Bavaria, Southern Germany – Thursday Sept. 29 to Saturday Oct. 1

This trip was supposed to happen in 2020 when the Hoffmanns had invited us to attend the world renowned Passion Play, which is performed every 10 years, for the 2020 performance. But due to COVID it was postponed to 2022. So, here we are.

After driving from Weggis, Switzerland to Oberammergau, Germany on Wednesday, we walked around town in the rain to get our bearings before returning to our hotel and a warm Bavarian meal. Because the entire play is performed in German, we attended a one-hour English introduction the next morning, which was fascinating. I learned that the first play was performed in 1634 and every 10 years after that as a result of a promise by the town to perform a passion play and every 10 years if no one else died from the Black Death Plague. Evidently no one else died…

Since that time, the play has been cancelled only twice without being rescheduled – 1770 and 1940 – due to the Enlightenment Period – a very anti-Catholic Church period – and WWII respectively. And interesting fact is that exactly 100 years ago the play was postponed from 1920 to 1922 due to the Spanish Flu.

In 1900, with a population of less than 2,000, the village of Oberammergau decided to build the current 5,000 seat complex to expand seating – the other villages nearby thought that the residents of Oberammergau were crazy. They were not. Since 1950, when Dwight D. Eisenhower attended, almost half a million people come every 10 years to this small village of 5,000 people to watch the Passion Play. Rolf and Ronda guessed that the play generates over $100 million in revenue for the village every 10 years. They also bring in a lot of tourist dollars during the other nine years.

I learned that you either have to be born in the village or have lived in the village for at least 20 years to participate in one of the 20 lead parts. Because 120 performances occur between April and October, two actors are assigned for each lead role. Of the 5,000 current residents, 2,000 participate in some way, either as an actor, extra, chorus member (there are 120), musician, technician or one of the many other roles that are needed to put on such a huge production. Major roles are assigned two years in advance with the first rehearsal for those 40 actors occurring in Jerusalem the summer before production. Protestants could not play a major role until 1990 and the first two Muslims are playing key characters this year. Yes, quite some history.

After our English introduction, we strolled around town, ate lunch and returned to the theatre for the first Act of The Passion Play, which occurs between 1:30-4:00 p.m. We then return to our hotel for our Passion Play meal. Act II starts at 7:00 p.m. and ends at 9:30 p.m. Afterwards, we were so wired that the four of us stayed up until midnight sitting and drinking in the hotel lounge, processing what we had seen.

In addition to the dialogue, there are musical and choral accompaniment and scenes from the Old Testament depicted for the audience by motionless actors accompanied by verbal description in the music. These motionless tableaux, which are beautiful, are the basis explaining the interrelationship between the Old and New Testaments. They include a scene of the brothers selling Joseph to slavery in Egypt and Moses raising up the bronze serpent in the wilderness. Each tableau precedes that section of the play that is prefigured by the scenes in the Old Testament. The two tableaux mentioned above are presented to the audience before Judas sells information on the location of Jesus and the crucifixion of Jesus.

The play changes every 10 years depending on current world context. A new tableaux may be added here or there, new costumes may be used, and the dialogue may be changed slightly. My own interpretation of this year’s play is that it was darker than in years past because of Ukraine, the rise of nationalism across the world, and COVID. Jesus is also portrayed as a change agent for social justice as much as a religious figure with more focus on his life than the crucifixion itself. This is a big change from past plays. And I am not so sure that everyone agrees that the play should have gone in that direction. But it did.

Like Octoberfest in Munich, the Passion Play will end on Sunday.

After breakfast in Oberammergau the next morning, we went to Mass at the local church and then drove to the town of Ettal with its famous Abbey, before Rolf and Ronda dropped us off by car in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, near the Austrian border, where Elizabeth and I stayed at an AirB&B located at Ludwigstrabe 8, Partenkirchen.

A German ski resort town in Bavaria, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, it is a prominent destination for skiing and ice skating as well as hiking. The town lies near the Zugspitze, Germany’s highest peak, with a 9,700 foot summit accessed by cogwheel train and cable car. Known as an alpine sports destination, this town hosted the 1936 Winter Olympics, the same year as the famous 1936 Summer Olympics, where Jesse Owens stole the show from the Nazis in track and field. In that same Olympics, University of Washington’s eight-oar crew team composed of the sons of loggers, shipyard workers, and farmers, shocked the world by winning the gold medal by defeating every other elite team, including the German team rowing for Adolf Hitler. This incredible true story is beautifully told in the novel “Boys in the Boat”, which I have read, and is one of the books I have given to my boys, which I do each Christmas.

Now, back to Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The Garmisch side is considered the more fashionable section, while Partenkirchen’s cobblestone streets retain a traditional Bavarian feel. We preferred Partenkirchen. According to our host, our B&B is thought to be the oldest building in town, dating back to the 13th century, and sits on an original Roman road. Elizabeth and I think that the portion of the road where our our B&B sits, lined with beautiful hotels and shops, may be one of the most handsome streets we have ever walked.

Because Lizzy was still feeling under the weather, we did not wonder far. We did take some time on Saturday to hike a little of the Wank Loop trail and to take the cable car to Wank Peak, which at 6,000 feet sits on the other side of town – and with Zugspitze, forms the beautiful valley that cuddles charming Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Before we left Sunday to catch our train to Zurich by train via Innsbrook, we found out that part of the track that our route is on was closed. So, we did some problem solving and got to Zurich in plenty of time to enjoy our last night in Europe. To do so, we took one bus, two taxis, and three trains. But as Lizzy says, that is what makes travel an adventure – the unexpected things. It has been a wild and wonderful adventure – indeed.