Day Five - Part Two Oberammergau

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Linderhoff Castle.

An overview of the theater which stages the Passion Play, held every 10 years due to its enormous cast and production crew.

(Top) A view of the foothills of the Bavarian Alps from a bridge near our hotel. (Below)Woodcarver Tobias Haseidl, who created a statue of Mary for Benedict XVI, shows us his technique.

(Above) The view from my room. (Below) One of many houses painted to display Catholic imagery or fairy tales.

In what was a packed afternoon, we moved from there to another woodcarving shop in the town’s famous “Pilate House.” A unique trait of the town is that many of the houses are painted elaborately on the outside as if they were part of a fairy tale set. Some houses have Catholic and biblical imagery and others feature fables such as Little Red Riding Hood. After a very brief visit there, we took a tour of Linderhoff Castle, another of Ludwig II’s incredible creations. With only a handful of main rooms, Linderhoff is quite a bit smaller than Herrenchiemsee, which is why it was one of the few castles Ludwig completed. Yes, it’s also another monument to King Louis XIV, the “Sun King.” This castle was considered more of a weekend getaway than a primary residence.

We finished up the day at Wiesschurch, a beautiful baroque-style sanctuary (as many here are) that houses the famous “Scourged Christ” statue behind the altar. In the 1730s, it was claimed that the statue shed a tear. The alleged miracle, which was never approved by Rome, nevertheless drew thousands upon thousands of pilgrims, causing the church to build a larger building as a shrine. Because there is no town around it to financially and spiritually support the church, it is run primarily as a shrine and is not a parish.

The view from our hotel is amazing… we are on the edge of the Alps and nearby you can see on one of the smaller peaks a large white cross. There is a trail you can hike that gets you there in about 90 minutes. We have a slower morning tomorrow, so if there is any chance I can get about two hours to do it, I will. But as has been the custom, there are so many things to see in each city that things keep getting added on to the itinerary and we suddenly find ourselves rushing around from place to place.

Our dinner was a nice buffet that came with a little local folk music. The guitarist opens up with Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again” and while I’m rolling my eyes thinking he’s patronizing us as Americans, the player tells us he is actually from San Antonio. He went by the name Jonny Guitar, but he said that 17 years ago he came this region. He liked it so much that he missed his return flight and has been here ever since. At one point the hotel owner joined him with a second guitar and played a handful of Peter, Paul and Mary and some other American folk songs for us before plugging their CD and heading to the bar area.

Tomorrow, our last full day, should be much more relaxed with a late-morning start, a two-hour boat ride on Lake Starnberg (where King Ludwig II was found dead) and a visit to the famous Andechs Monastery and brewery. After a tour of the church, we’ll do a little Bavarian beer tasting and then return to the hotel to get some rest before our 6 a.m. departure to Munich Airport.