Goldens on the Road: # 6 Munich and Oktoberfest!!

Munich and Oktoberfest!!

First thing in the morning we are on the bus riding through the countryside heading to Munich. What a beautiful country.

Upon arrival we head to Marienplatz Square, cultural center of Munich and dominated by the Gothic New Town Hall which houses the world famous Glockenspiel. The colorful mechanical clock, built in 1908, has life-size figures that dance to music. Russ took a really nice video of the Glockenspiel but I could not figure out how to move it from Google Photos to my blog!! So I've set several photos of it and if you look close you will see the different figures. I wish it could be Russ' video!

From here we visited a Hoffbrau House where we enjoyed lunch and some German Beer …. Good stuff!!

And as luck would have it the annual Oktoberfest in Munich was happening while we were there, so later in the evening we attended Oktoberfest and enjoyed even more beer!!

This statue towered over everyone at the Oktoberfest Festival.
Notice the people below who were standing on the ground!

A visit to Nymphenburg Palace was another beautiful site in Munich. The Nymphenburg Palace or "Castle of the Nymph” is a Baroque palace and was the main summer residence of the former rulers of Bavaria. As with so many of the Castles and Palaces we were not able to tour the inside and/or not allowed to take photos of the interiors. I have a couple of interior photos borrowed from Flickr, and my own exterior photos for you.

Linderhof Palace is the smallest of the three palaces built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria and the only one which he lived to see completed. The Palace has a Baroque façade and Rococo motifs from the time of Louis XV decorate the interior. Ludwig also created extravagant opulence in many rooms of Linderhof. Again, we were not able to take interior photos but for this Palace we purchased a small guidebook with lovely photos in it … so I took photos of the photos in the book to share with all of you! (It also rained while we were there so exterior photos came from the book too.) First rainy day photos.

Next the photos from the souvenir book.

Our last tour of a very busy day was Oberammergau. Oberammergau is a small town on the Ammer River and is known for its woodcarvers and woodcarvings, for its NATO School, and across the world for its 380-year tradition of mounting Passion Plays. The Oberammergau Passion Play was first performed in 1634. As the story goes it resulted from a vow made by the inhabitants of the village that if God spared them from the effects of the bubonic plague which was then sweeping the region they would perform a passion play every ten years. A man traveling back to the town for Christmas had accidentally brought the plague with him. The man died from the plague and it began spreading throughout Oberammergau. After the vow was made, not another inhabitant of the town died from the plague. All of the town members that were still suffering from the plague recovered.

The play is now performed in years ending with a zero, as well as in 1934 which was the 300th anniversary and 1984 which was the 350th anniversary (though the 1940 performance was cancelled due to the onset of the Second World War in 1939). It involves over 2000 actors, singers, instrumentalists and technicians, all residents of the village. About half the inhabitants of Oberammergau take part in the once-a-decade Passion Play in 2010. Over 2,000 villagers performed the story of the Passion of Jesus for the audiences from around the world. This is a labor-intensive community enterprise, in which only natives of the village participate. Performances have taken place between mid-May and early October. The villagers also enjoy decorating the exteriors of their home and places of business with scenes from fairy tales and Bible stories. It’s so different and lovely we’re glad we went! Enjoy!