Got really lucky one time on a business trip to Germany, and made a weekend trip to Hohenwerfen in Austria (about 30 miles south of Berchtesgaden), a really cool and fully restored mountaintop castle. Well, it's also a Police Museum, and a Falconry School, and I was wandering about after going through the Police Museum (this castle was the site of the Castle in "Where Eagles Dare" with Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood, although they filmed in Spain, but this place is equally formidable, and I'm sure was probably used by the German Army, SS or Gestapo during the 2nd World War) Well, anyhoooo, I was walking about and wandered out into the inner courtyard, and there are guys standing on the upper walls, with the Austrian Alps behind them, and I had stumbled right into one of the occasional shows they put on with the various Birds of Prey that they have there (not only Falcons, but Eagles, Hawks, and others as well, and ranging in size from about the size of a dove to a few with 6 foot wingspans). Well, I had to stick around and see this, and people were just kind of scattered around sitting on the ground, so I grabbed a rock and sat down, and the handler had one of the bigger ones (wingspan was easily 5-6 feet!!!!) buzz me, and I mean CLOSE. His wingtip was easily within half an arms reach, and to be that close to a bird THAT big, all I can say is WOOOOW!!!!!(of course, the setting didn't hurt either!!!)
Fortress Hohenwerfen 
