Germany & Austria Part 3 = Garmisch - Monastery and Oberammergau

by Teri E. Popp, Tastemaker in Residence

Fortunately, our former foreign exchange student, Victoria, found time to take a day off from practicing medicine and join us! We started the day with lunch in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Lovely frescoes are painted on buildings that line the main street of town.

We then visited the Benedictine monastery—Ettal Abbey—currently home to 50 monks. Originally founded in 1330, this gorgeous, ornately decorated, Baroque monastery contains an active brewery, distillery, hotel, cheese factory, and a wonderful, large book/gift store.

Even though it rained, we enjoyed a wonderful afternoon touring through the little Christmas shops and markets in Oberammergau. Home of the famous Passion Play, first initiated in 1634 by the town’s grateful inhabitants who survived the Bubonic plague, the play is now performed once every ten years. The next production will be held from May 16 to October 4, 2020. Tickets sell out early, but can be purchased on line at https://www.passionsspiele-oberammergau.de/en/tickets/schedule-performance-dates!

We ended our day as a group with dinner at one of the many cute restaurants in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the Wolpertinger (think jackalope, but with a fox body, deer antlers and bird wings!). The portions were huge and reasonably priced.