This may be the world’s most famous play… that you have never heard of!

The 2010 Passion Play in Oberammergau, Germany, is a once-a-decade event that takes over, consumes, and essentially overwhelms the entire town of Oberammergau. Once every 10 years, more than half of this Bavarian village’s 5,000 inhabitants take part as actors in the world-famous Oberammergau Passion Play.

Stage of the Oberammergau Passion Play

The local residents join together with director Christian Stückl (manager of Munich’s renowned Volkstheater), stage designer Stefan Hageneier, and music directors Markus Zwink and Michael Bocklet to stage this solemn and meticulous play depicting the suffering and death of Jesus the Nazarene. The plot has not changed in structure since the first performance in 1634; it begins with Christ’s entry into Jerusalem on a donkey, and winds up with a dramatic Crucifixion scene.

Scene from the Oberammergau Passion Play

This highly emotional play is expected to be watched by more than 500,000 people between May and October 2010, over a series of 102 performances. This is the 41st performance of the Oberammergau Passion Play itself - it’s always performed once a decade, and has been since 1634.

Why Oberammergau, you may ask?

The answer can be traced back to one of several outbreaks of the bubonic plague that struck Europe in medieval times. When faced with the horror of the disease in 1633, the villagers of Oberammergau vowed to perform a Passion Play both the next year and every 10 years thereafter, should they be spared from the disease.

Houses in Oberammergau

In 1634 they kept their promise and the Oberammergau Passion Play was born. Only twice (due to political reasons in 1770 and the World War II in 1940) has the Passion Play not taken place. Nowadays it is a permanent feature, held the last year in each decade here in Oberammergau.

How is the play organized?

As you would expect from an event organized in Germany, no detail is left to chance in the planning of the Passion Play! The cast, who must be born in Oberammergau or have resided here for at least 20 years, are chosen a full year in advance of the first play. Why? Mainly because the men must grow out their hair and facial hair to effectively depict their characters.

Where can I find tickets to the Oberammergau Passion Play?

Ah, we thought you’d never ask!

It is very, very difficult to book tickets. The Passion Play ticket policy requires that all tickets for non-German residents are reserved by tour operators and sold as part of tour packages. That’s where we can help. We at Viator have searched hard to source the best-value package and are delighted to present our 3-Day Oberammergau Passion Play tour from Munich.

The tour - which includes train travel from Munich, a choice of two accommodation options and two “category two” tickets for the Passion Play - is ideal for people who want to see the Passion Play without being restricted to a specific tour itinerary. In other words, it’s perfect if you are holidaying in central Europe next summer and are desperate to witness this unique event, but want a degree of flexibility and independence on the way.

Be warned: all tickets must be returned to the Passion Play office a full 3 months prior to every performance date, so book now to guarantee your seat at Oberammergau 2010!

-Viator Travel Team

Planning a trip? Browse Viator’s Munich tours & things to do in Munich, including multi-day tours from Munich.

Rosemarie, last year's contest winner, on her Sydney New Year's Eve Cruise

Sydney is home to one of the world’s most famous New Year’s Eve celebrations. The fireworks display is second to none, the weather is warm & sunny, and the atmosphere is simply unbeatable.

This year, you can go as a VIP by entering to win 2 free tickets on a Sydney Harbour New Year’s Eve Cruise. Cruise Sydney Harbour in style aboard the Bella Vista, see the sights of Sydney and the harbour as the sun goes down and the city lights up the sky. At 9pm you’ll have a front-row seat for the Harbour of Light Parade, made up of 50 invited vessels decorated in rope-light. Continue to drink and dance the night away until the spectacular midnight fireworks show.

How do I enter?

Simply leave a reply for this post below to enter our “Sydney New Year’s Eve Harbour Cruise” contest. Like we did last year, we want you to answer one simple question: “Why should Viator send YOU on a Sydney Harbour New Year’s Eve Cruise?”.

Entries must be submitted by December 15, 2009. Winners will be announced on December 17, 2009.

Of course, there is a catch! We are only accepting replies that are 10 words or less! That’s right, answer the question “Why should we send YOU on a Sydney Harbour New Year’s Eve Cruise?” in 10 words or less, and you could win 2 free tickets* for a Sydney Harbour New Year’s Eve Cruise.

You can enter our contest as many times as you like, but remember, your reply must be 10 words or less or it will not be considered.

Sydney Harbour at sunset

Good luck! See you in Sydney for New Year’s Eve 2009!

