third white-suited figure from the left), then have your picture taken again sliding down these very long wooden slides (see lower photo, from my most recent visit, in 2001; this time, I'm the guy without the hair), into the heart of the mountain, where you ride across an underground salt lake on a chain-drive raft. At the end of the tour, you get a teensy little container of Salzbergwerk ("salt mountain mine") salt — and of course there's a gift shop where you can buy stuff and order copies of the photos.

(The slide photo, by the way, is a new wrinkle, and now you get your pictures immediately, rather than waiting six weeks for them to come in the mail. The protective clothing has changed color, too — or else it's just all gotten really dirty!)

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