Oberammergau actually came between Wieskirche and Linderhof, but I guess that doesn't matter too much.Oberammergau is known for its woodcarving, but probably more so for the Passion Play that occurs every 10 years. It will be performed in 2010. It is also an extremely tourist driven town and we were glad to be there on this holiday when most things were closed and there weren't very many tourists in town. And remember, this was a rainy day.
The church. Another amazing building. The holiday was something like the Body & Blood of Christ. (Our German neighbor said that when she was growing up they referred to it rather irreverently as Happy Corpse Day....) They have a procession through the streets in the morning. Anyway, everything was closed all over Bavaria, except a few restaurants and shops on the main streets for the tourists. Large tree branches were sitting in buckets of water on either side of all church doors and many businesses also.
Appropriately for a town known for woodcarving, many of the grave markers were wood.Did I mention that I loved the German and Austrian graveyards? I am not one for cemetaries - they don't hold any real draw for me. But in Germany and Austria they are like many individual gardens. The plots are rented - 10 or 15 years at a time or more. Each family keeps up their own plot, so there is quite a variety of plantings. This sounds really, um, indelicate, but I will just explain how this all works in a straight forward way. If the rent isn't paid, the grave is 'emptied' and rented to a new 'tenet.' More than one person is buried in these family plots. Whenever a new occupant needs to move in, the current body is removed and cremated and then the ashes are reburied with the new body.
Notice the numerous names on this marker.
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