-The Viator Team

* Our staff will pick the entry that we think best answers the question above, in 10 words or less. We are providing 2 free tickets on a Sydney Harbour New Year’s Eve Cruise. Airfare, hotel, taxes, and any other expenses are not included. We provide an unforgettable night of entertainment on New Year’s Eve, you need to get there on your own!  If you need a place to stay, check out hotels in Sydney on Planetware.com.

So you’ve travelled and taken lots of digital photos. Now you are now home, pining for the next adventure. What to do? Why not dust off your travel pictures and have some fun?

You could show them to your friends and family again, but apparently that is boring (note to self: why aren’t people more interested in my personal travels??) and results in a lonely life.

So instead, spice up the photos with some cool effects then share them around – you’ll get a much better response and have some fun in the meantime. One of my favourite effects is to make a photo look as though it was taken of a toy instead of the real thing. The effect is created by shrinking the depth of field so the photo looks as if it was taken with a macro (closeup) lens. It also helps to increase the colour saturation to make things look like plastic and more toy like.

Geeking out with your travel photos

When this effect was first introduced a year or two ago, it was very time consuming and required Photoshop expertise to get a good result. Fortunately for us, some smart folks made a website that does all the hard work! Better yet, it’s free at Tiltshiftmaker.com. Load your photo by either entering a link to an online photo or uploading an image directly.

Once the image is loaded, you can move the focus point around (as well as shrink or enlarge it). There are lots more settings, but I’ve found the defaults to be fine for generating very cool toy-like photos. Here are some examples I made:

San Francisco Balcony... and the toy version

This is a rooftop terrace I could see from my hotel balcony in Japan Town, San Francisco. When I took the photo I was fascinated by the details, but the end result was a bit busy and not too interesting. After adding the fake model effects, you can see it’s much more fun and I’ve had a couple people argue with me that it HAD to be a toy model! I had to show them the original photos to convince them otherwise.

MOMA, or plaything?

This photo of MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) in NYC was also a bit of a letdown in its original form but after manipulation it became a scene from an architect’s model. I love the way even the people look like toys from a model railroad setup.

Grand Central Toy Station

The last example is New York’s Grand Central Station. The original was the same as a million other photos taken by tourists like me, but with some tilt and shift action it becomes a miniature world of commuters, racing to the next HO-scale train.

Tips on making playthings of your photos

Not all photos are good candidates for fake model effects. I found photos taken from above, so it feels like the viewer is a giant looking down at a scale model work the best. It’s also important that any people in the photos appear to be fairly small so they are not too easily recognised as the real thing.

Lastly it helps if the photo does not include a massively complex background (like a city or something) as it makes the scene a bit unbelievable (who’d build a 50 block model city?). Remember we’re trying to trick the viewer’s brain into perceiving the photo is of a model.

Give it a go – it’s lots of fun and very easy to do. Your friends and family will actually enjoy revisiting your travel photos and it will help fill the time until you can experience the real thing again yourself!

-Jeff Lewis

I arrive for my Rome catacombs tour early and so sit in the last of the October sun munching on a suppli (a Roman snack containing a deep-fried ball of rice and mozzarella). The meeting point is Piazza Barberini at a distinctive fountain created from a large statue of Triton spouting water from a large conch. After a moment’s digestion I notice people beginning to assemble. The tour manager ticks me off her list and hands me an oval little white sticker which I press onto my lapel.

San Calisto catacomb in Rome

We are introduced to our guide – Angelo. It turns out we are all early and so head off ahead of schedule – first stop is a comfortable tour bus. The title of the tour is Crypts and Catacombs and so aptly our first destination is the catacombs of Saint Calisto – one small part of a huge network of catacombs in Rome.

Rome’s catacombs: A little history

As we work our way across the tapestry that is ancient and modern Rome, Angelo fills us in on the background of the catacombs and the reason for their existence. The Catacombs are basically underground burial chambers dug outside the walls of Rome by the early Christians. They are something of an enigma as they were created at a time when Christianity was illegal in the Roman Empire and yet this huge network spanning almost 150 miles in total was allowed to flourish.

In the capable hands of our guide

Angelo informs us that for the early Christians it was vital to be buried whole due to a very literal belief in the resurrection. Contemporary Romans were, in contrast, being cremated in what was seen as a far more hygienic method of disposal (for them, the Day of Judgment was of little importance and the idea of having intact bodies being buried inside the walls of Rome anathema).

Once outside the ancient walls we wind our way down the Appia Antica – one of Rome’s most ancient of roads. The city has given way to fields and Roman ruins and a large flock of sheep munch at the grass. Soon we arrive at the Catacombs of Saint Calisto and with a long bamboo stick to hand Angelo gives us a brief rundown of how they were built and how the earth called Tufa is perfect for the job (soft to dig but hardens nicely once left in contact with the air).

