Oberammagau, Germany
December, 2011
Wednesday, December 28 Oberammagau
We drove 30min in the dark to Oberammagau, the home of the 10 year passion play. In 1634, the bubonic plaque was sweeping across Europe. The people of Oberammagau prayed to God to spare them. Only one person dies, so in return the town has put on a big easter production every 10 years ever since. They had the play this year in April. Tens of Thousands of people come from all over the world to visit during this time. The next production will be in 2021.
After breakfast, we checked out. The staff at this hotel were really friendly, and one of them had a son in Australia. She was English and she came here in 1971 to watch the passion play and loved it so much, she has been here for forty years. We took an hour to explore Oberammagau. It is a beautiful little down, covered in snow, with murals painted on many buildings. The landscape is amazing as it is surrounded by mountains.
We drove 30min in the dark to Oberammagau, the home of the 10 year passion play. In 1634, the bubonic plaque was sweeping across Europe. The people of Oberammagau prayed to God to spare them. Only one person dies, so in return the town has put on a big easter production every 10 years ever since. They had the play this year in April. Tens of Thousands of people come from all over the world to visit during this time. The next production will be in 2021.
After breakfast, we checked out. The staff at this hotel were really friendly, and one of them had a son in Australia. She was English and she came here in 1971 to watch the passion play and loved it so much, she has been here for forty years. We took an hour to explore Oberammagau. It is a beautiful little down, covered in snow, with murals painted on many buildings. The landscape is amazing as it is surrounded by mountains.
Wednesday, December 28 Oberammagau
We drove to Garmisch-Partekichen, which is the closest town to Germany’s highest mountain. Traffic was crazy. It was meant to be only a twent minute drive but it took over an hour, because every german comes here to go skiing in the winter. We parked at the ice hockey stadium, which was the base for the winter Olympics in 1936. Here they have a huge ski jumping ramp and the Olympic tryouts are due to commence here on Friday.
We walked to the cable car and bought some tickets to go to the top of the mountain. The views were spectacular. We had a snowball fight and took many photos. There were people everywhere skiing and snowboarding. We had lunch at the bottom of the mountain in an outside food court in the snow. We ate bratwurst and pommes, the we walked back to the car and drove two hours to Salzburg, Austria.
Salzburg is famous for two things, the Sound of Music and the birthplace of Mozart. It was dark when we arrived, so after checking in we were hungry. We asked the lady on the front desk where is the best place to sample some local cuisine. She gave us a map and circled a location, then she wrote the name of the restaurant. It turned out she gave us the wrong name and the wrong location. After an hour walking in the cold, we found the Stern Brau, which is the oldest restaurant in Salzburg, serving customers since 1603. Even Mozart ate here.
We had Ghoulash and Strudel for dinner then walked 20 minutes back to the hotel, exhausted.
We drove to Garmisch-Partekichen, which is the closest town to Germany’s highest mountain. Traffic was crazy. It was meant to be only a twent minute drive but it took over an hour, because every german comes here to go skiing in the winter. We parked at the ice hockey stadium, which was the base for the winter Olympics in 1936. Here they have a huge ski jumping ramp and the Olympic tryouts are due to commence here on Friday.
We walked to the cable car and bought some tickets to go to the top of the mountain. The views were spectacular. We had a snowball fight and took many photos. There were people everywhere skiing and snowboarding. We had lunch at the bottom of the mountain in an outside food court in the snow. We ate bratwurst and pommes, the we walked back to the car and drove two hours to Salzburg, Austria.
Salzburg is famous for two things, the Sound of Music and the birthplace of Mozart. It was dark when we arrived, so after checking in we were hungry. We asked the lady on the front desk where is the best place to sample some local cuisine. She gave us a map and circled a location, then she wrote the name of the restaurant. It turned out she gave us the wrong name and the wrong location. After an hour walking in the cold, we found the Stern Brau, which is the oldest restaurant in Salzburg, serving customers since 1603. Even Mozart ate here.
We had Ghoulash and Strudel for dinner then walked 20 minutes back to the hotel, exhausted.