The rain continued through the night.  As expected, it wasn’t going to be a good day for any major sightseeing.  The plan today was to drive back to Oberammergau and walk around town.  This little hamlet is home to the passion play that runs every 10 years.  Back in 1634, the town promised to have the play if God would spare them in the latest wave of plague that was sweeping through the region.  They were spared and the play began from that time on.

Our drive was wet, but with little traffic.  It took it about 20 minutes to drive back up the highway and find a place to park.  Luckily, this is a tourist town so free parking is found all over the place.  We arrived early enough to find lots of good places.  We were debating if a particular section of the lot was free or not.  An English couple was getting out of a car and heard us.  We all seemed to agree that we had found the best spot.

We walked up the road to the Information Center to find out the best places to look around and make sure that we didn’t miss anything good.  Then we headed through Ammergauplatz and to the main roads.  The town is very small and it is really easy to walk around.  We found ourselves walking out of town a couple of times.

Rich wanted purchase a Bavarian checked shirt.  We found a shop that had a large selection outside on clearance.  That was even better.  I went in to see if someone could tell what size to buy.  The salesgirl spoke a little English and helped us to confirm the sizes.  It was just the right blue to be truly Bavarian.

I was hoping to find a dress, but all of the prices were pretty expensive.  I just couldn’t justify having something I might only wear once a year.  I did decide to buy a blue checked shirt also and we went back to the same shop.  I found what I was looking.  The guy at the cash register spoke very good English.  Luckily, the credit card worked also.

We wondered up through the streets and went in and out of shops.  It was nice that the shops had umbrella stands at their doors for you to leave your wet, dripping umbrella into.  Here, everyone carries an umbrella.  I wonder how they make sure they get their own umbrella when they get back to the door.

It got close to lunchtime and we were trying to figure out where to eat.  I saw the Hotel  Wolf and decided to take a picture of Rich’s friend, John Wolfe.  Rich starts to think maybe we should check that place out for food.  Most of the hotels, or Gasthofs, have kitchens and serve food.  A menu was hanging on the wall by the door.  It looked pretty good, so in we went.

There were two dining rooms.  We found a table in the small one.  It was like you were sitting in someone’s personal kitchen.  I love the ceramic stoves in most of these that are used to heat them in winter.  Most are a bright color, like green or red or blue.  It was just too warm to try it out today.

I ordered the Bavarian lunch special, which is two white sausages and a pretzel.  Rich got the currywurst.  As it sounds, the currywurst is a spicy sausage with a curry sauce.  It’s a little more than I can handle.

After lunch, we went out and wandered up and down the streets some more.  I decided to look at Bavarian outfits one more time.  This meant that Rich could find a kaffee and kuchen place and sit back with a cup of coffee.  The rain was still coming down at this point, but he did find a place where he could sit outside until an awning.

I went back to one of the stores I have been in before.  The salesgirl helped me figure out what size it would take for me.  I looked through several racks.  Unfortunately, the ones I liked didn’t come in my size.  That was probably a good thing.  I was still having trouble justifying that purchase in my mind.

I went to find Rich with his cup of coffee and he was just finishing up.  He was having trouble tracking down the wait staff.  We find that the servers pretty much leave you alone.  You have to work hard to flag them down to your get bill.  After paying, we make one more stop by the toiletten before hitting the road.

We decided to wind our way back to the car.  This took us through a beautiful park with its own stage and outdoor seating.  It looked like they did music there in the summers.  We stepped out of the park and onto the road where we had left the car.  As we walked toward the parking lot, we went by a bus parking area.  A bus was unloading a tour of Japanese tourists.  They were slowly making their way across the street to a hotel in a big stream.  They didn’t seem to be in any hurry.  It was a long line at one point.

We found our Skoda and stripped off the wet jackets.  As I left Oberammergau, I asked if we still wanted to go by the monastery in Ettal and visit the distillery they had there.  Rich couldn’t decide, but thought he had enough of rain and walking around for now.  It was a good thing because the parking lot was packed.  I guess this was a good rainy activity.

We headed back to the hotel to rest up and figure out dinner.  After getting back to the hotel, we decided to walk uptown Garmisch one more time.  We figured we could do kaffee and kuchen at Kronner and watch the foot traffic.  We ordered our coffees and got one piece of chocolate cake to share.  It came with raspberries in the middle and this wonderful crème on the top.

The people going up and down the street were fun to watch.  Everyone here takes their dog with them everywhere.  Most of the dogs are small, like the usual dauschhound.  We did see a couple of huge dogs.  They are very well trained and tend to behave themselves out of in public.

We saw people from all different places.  I noticed that this end of town seemed to have a lot of Turkish and Muslim people.  I noticed the women in burquas and a lot of them with head scarves.  The best thing I saw was the buggy.  A lady with a head scarf, but western clothing was pushing a baby stroller.  It was a great stroller and I was amazed at how it handled.  When she got even with our table, I noticed that it had Ferrarri written on the side of it.  No wondered it worked so well.  I just never knew they made all kinds of vehicles.

Because of the rain and foggy conditions, we decided against going into Austria to the restaurant owned by my cousin’s friend.  I was worried about driving the mountain roads in those conditions.  I was sorry to miss the chance and go to Michael’s restaurant.

At the front desk, we had asked about a restaurant that did traditional music and gotten the location for one.  This was our second option for the evening.  We went out and found the bus going to Partenkirchen, which is across the river.  At historic Ludwigstrasse, we got off the bus and walked in toward the center of the square there.  It didn’t take long to find the place we wanted.

The tables outside were empty.  When we pushed open the door, we entered a dark room with long rows of tables.  Most of the tables were fairly empty at this point.  A gentleman was setting up on the small stage that looked like the overhang of a chalet.  Good timing on our part to arrive as music was getting started.

The lady at the door seated us next to a family at one long table.  I don’t know if the family spoke English or not, but the father was very curious about us.  Our server came by and we ordered in English.  He was kind enough to reply in English.  We ordered our beers and waited for the food.

Rich got the roulade, which is a flank steak rolled around a pickle, and covered in sauce.  I got the kalbleber sauer, which was calf liver in sour gravy.  It was yummy.  I had enough in the tureen to serve 4 people.  I was hungry, but not that hungry.

We watched a couple of young guys dance traditional Tyrolean steps at the front of the restaurant and again at the back.  I think one of them had experience and the other guy was learning.  It was fun to watch, but loud with all of the slapping.

After dinner, we walked down Ludwigstrasse to find the bus stop.  It was going to be an entire hour and a half before the next bus came by.  So we tightened our laces and decided to walk back to the hotel.  It wasn’t really that far.  We just didn’t have a good idea how we would get there.  We got to a major street and I chose to walk toward the train station.  We never found the station though.

Rich managed to identify a couple of streets through a residential area that got over to our side of town.  It was pretty dark since they don’t really have too many street lights.  We got onto the main road where the hotel turned off.  There was very little traffic of any sort.  We saw one older man on a bicycle and that was about it.  I think the sidewalks roll up after 7:00 here.

We got back to the hotel after walking for about 20 minutes.  That wasn’t so bad.  We even got back before they locked up the front door.  We could still get in with our room key.  Up the 3 flights of stairs, we were back in our room.  I was exhausted, but I’m not sure I walked off dinner.  We have just been eating way too much food.  However, we were only eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

So with the excitement of the day done, I settled in download pictures, update Facebook, and write one more blog.  I could hear my bed calling over the sound of the rain hitting the roof.  It was time for bed again.