Descending into the catacombs of Rome

The time to head underground arrives (unfortunately photography is not allowed, in respect to the dead and buried Christians). As we descend the air becomes dank and clammy and it’s a little chilly. Immediately we enter high corridors cut into the earth with banks of little tombs cut into the sides of varying sizes. Angelo guides us to various points of interest which include high ventilation shafts, a papal room which unfortunately had clearly been ransacked before restoration but which nonetheless was the burial site of some very early Popes.

Into the catacombs!

We continue down more labyrinthine alleys full of tombs to rooms containing simple and strangely innocent frescoes where families would have been buried. The atmosphere is strange and not very comfortable. There is a sense of the place being emptied and indeed Angelo had mentioned that the Barbarians and had a bit of a rummage no doubt hoping to find some precious possessions but they would have been disappointed as the Christians were buried without precious goods and then later bone collectors would have dug out these early Christians selling the bones as holy relics.

The place is a little spooky probably not helped by the fact that it is Halloween and I am relieved when we head back up into the October sunshine.

Basilica of St Clement

We head back into Rome and, not far from the Colosseum, we enter the Basilica of St Clement who Angelo has informed us on the way in, used to preach in the second century and so incensed the Romans that they sent him to the Black Sea salt mines where his ardour still persisted and at the point where he started converting soldiers they tied him to an anchor and threw him in the sea – St Cyril (creator of the Cyrillic alphabet) was said to have gathered his remains and brought him back to Rome. On entering the Basilica one is struck by the stunning beauty of the mosaic work in the apse but the tour is about crypts so we first head underground to the amazing discovery the Irish Friar Joseph Mullooly made when hearing water rushing underneath the church.

In trying to find the source of the water Mullooly succeeded in uncovering first the foundations of the early church which are interesting but pale in significance to the lower layer which reveal the site of an ancient Mithraic temple site complete with a stunning piece of sculpted marble showing Mythras slaying a bull whose blood has unfortunately been corrupted by the bite of a snake – the idea of evil entering the world.

Outside the Basilica St Clement

Angelo describes the remarkable similarities between the Mithraic cult (which was highly popular) and that of Christianity which include the seven deadly sins and the importance of the ritual of bread and wine. We enter more ancient Roman rooms and find the source of the rushing water - an ancient underwater system still alive and well. St Clement really has a magic to it that I felt needed more time to savour, particularly the Basilica itself but we head off onto the bus for the Capuchin crypt.

Jaw bones and shoulder blades at the Capuchin Crypt

This last Crypt is real live horror. We are bullied into giving a one euro donation by the woman at the door and told in no uncertain terms no photographs whatsoever are allowed. The spectacle that greets us is one of macabre sculptures made out of the bones of Capuchin monks with the stark message repeated in various forms of symbolism that our time on earth is limited and we should all look to the salvation of our souls as soon as possible. Hour glasses are sculpted out of shoulder blades and as I look above me a line of jaw bones dance one after the other across the ceiling. Skulls are piled on high like something out of a Pol Pot massacre. It’s grim with mummified monks in their habits holding court but so artfully done that it fascinates.

Once more it’s pleasant to return to the fresh air of the Via Veneto and to be told one last tasty morsel of information – that it was on the Via Veneto that the inventor of the cappuccino whilst struggling to find a name noticed the distinctive brown habit of a Capuchin monk and eureka … the cappuccino was born.

The tour is just the right length and leaves the most startling spectacle till last which helps as ones concentration starts to flag. St Clements is a very special church and warrants more time upstairs but the trip out to the Appia Antica catacombs really makes you feel that you have done a genuine bit of travelling. Overall one gets a real sense of early Christian history and its preoccupation with death.

-Laurence Belgrave

Planning a trip? Brose Viator’s Rome tours & things to do in Rome, including Rome walking tours & biking tours such as the Rome catacombs tour and the catacombs and Rome countryside walkig tour.

It wasn’t easy dragging myself out of the hot thermal waters of the Polynesian Spa in Rotorua on that cold winter night. Birds were rising from the lake, heading home to roost as steam rose in the dying light of Saturday.

As I forced my relaxed muscles to work, cold air hit skin: this traditional Maori Hangi dinner better be worth it.

A ride back into Maori history

Half an hour later, rugged up and feeling like I was still steaming gently, I stood outside my hotel waiting for the tour bus. In my befuddled state, this was a confusing moment: there were tour buses and tourists everywhere. How would I know which one was mine? But I knew: not one of the slick silver modern buses, no, mine was the gaudily painted, older style functional bus. The adventure had begun.