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The Passion Plays - and two German jewels en route…
A tour especially designed for UN staff, their
Day 1 – Thursday September 9, 2010 Departure from Cologne/Bonn/Frankfurt Airport - to Rothenburg - overnight in the greater Ulm area Departure from a meeting point in Cologne at 6.30am… pick up more passengers at a UN building in Bonn at 7.00am, and still more at Frankfurt airport (who may be joining us from overseas.) At approx. 9.00am the tour starts properly. Your English speaking tour guide Ulrich “Uli” Buschmann and your bus driver welcome you on board the private deluxe motor coach that will be with you for the entire trip. Cold and hot drinks, a PA and radio/CD system, air conditioning, a bathroom… it’s all on board. We are now on our way to the most famous little place on the Romantic Road: Rothenburg ob der Tauber, and we expect to arrive there just before lunchtime. This city certainly is a gem: quaint cobble-stone alleys, century-old buildings, a wall all around... it's like stepping into a fairy tale.
Uli will take you on a walk that will include a stroll high up on the city wall. You’ll also see the old castle area and catch a view of the lovely Tauber river valley. And we’ll take you into the church and show you the Holy Blood altar, one of the most remarkable pieces of woodcarving in the land – made while Martin Luther was in After the walk the city is at your fingertips: watch the “master draught” clock in the market square… take a break in a sidewalk café and let the world pass by… visit the “criminal museum” that will introduce you to the sinister methods of law enforcement in the Middle Ages… or browse Käthe Wohlfahrt's year-round Christmas Store. We leave this medieval dream late afternoon for the greater Ulm a A scrumptious dinner will be waiting at our guesthouse before you float away into dreams – covered by the ubiquitous German featherbed if you wish.
Day 2 – Friday September 10, 2010 To Oberammergau and the Passion Play Breakfast will be at your hotel – as always on this tour. Most hotels these days offer a generous buffet breakfast that entails a variety of breads and rolls, cheeses, meats and sausages. Or join the muesli crowd and create your very own version of a bowl of cereals… We depart this morning well in time to get to the Oberammergau area as today is Passion Play day. At approx. 12:00 noon you’ll arrive at your spectacular 4 star superior hotel romantically situated by a mountain lake.
Now the local organizers will take over. You’ll receive your official program booklet and enjoy lunch before a private local bus takes you to Oberammergau – just 14 miles away. The first part of the play starts at 2.30pm, and your seats are in the light blue area marked “1” on the seating plan on the right. You probably know that the inhabitants of Oberammergau, when cruelly hit by the plague during the 30 years war in 1632, took a vow: That they would perform a Passion Play every 10 years if the epidemic subsided. Village history tells us that indeed it did, and no more persons died of the deadly disease. True to their promise, the villagers performed their first Passion Play at Whitsunday of 1634. From 1680 they switched to the first year of every decade – the pattern that is still in use today. Until well into the early 1800s, the performance of the play was just a village event, and while during the romantic age knowledge of the Oberammergau Plays spread, it was not until the performances in 1900 that they began to become famous. In that year a first roof was built to cover the audience, and it is the same roof that will protect you from the elements. Only through the 20th century did the plays turn into the international event that they are today. 2010 is the 41st time that the play is performed, which makes it one of the oldest, and certainly the best known Passion Plays around the world. So the "play of the suffering, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ" begins. As always the performance will be in German, but a printed English translation is part of your package.
During a 3 hour intermission you will be served dinner in a restaurant in Oberammergau, and you also have free admission to the village museum. Then at the fall of dusk the second half of the play starts, which will last un
Back to your hotel for a good night’s sleep…
Day 3 – Saturday September 11, 2010 Back home with stopover in Heidelberg We leave the area in the morning. Past the cities of Ulm and Stuttgart we continue to the beautiful city of Heidelberg where Uli will take you on a walk up to, and around, the “Student Prince” castle towering over the city.
Marvel at the gate that the prince had built in the course of one night – as a veritable surprise for his beloved wife; see the biggest useable wine barrel in the world; and ponder over the mysterious imprint in the patio floor of what clearly must have been a boot, while enjoying the view into the river valley. At approx 5.00pm we’ll continue our journey home; traffic permitting we expect to be in Bonn around 8.00pm, and in Cologne 30 minutes later.
Tour Price The total cost per person for this trip is 679 € until September 09. From October 09 the price increases, due to the fact that the full costs of the Oberammergau arrangements will already have been paid. The price is based on all 40 seats sold, and accommodation in a double room. (A limited number of single rooms may be available at a surcharge at a later date.) How to Register to go on the Trip Just download and complete a registration form - then send it through the post either to us - Buschmann Concept GmbH, or send it by internal post to Deborah Rosador, UN Volunteers. You will find full details of both addresses at the top of the registration form
The trip – at a glance
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his early twenties, and a young English boy of 11 was getting ready to become Henry VIII. 
rea - and time permitting we can offer you a stopover at the famous Steiff factory where teddy bears were invented. Check out their seconds factory outlet. 
til about 10.30pm. 
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