All Saint's Day November 1, 2006
A cold rainy All Saints Day here in the Bavarian Alps caused Holly and me to rethink our plan to take a bus to Konigssee, the large lake just south of Berchtesgaden and Germany’s highest lake. Our plan was to take the boat from the north end of the lake to St. Bartholoma a picturesque lakeside church. We’ll try again tomorrow.
We decided instead to don our raingear and stroll around the town. Our explorations soon yielded the fact that only a few restaurants were open on this holiday which we found they take very seriously here. We were told by the proprietor of a shop we were in yesterday that activities would begin around 2 PM. We wandered around had lunch and generally tried to stay warm and dry until that time. We had made a stop back at the room where the ever present laundry waited to be done by hand. Unfortunately we lost track of the time and had just sat down for lunch when people dressed in traditional Bavarian clothing began moving around the narrow street outside of the café. A gentleman in the café told us that they had just finished in the cemetery next to the town hall and church and the group was moving on to the next one. There was a band with brass instruments and a drum as well as a choir. From what we could understand they will go to each cemetery to play, sing and pay their respects to the departed. All this while the rain fell and the wind blew. As I said they take this holiday seriously.
After lunch the procession we had seen had moved on and we had no idea where they went so Holly and I satisfied ourselves with more town explorations. A Schloss (castle) and church stand in the town which we viewed from the outside, but they were closed today so we could not go in. We took a trail from near the Schloss which led us high over the town and despite the weather held fine panoramas of the valley and the mountains.
A stop at the café next to our hotel for hot chocolate and apple fritters helped us to warm up and recharge, but with the light fading fast we called it a day and headed to the room.
We decided instead to don our raingear and stroll around the town. Our explorations soon yielded the fact that only a few restaurants were open on this holiday which we found they take very seriously here. We were told by the proprietor of a shop we were in yesterday that activities would begin around 2 PM. We wandered around had lunch and generally tried to stay warm and dry until that time. We had made a stop back at the room where the ever present laundry waited to be done by hand. Unfortunately we lost track of the time and had just sat down for lunch when people dressed in traditional Bavarian clothing began moving around the narrow street outside of the café. A gentleman in the café told us that they had just finished in the cemetery next to the town hall and church and the group was moving on to the next one. There was a band with brass instruments and a drum as well as a choir. From what we could understand they will go to each cemetery to play, sing and pay their respects to the departed. All this while the rain fell and the wind blew. As I said they take this holiday seriously.
After lunch the procession we had seen had moved on and we had no idea where they went so Holly and I satisfied ourselves with more town explorations. A Schloss (castle) and church stand in the town which we viewed from the outside, but they were closed today so we could not go in. We took a trail from near the Schloss which led us high over the town and despite the weather held fine panoramas of the valley and the mountains.
A stop at the café next to our hotel for hot chocolate and apple fritters helped us to warm up and recharge, but with the light fading fast we called it a day and headed to the room.
posted by Gary and Holly Davis @ 12:28 PM
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