Oh wow, Oberammergau!

Yes that's a cheesy title but Oberammergau really does deserve its wow. We arrived in Oberammergau by train on the last day of cycling on our Bavarian adventure and before setting off on our 45km cycle back to Füssen I was determined to see a bit of the only town name I recognised in all the places we visited, well apart from Munich of course!

It meant more cycle-miles but not very many, and it seemed rude to get so close and then not to take a look, so instead of turning right out of the station as the route notes said, we turned left and headed into the town.

The town is on the Ammer River, the river that we'd follow today on our cycle and is at the foot of the Kofelgebirge (Kofel peak), which you'll see in the photos further down. It's famous for its Passion Play which was first performed in 1634 when the villagers vowed they would repeat every 10 years provided God spared them from the devastating effects of the bubonic plague, which was sweeping the region at the time.

Now the Passion Play is performed in years ending in zero only by inhabitants of the village. It's a long one too, five hour long performances take place between May and October in the purpose built Passionstheater and approximately half of the population of Oberammergau is involved, with over 2000 taking part in 2010.  That's a lot of people!

It's also famed for the beautiful frescoes decorating the walls of its buildings and it's long association with wood carving. On our short cycle around the town we saw plenty of evidence of both of these.

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Just look at the cut-outs on the balconies of the house on the right above!

The Lüftmalerei, the trompe d'oeil style frescoes seen through the Bavarian Alps were pioneered in Oberammergau by a painter named Franze Seraph Zwink whose house was called Zum Lüftl, hence the name Lüftmalerei. The translation also means "air painting" so it is quite apt.

Religious themes are popular subjects and often prominent figures are often portrayed in traditional Bavarian dress, such as Mary in a dirndl - we didn't spot that one, but I'm sure that's quite something to see!  Otherwise frescoes often illustrate the profession of the house-owner.

It's most definitely a pretty town, and I think we were lucky to visit relatively early on a Sunday morning as there weren't many people about. It's the type of place that would fill up and then some at peak times, so it was nice to almost have the streets to ourselves.

The style of the buildings here and throughout Bavaria were chalet-style and picturesque. Although in the UK we have a definite style for our buildings, they're not quite in the same class as these. Beautiful aren't they?

So with our circuit of Oberammergau complete, it was time to head back to the station and follow the cycle route notes once more and head back to Füssen where our cycling adventure had started some six days earlier.  You can read more of my Bavarian cycle tour posts here.

In my next German post I'll be sharing some pictures and more from our visit to Schwansee, or Swan Lake. An experience (for entirely the wrong reasons) you won't want to miss!

My Travel Monkey


Our World Tuesday

A circular route around Murnauer Moos, with a 10km warm-up

For our fifth day of cycling we expected to complete a 30km circular route around the circumference of the conservation area known as Murnauer Moos (Murnau Marsh). Our notes said it was a "generally flat and leisurely circuit" so that sounded good, and even better there was a Gästehaus on the route which the notes said served "wonderful" cakes. 

Murnauer Moos is quite unique in Central Europe, both because of its size, unity and landscape as well as it's flora and fauna. Peat was extracted from the marshland until the middle of the twentieth century and in 1964 it was declared a conservation area.  It's home to over 4000 difference species of fauna and 800 plants, which is quite a lot!

We cycled out of Murnau and the plan was to head towards Eschenlohe but as you can see from our route on the right we had a slight detour towards Ohlstadt first.

The views as we unknowingly cycled towards Ohlstadt were amazing and our detour was almost worth it for those alone. We reached the main road and checked the notes, when Ohlstadt wasn't mentioned at all we realised we'd missed a turning somewhere. 

So back we went and tried a path alongside the railway line. We weren't sure, but carried on anyway and soon came out at that same main road just further down.

Hmmnn...

Ah well, let's just enjoy the views we weren't supposed to see. And I got my wood pile fix in early too, and with some farm equipment too.

We headed back the way we had come and back to the main road we'd left Murnau on. From here we retraced our tracks and realised we'd missed out an instruction, missing turning left before we turned right. Finally we were on the track that related to our notes, but not first without clocking up  ten kilometres as our warm-up.

The route notes were fairly sparse and included "at the industrial zone turn left at the fence and follow the Radweg sign" - when we got to the fence it made perfect sense, but perhaps some more clues on how to reach the industrial zone might have helped!

Although it was threatening to rain as we approached the river, it never really managed it. And yes, the river really was that colour.

It wasn't long before we were heading towards the village of Eschenloe, and the only village of notable size since we left Murnau (despite our diversions). Two of the road tunnels to the south of the village were used during the Second World War in the production of the Messerschmitt. Tunnels were used as they weren't easily detected by airborne reconnaissance missions. 

