Oberammergau

So on Monday we decided that we have stayed in Oberammergau twice and have never really checked out the town.  So we decided before we left to head home we would check it out.  So we started out with the Passion play theatre.  This is a very famous theatre. 

 

In 1633, the residents of Oberammergau vowed that if God spared them from the effects of the bubonic plague ravaging the region, they would produce a play thereafter for all time depicting the life and death of Jesus. The death rate among adults rose from one person per 1000 per year in October 1632 to twenty in the month of March 1633. The adult death rate slowly subsided to one in the month of July 1633. The villagers believed they were spared after they kept their part of the vow when the play was first performed in 1634. Word spread throughout the region about the play, and it became too expensive to perform every year, so the town decided that every 10 years would be sufficient

 

This is the front of the building - it is  amazing the props that they use and how much goes into a production.  It is an honor for a person to play the main parts and only people from Oberammergau can perform in the play.  The first play was done over the graves of those who died from the black death victims.

 

By this sculpture it has this written:

"I am a vessel that holds life.

I am a vessel that was broken and put back together.

I will endure.

The unharmed vessel on top of the clay fragments is a symbol for the intact essence in ourselves which can't be destroyed by the breakings and injuries in life."   Barbara Lampe 

 

Then throughout the town they have some cool houses that are painted in different styles.  This one was Hansel and Gretel.

 

This one was Little Red Robin hood and is an orphanage.

 

King Lewis attended the Passion Play and a special performance was dedicated to him.  He was so moved he presented the performers with this monumental Crucifixion Group for perpetual memory.  It took the sculptor two years and on October 15th 1875 it was consecrated.  The king came back every year on the 15th for a silent prayer until an increasing number of curios people drove him away.  The  Crucifixion group is made of marble and at the time of its production was the largest stone monument of the world.

 

On our travels we saw this statue in front of a church.

 

I am not sure if you can see it, but on the top of the hill there is a cross.  It looked really amazing with the fog in the morning.

 

Next we headed to the reptile house - the boys really wanted to go there to get some pictures for Grandpa.  This was such a cool guy, he is a veiled chameleon.  It was so cool watching his eyes move in complete different directions.  One would look left while the other looked right.  He was totally watching the boys and I as we checked him out.  I think this was our favorite of the trip!

 

This was the first big snake - this one is for Grandpa!  The boys knew that he would LOVE it!!!!

 

This was a HUGE one!!!  It is longer than my arm and that doesn't include the tail.

 

These turtles looked like they were having a community discussion.  They all turned to look at us as we walked over.

 

This snake like Michael and they moved their heads in unison for quite awhile. 

 

 

This one came directly at me and was sticking his tongue out.  So not polite.  :-)

 

Michael decided that since this snake was sticking his tongue out at him he would do it right back!

 

I love the color of this frog - bright blue!!  It had a brother that was bright green, but he was hiding.  David said Seahawk colors!

 

Michael decided that he was going to fight the snake for Grandpa.

 

I am not sure what this statue is for, but it is up in a crevice along the road.  I found it very interesting.

 

After that we headed to a Dwight D Eisenhower museum.  They pulled us in by asking what connecting he had to Oberammergau.  Well I thought it was going to be a quick 20 minutes in and out.  OH MY GOSH!!  Over an hour later, glazed looks by everybody we still weren't out of there.  The gentleman giving the tour was so into it and took us from when he was born all the way through his death.  And there was a video that was 30 minutes long that we by passed.  There was no way we were staying any longer.  Michael was hilarious and bored about ten minutes in and he didn't hide it.  I was trying to be polite and get us out of there, but he wasn't stopping the tour for anything.

 

I finally figured out what the connection was though.  Dwight D Eisenhower spent much time at the end of WWII at a high scale hotel that this gentleman's dad ran.  This is a painting of his dad done by Dwight D Eisenhower.  I am thinking we all could have gone without knowing that, but hey, now we know.  After that we headed for our long trip home and back to the grind of school and work!