Oberammergau, Germany

Robbie had some trainings in Oberammergau, Germany during February and March, so Michael and I decided to tag along and try out his new snowsuit from Grandma Schut since out Italian winter was more mild than we had anticipated.  Oberammergau is in southern Germany in the Bavaria region.  The town is known for its wood carving artisans and the Passion Play held every 10 years since the plague in Europe when the town was left relatively unscathed from the disease and promised to honor God for sparing them by doing this play.  It's a tiny little town, but the play is a BIG deal. We missed it by a few years though--the last play was in 2010.  One of the more iconic sights is a cross on the top of this mountain near the town, which was really neat looking under all the snow.

We had heard lots of things about this class, like how the schedule was pretty relaxed and they give you a day off on Wednesday to go touring around with your family.  Robbie got all checked in and had a completely booked schedule, from 8 am-5pm every day. That left Michael and I with lots of time to play in the snow and try to keep ourselves entertained in a cold, even more foreign country than we're used to.  Every morning we went out and walked around in the snow:

Michael would wipe snow off of things and make little snowballs to throw over the fence into the neighboring yard.

We watched the cars and people walk by from our balcony.

We played on the swing in the front yard of the hotel.

We had to leave the hotel and walk into town to find lunch every day, so we'd stop by the river and pay on the bridge and watch the ducks swim and quack in the little river. Michael worked on perfecting his duck impression.

Towards the end of the week we found the Reptile Haus and went and looked at the snakes, turtles, frogs, and lizards. Michael was especially taken with the ceiling fan.

We also snuggled up on the balcony in the down comforters from our bed and read books in the cold.

When Robbie got home in the evenings we would go out for dinner for Bavarian food.  One night we made it to a Mexican restaurant, which wasn't great as far as Mexican food goes but tasted so good since we haven't had it much in the last 8 months.  One of my favorite parts of the day was breakfast in the hotel with the owner Otto who wanted to talk to me all about the United States.  He had a brother who moved to Albuquerque and became a priest.  He had a big part in writing and acting in the 2010 Passion Play and knew a lot about Oberammergau.  He was also very disappointed that I've never been in love with a cowboy.  One morning he introduced us to his childhood friend Julie (who was actually a male physician named Christopher, but apparently when they were young played a female role in a play and the name stuck) who was out mushing with this sled dogs and he took Michael and I outside to see his dogs.

Despite the cold and trying to keep a toddler with a 30 second attention span occupied all day in a small hotel room, we had a nice stay.  Robbie didn't get to see any of the town except for the restaurants because everything was closed by the time he got back from his class.

We were excited to go back the next month for another class where the weather would be warmer and maybe we could check out the swimming pools we missed the first time around.  The evening we got there Oberramergau had the heaviest snow they had gotten all winter long.  It snowed nearly a foot overnight.  We stayed in a different hotel that was a little more central to town:

This hotel had a small fountain right by the door that Michael loved. Even though it was freezing outside, he still had to touch the water every time we went in or out of the hotel.  (These two pictures are from a couple days in after some of the snow melted).

Robbie's schedule was much more conducive to family play time this time around, so we tried to get out and do some stuff. We failed miserably at sledding.  I'm not a sledding expert, but I think it was too powdery so we just sunk.  Michael was pretty unimpressed with the whole thing.

The first couple of days we did more snow-walking, but it was much deeper this time and he got tired of it pretty fast since he kept falling over.

We did more of the same during our days as we did the last time. We found a restaurant with a little play area for kids which was perfect for entertaining Michael while we were waiting for our food. Michael has gotten really good at dipping things and loves ketchup, so he enjoyed eating sausages and french fries.

We also found a really neat little park and once the snow melted we spent lots of time here.  There were all his favorite things--spinning things, swings, bridges to cross, little houses to hide in, and a few things he wasn't too keen on like a little zip line. It was nice to have something outside of the apartment we could do.

This second course Robbie was taking was the one where you get a day off to go sightseeing, so we took off in our car behind the bus of Robbie's classmates and visited this church. It was a really quick, 20 minute stop.  It was painted and so ornate and decorated it was hard to focus on anything and figure out what you were looking at!

After the church (and a quick hello to a horse we saw nearby), we headed over two castles, Hohenschwangau:

And Neuschwanstein:

Neuschwanstein castle is the castle that Sleeping Beauty's castle at Disney World is modeled after.  It was built in the late 1800s by Ludwig II after some political  defeats meant that he was no longer the sovereign ruler. He decided to try to build up his own kingdom and rule from these huge castles and palaces.  He grew up in Hohenschwangau castle which is right next door, but wanted to make this big, beautiful castle to demonstrate his royalness in the medieval style but with all the modern amenities.  This included a giant gold-mosaic throne room, seen here but missing the throne.

And several big halls full of gold and art and jewels and general over-the-top opulence.

We had heard a lot about this castle and were excited to see it, but ended up leaving a little disappointed.  It was beautiful, but maybe we've been spoiled by touring too many actual medieval castles and treasuries in Italy.  To me, this seemed a lot like going to see the Excalibur in Las Vegas or something like that. It was big and impressive, but everything looked new and fake. It's also a huge tourist destination, and we were all herded though the castle in large guided-tour groups that were spaced out every 15 minutes.  Everything was very orchestrated and rushed and you didn't get a whole lot of time to actually look at details or wander around the huge rooms.

I'm glad we went, but it probably won't make my list of top European destinations.

The second trip was more fun for all of us, and it was nice to be able to spend some time together seeing a new place and trying new food. Oberammeregau was a beautiful town, and definitely not somewhere you'd think to go while traveling Germany.  We were glad to be able to have a little break from normal life to relax, explore, and play in the snow!