We made what we
thought would be a brief stop this morning at a church in a small
town. It's really just a few houses and farms and then a huge church
on the hill, not sure why they needed such a big church. When we got
there the Thursday morning service (I guess that's a normal catholic
thing?) hadn't finished yet so we had to wait for a coffee-filled
while.
Back in 1738 in Wies there was a little Jesus statue that started crying (that's the story at least). As a result people from surrounding regions started flocking to this tiny town in a sort of pilgrimage. The Abbot of the area decided that they needed a church for these people to worship in so the Pilgrimage Church of Wies was born.
Outside the church
was a bit strange. Most churches we've seen this trip have been free
and didn't really have anyone selling souvenirs besides candles, but
this one really wanted to cash in. We had to pay for parking and then
there were several buildings solely for selling cheap church-themed
junk and they had pay bathrooms as well. The coffee was good and the
church was stunning. It is pretty similar to the Ottobeuren abbey we
saw a couple weeks ago but the paintings on the ceiling were bigger
and better in this one. However, Ottobeuren was better overall, just
way more to look at. The Church in Wies is still ridiculous:
After the church it
was Summer Toboggan time (obviously). This may be the biggest disappointment of
my young life: the toboggan was closed for maintenance! Youtube
'Steckenberg Summer Toboggan' and you'll understand my devastation.
Luckily there was an alpine coaster down the street which is pretty
similar. It's on a track like a coaster instead of a toboggan but was
still super fun.
I went up on the ski lift and then rode down the
track on a probably totally safe kayak type seat. There were hand
brakes and a seat belt from a car and they just shove you down with
no instruction. It was fast (40ish kph), twisty, and fun. The top
half had views of the alps and after that it was pure speed through
the woods. It took several minutes to get down, it's surprisingly
long. Youtube Oberammergau Alpine Coaster for this one.
Once I came down
from the adrenaline rush we went to the equally exciting Mittenwald.
They're known for their violin making so we were hoping for a cool
violin-making demonstration or something but it was basically just a
touristy shopping town. Besides making violins they also make beer so
at least there was something to do.
Our new thing the
last couple days is to make our own food for dinner at home. We've
been pretty whelmed by all the German food we've had and it isn't
cheap at restaurants. I bought a huge tub of sauerkraut and each day
we just grab a meat and a fruit from the grocery store. It has been
more delicious and much cheaper. Most German food we've had is just boiled sausage with dry bread or fries so we can definitely do better at home. Here's one of the many cute buildings in Mittenwald (photo taken by JJ Abrams):
After dinner Cris
wanted to relax but I still had restless energy so I went for a hike.
Germans are great at road signage but don't like to tell hikers much
of anything. There was an arrow pointing toward a waterfall so I just
started walking. And walking. I pretty much climbed the whole
mountain but the waterfall and views at the end were worth it.
Twas another great
day and now we're in the Alps! Oh, also the water in Austria is weirdly blue:
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