O mein Gott! Oberammergau is a very cute little town in the mountains of Germany. It took a while to get there, but it was totaly worth it! I enjoyed everything about Oberammergau. The cute German houses and shops, the scenery (there was a small river running through the town, and the surrounding mountains... omg) the play, the church... everything! (pic to the right, the surrounding mountains of Oberammergau on the first day)
While there (the purpose for going there actually) we went and saw the Oberammergau Passion Play. It is this famous play that the whole town puts on once every 10 years. Their ancestors made a promise to God in 1633 that if they were spared from the devestating effects of the spanish plague that they would put on a Passion Play once every 10 years for eternity. They have stuck to this promise. Hitler went to the play twice (in those times it had a very anti-semitic theme, needless to say Hitler enjoyed it and allowed it to continue during his reign) and the day after we saw it, the chancellor of Germany was there to see it. The day of the play the weather was GORGEOUS! We got some awsome views of the surrounding mountains, as well as the German/Austrian country side on the trains on the way to Oberammergau. The leaves are jsut beginning to change, so it is amazing. Can't wait until the leaves change in Salzburg!
The play was AMAZING... just can't say enough about it! It was a bit long, but soo worth it. The first part ran from 230-5. It was pretty cool but not nearly as cool as the second part. It covered Jesus' entry into Jerusalem up to his arrest (in between was Old Testament scenes and some songs about the relationship between the Old Testament scences and what was happening in the play at that point [The music was AMAZING!]). After the first part we went to dinner back at our hostel and then me, Chris S, our german prof and this other girl Carolyn went and got gelato (we were very disappointed when we looked outside and it was raining). The second part ran from 8-11. This was the exciting part of the play (but it was very cold - the theater is covered, but not fully so it gets pretty cold). The second part portrayed the passion very well. I was amazed at how they showed the crucifixion, they made it look very much like they actually nailed the guys to the cross. ( the pic to the left is the second afternoon in Oberammergau, 5 out of the 6 of us girls, enjoying the scenery dispite the frigid weather and the rain)
The next day, Saturday, was very cold and rainy. We went up to this cute little town Ettal, nestled further up in the mountains. There we went to a Benedictine monestary, and after that wandered over to a cheese factory... OMG it smelled HORRIBLE, I was getting sick to my stomach because of the VERY STRONG cheese smell.. it was awful, we stayed there and learned how cheese was made, so we were in there a while, i plugged my nose the whole time... after Ettal we had some time to walk around Oberammergau and enjoy the town, then headed to our next destination Innsbruck. (pic to the right, the cheese factory...)
No comments:
Post a Comment