I was thrilled we were able to get tickets - only problem the tickets were for May 22 and we were scheduled to move back to the USA in April. We thought at the time there would be some way to extend our stay and make it work and have held onto the hope of making it happen, but real life back in the USA beckons. I grew up listening to my grandmother rave about her chance to see the Passion Play after WWII and I am bummed we won't be able to use our tickets. Maybe in 2020?!?
Just because we cannot use them, someone else really should. We are asking 90 euros for the pair, but will take best offer. The play is Saturday May 22 and lasts throughout the day (with breaks). It will be a once in a lifetime experience, I am sure. Tickets for the entire summer are sold out...and the freedom of going independently and not through a big tour group is a bonus. Oberammergau is a little over 7 hours drive from Brussels and not far from Munich. 
Here is what the Boston Globe wrote last September about the Passion Play: The Passion Play of Oberammergau comes around a little more often (every decade) than Halley's Comet, but unless you book soon you'll have to wait for the 2020 production to see one of Europe's greatest and longest-running spectacles. When the bubonic plague ravaged Bavaria in 1633, the Oberammergau villagers vowed that if they were spared from further deaths, they would perform a play about the last days, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Except for hiatuses during two wars, they've been at it ever since. The 41st Passion Play takes place daily May 15-Oct. 3, 2010. About 2,500 of the 5,200 villagers are involved with the production, and the performers have been growing their hair and beards since Ash Wednesday 2009. Organizers expect the last of the combined one- and two-day packages of play tickets and lodgings to be sold out in the next month or so. 
Please contact me if you are interested in our tickets to the Passion Play.
Please contact me if you are interested in our tickets to the Passion Play.
We spent our last night in Girona, Spain. Not wanting to leave any tourist stones unturned we ventured into the Old Town to check it out. I was pleasantly surprised with the colorful buildings and charming architecture. It was very quaint and cute. In a way it almost felt Italian.
The cathedral boasts the widest stone vault in Christendom (73 feet).
Girona must also be a fashionista of sorts. We spotted yet another Pronovias bridal shop and some other eye-catching designs.
Adios Spain! This was our last trip to Spain during this expat experience. By far Spain has been the biggest shocker for me in Western Europe (Poland the biggest shocker in Eastern Europe). From Madrid and Basque country in the North - Andalucia in the South - Santiago de Compestello in the West - Barcelona and Mallorca in the East. You just cannot go wrong with any Spanish destination! We feel extremely fortunate to have flamencoed our way throughout Spain with some of our very best memories inside her borders.
Plus we felt a little overwhelmed by the smog and pollution in Barcelona. I hadn't remembered it from our last visit but a visible blanket was everpresent. The fresh mountain air seemed a perfect prescription after the urban bustle and sprawl.
We geared up for our Montserrat day trip - Connor jammin' with her Ipod Shuffle and her box of raisins as we attempt to get her dressed. What more do you need?!? And why does dressing a two year old have to be such a piece by piece workout?!?
We wound through many hairpin turns to reach Montserrat. We drove but there are also cable car and funicular options too. Up, up, up into the clouds. Elmo got to join us too!
There was a baffling festival of sorts going on. I tried to find information about the celebration but came up short. These large puppet men were dancing and twirling to a band. Connor was at first intrigued and then terrified. Can't say I blame her!
Here Kirk assures Connor the big dancing people were not out to get her.
We darted across the dancing into the church. Montserrat is a major pilgrimage site for folks to come and rub the "Black Madonna." There were choirs and concerts inside - we enjoyed the merriment.
Stumbling across the votive flickering Ave Maria Path we of course had to light a candle and say a prayer. We may have cut out a lot of expenses by moving abroad, but the church candle purchases are a new line item on our balance sheet!
All in all I have to be honest...Montserrat fell kinda flat given our high expectations. The scenery was beautiful, but the crowds put a bit of a damper on the serene-ness. And the crammed cafeteria lunch spun it away from the religious/cultural AHA experience we imagined. We were glad we went to check it out for ourselves, but with limited time in Spain I would put Montserrat farther down on the must-see list than I originally ranked it.
The Picasso Museum was just as stunning as the rest. Except no photos allowed hence I grabbed a few internet images to remember our favorites parts. The museum is a transformed monastery, so yet again the building itself rivaled the art on the walls.
Connor's favorites were a series of pigeons by a beach...
The rooms built upon each other up to the last gallery. What a crescendo! The museum's master work was this colorless painting below...
It is Picasso's interpretation and reproduction of this painting below, Las Meninas by Diego Valazquez (which hangs at The Prado)...
But the key grey painting was not what its all about. The best part was the adjacent hall with 58 colorful trials and interpretations leading up to the bigger "Las Meninas" work. The geometry and colors were incredibly appealing. The museum calls the series "an exhaustive study of form, rhythm, colour and movement." It was like watching an artist's puzzle being put together right before our eyes - piece by piece.
I wonder why Picasso did his practice pieces in bold colors but abandoned them for a hueless final work?
It was a gorgeous spot, yet all the fun and activity was happening outside on the steps.
Every Saturday groups gather to dance in the square - young and old. What a festive tradition! We sat and gawked. It was hard not to jump right in. If only we knew the steps. The dance was well choreographed, so all three hung back and clapped along with the many circular groups of dancers.
We capped off a brilliant Barcelona day with a stroll down Las Ramblas and a tapas dinner along the harbor. Kirk looked at me during dinner and said "I could return to Barcelona again and again and again" - High compliment from someone who never wants to travel the same place twice!
My second observation was the Passion facade. Christ upon the crucifix is a common symbol throughout Europe. Yet this depiction is raw and gripping. The emotion of the stone figures is impossible to miss or downplay.
Inside the construction and scaffolding take up much of the sanctuary. Which is a tad disappointing not to have free reign to wander. When we visited 8 years ago we were footloose and fancy free (translation - childless) so we climbed the steeples up the winding steps. Which was a highlight. This time we weren't so footloose so we concentrated on the facades and vast interior design.
Being not so footloose has its priceless rewards too - like seeing Connor's face against Gaudi's genius.
The rear facade (opposite the Passion facade) is of the Nativity...
With designs as consuming as this one I have to sit and let my eyes settle in to spot the smaller details. Mary, Joseph and Jesus are at the bottom...
The shepherds' adoration...
The kings bring their gifts...
Here they are taking the babe into Egypt...
We followed the path down to the crypt that serves as the Sagrada Familia's museum of the work in progress. There we spotted models of how the artists continue to mold, plan and craft these plans. And also sketches for the third and grandest (yet-to-be-built) facade, the Glory Facade.
The film in the crypt museum details the decades of work thus far. And gives you a glimpse as to how this....
becomes this...
The great doors on the Passion facade are perhaps my favorite part. They are New Testament words in many different languages. The way the letters pop off the doors in 3D make them especially memorable.
Connor loved the doors too. She had a ball pointing out all her favorite letters. And of course "C" is the most recognized and beloved!
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