Friday, June 27, 2008
Starting out in Munich... the view from our sixth-floor hotel room.
This is the other direction. Looks kinda nice, misty and cool, doesn't it?
Today's the day we went to Oberammergau, in the Alps. This mountain is just outside the village. Can you see the cross at the top? Apparently it's quite the thing to hike all the way up there.
The Hotel where we stayed. Actually, only about a third of us stayed here. The hotels in Oberammergau were not large enough to house all of us. In fact, that's why we stayed in Munich an extra night--there was no room at the inn(s).
We actually had some free time here, almost an hour and a half. So I actually walked around a bit. This is the woodcarver who made the present I picked up for my sister for Christmas.
Some bird houses outside his shop
Alas! I sucumbed and bought a Dirndl! Two, actually, but this is the 'pretty' one. The other one you're more likely to see me wear to work or church, as it's more 'normal' looking.
This is Jessica, our other tour guide. She's very sweet. And made a wonderful recommendation for lunch that I had to try (not sure exactly what it was, but there was bratwurst).
That afternoon we took a tour of the Passion Theater.
In 1633, the Black Plague came to Oberammergau. The people made a vow to God that if He would take the plague from their city, they would perform the Passion of the Christ every ten years in the open air. In 1634 was their first performance, near the village church. Since then, they have moved it to the 'decade' year, so the next performance will be in 2010. Here is the stage, still open to the air (although they are constructing a 'hood' for the 'off' years). They do perform, regardless of weather, from March until September.
The audience gets a roof over their heads, though. The acoustics are amazing. Not quite as deep as in the cathedral we sang in, but good enough to not need microphones. They still perform without microphones or other electronic devices, trying to keep the performances as natural as possible.
On stage
Behind the scenes, we got to see the various props and costumes. Before the last performance in 2000 they redid all the costumes and most of the props. This table, though, has been used for over a hundred years for the Last Supper. The Menorah reminds us that Christ was a Jew.
Some of the costumes. Aren't they gorgeous?
I told her to turn and smile, so she did! I'm terrible with names, but this girl has the loveliest voice, and did the solo in "The Prayer of St Francis" that we sang.
The costumes used by the actor playing Jesus.
These are the guys who wrote the current script and music for the Passion play that is performed here. The only modifications in the last 200 years was about 30 years ago, taking out all the anti-Semitic sentiments.
time for a pose!
All the buildings had beautiful murals on them. I have more pictures that I took the following day. For now, though, we're on our way back to Munich...
I barely missed the cleft in the rock--you can sort of see it on the left side of the picture. There's a story about how a young man in Oberammergau was in love with a young woman the next village over. Even though no one was supposed to leave the village, because of the plague and the vow, he is said to have snuck through this cleft to meet up with his intended. Of course, the cleft doesn't actually go all the way through the cliff, so that's a problem...
We had dinner here, back in Munich. We're back here so we can perform for the Munich Saints.
At last! finally caught a car with the flags! Yes, the Germans made it to the final round, but then they got tromped by Spain (oh sadness!)
There were two other choirs organized by the same company to come tour Europe and sing in the Passion for Music Festival. Two of the choirs were defined by where we toured. This is the "Red" choir, which started out in Switzerland.
This is the "Blue" choir, which is a choir that actually meets regularly in Pheonix, Arizona. You can tell, because they actually had all their songs memorized, and had rehearsed more than the day and a half that we had.
My choir, the "Purple" choir. Can you see me? Second row, just to the left of the conductor, Dr Allred.
A better picture of the choir (thanks to Bro A for taking it for me!)
Reela and I, outside the church building, before making our way back to Oberammergau. The Saints were so good to us, they gave us a very nice snack for our way home.
This is the other direction. Looks kinda nice, misty and cool, doesn't it?
Today's the day we went to Oberammergau, in the Alps. This mountain is just outside the village. Can you see the cross at the top? Apparently it's quite the thing to hike all the way up there.
The Hotel where we stayed. Actually, only about a third of us stayed here. The hotels in Oberammergau were not large enough to house all of us. In fact, that's why we stayed in Munich an extra night--there was no room at the inn(s).
We actually had some free time here, almost an hour and a half. So I actually walked around a bit. This is the woodcarver who made the present I picked up for my sister for Christmas.
Some bird houses outside his shop
Alas! I sucumbed and bought a Dirndl! Two, actually, but this is the 'pretty' one. The other one you're more likely to see me wear to work or church, as it's more 'normal' looking.
This is Jessica, our other tour guide. She's very sweet. And made a wonderful recommendation for lunch that I had to try (not sure exactly what it was, but there was bratwurst).
That afternoon we took a tour of the Passion Theater.
In 1633, the Black Plague came to Oberammergau. The people made a vow to God that if He would take the plague from their city, they would perform the Passion of the Christ every ten years in the open air. In 1634 was their first performance, near the village church. Since then, they have moved it to the 'decade' year, so the next performance will be in 2010. Here is the stage, still open to the air (although they are constructing a 'hood' for the 'off' years). They do perform, regardless of weather, from March until September.
The audience gets a roof over their heads, though. The acoustics are amazing. Not quite as deep as in the cathedral we sang in, but good enough to not need microphones. They still perform without microphones or other electronic devices, trying to keep the performances as natural as possible. 
On stage
Behind the scenes, we got to see the various props and costumes. Before the last performance in 2000 they redid all the costumes and most of the props. This table, though, has been used for over a hundred years for the Last Supper. The Menorah reminds us that Christ was a Jew.
Some of the costumes. Aren't they gorgeous?
I told her to turn and smile, so she did! I'm terrible with names, but this girl has the loveliest voice, and did the solo in "The Prayer of St Francis" that we sang.
The costumes used by the actor playing Jesus.
These are the guys who wrote the current script and music for the Passion play that is performed here. The only modifications in the last 200 years was about 30 years ago, taking out all the anti-Semitic sentiments.
time for a pose!
All the buildings had beautiful murals on them. I have more pictures that I took the following day. For now, though, we're on our way back to Munich...
I barely missed the cleft in the rock--you can sort of see it on the left side of the picture. There's a story about how a young man in Oberammergau was in love with a young woman the next village over. Even though no one was supposed to leave the village, because of the plague and the vow, he is said to have snuck through this cleft to meet up with his intended. Of course, the cleft doesn't actually go all the way through the cliff, so that's a problem...
We had dinner here, back in Munich. We're back here so we can perform for the Munich Saints.
At last! finally caught a car with the flags! Yes, the Germans made it to the final round, but then they got tromped by Spain (oh sadness!)
There were two other choirs organized by the same company to come tour Europe and sing in the Passion for Music Festival. Two of the choirs were defined by where we toured. This is the "Red" choir, which started out in Switzerland.
This is the "Blue" choir, which is a choir that actually meets regularly in Pheonix, Arizona. You can tell, because they actually had all their songs memorized, and had rehearsed more than the day and a half that we had.
My choir, the "Purple" choir. Can you see me? Second row, just to the left of the conductor, Dr Allred.
A better picture of the choir (thanks to Bro A for taking it for me!)
Reela and I, outside the church building, before making our way back to Oberammergau. The Saints were so good to us, they gave us a very nice snack for our way home.
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