While looking for and failing to find toilets, as the Rathaus was shut on Saturdays we watched this farmer expertly reverse his tractor up a small slope into the barn - something he'd clearly done before!

Heading back towards the centre of town, past the highly decorated Rathaus and onto the Second World War Memorial.

Unsure of how much further along the village of Grafenaschau was we decided to stop by the side of the road to eat our lunch and watch the world go by. At the top of a smallish hill it was actually a great place to stop as we watched cyclists of all abilities tackle the hill.

Fed and ready to go again we went down the hill, around the corner and was almost upon the village and the cafe with the wonderful cakes. It'd be rude not to stop wouldn't it, so we did. We ordered a beer and followed that by a humongous slice of cake and a coffee.  And sat and admired these views.

We could have sat here for much longer, and eaten more cake. And I think we would have done had it not been for the bikes and having to cycle back to the hotel. But as we did, it was time to go.

We cycled back through more of the marsh area alongside the Lindenbach stream on gravelly paths. It was warm by now and we decided to push hard to get back to the hotel. It turns out that doing this and upping the speed on winding, gravelly paths wasn't such a good idea. At one corner I was almost off my bike, but somehow I saved it at the last minute - and I'm glad I did.

Before much longer and after a few more hills we were back at the hotel, but not before clocking up 42.6km - not bad for a 30km cycling day!

The Tibetan Peace Garden at the Imperial War Museum

This week my Jury Service has resumed and I've been back in Southwark; there's still a lot of sitting around but that means I'm even more determined to get out and about over lunch. Usually we have an hour and a half for lunch (I know!) so yesterday I headed off towards the Imperial War Museum. My original intention was to find some green space to sit and eat my lunch and if there was time to pop into the museum.

It didn't work out that way though because soon after I entered the grounds I stumbled upon this Tibetan Peace Garden. And what a beauty it is.

Standing in the centre of the garden, by the black Kilkenny limestone and the bronze cast of the Kalachakra Mandala I had a great view looking towards the Language Pillar. It's design is based on the Sho Pillar in front of the Potala Palace in Lhasa and is made from Portland stone. More on this later though.

The bronze cast above is considered by the Dalai Lama to be a vehicle for world peace and it's believed it has the power to grant its blessings on all who see it. I'll let you know if it works!

In the paving around the mandala are the classic Buddhist images of the "Eight Auspicious Symbols"

Around the edge of the gardens are four contemporary sculptures carved in Portland stone showing the elements Air, Fire, Earth and Water - the fifth element of Space is represented by the open arena.

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The plants in the garden originate from Tibet and the Himalayan regions.

The inscription on the Language Pillar - shown in four languages - reads

"WE HUMAN BEINGS ARE PASSING THROUGH A CRUCIAL PERIOD IN OUR DEVELOPMENT.

CONFLICT & MISTRUST HAVE PLAGUED THE PAST CENTURY WHICH HAS BROUGHT IMMEASURABLE HUMAN SUFFERING & ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION.

IT IS IN THE INTERESTS OF ALL OF US ON THIS PLANET THAT WE MAKE A JOINT EFFORT TO TURN THE NEXT CENTURY INTO AN ERA OF PEACE & HARMONY.

MAY THIS PEACE GARDEN BECOME A MONUMENT TO THE COURAGE OF THE TIBETAN PEOPLE & THIER COMMITMENT TO PEACE.

MAY IT REMAIN AS A SYMBOL TO REMIND US THAT HUMAN SURVIVAL DEPENDS ON LIVING IN HARMONY & ON ALWAYS CHOOSING THE PATH OF NON-VIOLENCE IN RESOLVING OUR DIFFERENCES."

- THE XIV DALAI LAMA OF TIBET, 13 MAY 1999

Walking into the garden from the language pillar you see a circular bronze image set in Kilkenny stone. The two Tibetan syllables in the centre mean Virtue and Foundation and it is the logo of the Tibet Foundation, who commissioned the garden.

Around the outer perimeter of the garden there's a low Kilkenny stone wall, which doubled up as a bench and a lunch spot for me and many workers from the local area.

Around the mandala are eight low York stone contemplation seats, which represent the Noble Eightfold Path of right view, thought, speech, livelihood, effort, mindfulness and concentration.

It was a great spot for lunch and it really did have a quiet and peaceful aura to it, which given that my visit took place over lunch during school holidays where there were plenty of children enjoying clambering over the large naval guns outside the museum's entrance, was no mean feat!