Passau (Part 3)

We  visited the courthouse and then the house, resplendent in Baroque excess, in which the Bishop lived. The Council, apparently, took great exception to the excessive ways in which the Bishop was living and evicted him from his apartments. I took several photos of just the entry hallway of the Bishop’s house. I could understand how the Passau Council could feel that perhaps that Bishop was living just a bit high on the hog.

Then Dorothea took us to an area just off the square which was being readied for a theatrical performance. There lighting instruments were being hung in a stage area that dated from the Roman era.  I envied those that would be sitting in the audience, being entertained by a theatrical performance, staged in an  old Roman castle.

Dorothea suggested that we may want to go up (way up) to the Mariahilf  (literal meaning  “Mary –help!”) Monastery.  The Monastery sits atop a tall, crag-like hill and she said we may want to take the Tram rather than walk up, feeling that most of us, I think, were less than devout.

The hill up to the monastery consists of 321 steps in a covered stairway and is a pilgrimage site. All along the steps there are gifts to the Holy Mother. Pilgrims kneel and pray at each step. Dorothea told us that her grandmother did the stairs every Sunday, on her knees, stopping every 10 steps to do three Hail Marys and the Lord’s prayer – in its entirely. My, we said, what a devout woman! Well, actually, Dorothea admitted guiltily, it was due to the fact that Dorothea was living in sin with her boyfriend and, even worse, he was Protestant. As Dorothea had no plans to marry any time soon, nor attempt to  convert the innocent paramour, poor Grandma was probably going to do those penitent steps the rest of her life. Dorothea chuckled – she was somewhat devilish.

She was right about us feeling less than devout and we declined going up the 321 steps, despite the promised view (and salvation?). We, instead, went for cappuccinos and a meander through the markets.