September 21st: A Day in the City

Hello!

I am very happy to receive nice feedback from everyone about my blog. I'm glad you enjoy reading it--I enjoy writing it.

I have the weekends off (except for one weekend every two months in which I have to babysit while the parents work on finishing their magazine), so almost all of my travel and sightseeing will be on Saturdays. This Saturday I decided to stay local: to downtown Ulm.

A couple of posts ago, I went to downtown Ulm for Kulturnacht and took a few pictures, but not many. This time, I jumped on my trusty steed (a bicycle) and rode into town by myself for a day of food, walking, climbing, and many, many pictures. Many of the pictures are from that massive church (Ulmer Munster) I talked about. Because this time I went inside, listened to some organ music and a hymn, took lots of pictures and then did the unthinkable...ascended the 700+ stairs to the top of the steeple.

Now will be a good time to mention my little fear of heights.

Before I went inside, I sat down on a bench near the shopping street and drank a Mezzo Mix while people watching and listening to music. Mezzo Mix is a Coke and Fanta mix. It is actually pretty good (even though German Fanta is MUCH worse than American Fanta). I roamed the streets little bit looking for food that seemed German. And lo, I found it in the form of a stand called "Grill Meister" (Grill Master in English). I did my best attempt at ordering. But as soon as I told the woman what I wanted, there was apparently another option: an option I was not prepared for. After the initial shock, a moment passed of me thinking and trying to decode what she asked me. The man behind me saw my confusion and said, "chicken or pork?" My God, it was so simple. After my answer, I enjoy a Schnitzelsanwich (chicken) and headed towards the church.

Mezzo Mix on a bench. I won't apologize for my pro finger placement in the bottom right.

My trusty steed. Europeans ride with the seats pretty high...

I forgot to take a picture before I started eating, but you get the idea.

As I walked into the church, I was simply blown away. I won't talk about the interior because, frankly, architecture isn't my forte. And the pictures will speak for themselves. And there are many.

There were many stained glass windows, I just took one, though. (Sorry, Scott.)

The view when you first walk in.

Replica of the church.

Some nice pillars with the light from the stained glass windows.

The main area. No big deal.

The ceiling.

Dat organ.

A little blurry, but you get the idea. There seemed to be some sort of small service going on behind that altar, but it was roped off.

Taken from the front.

You could pay 50 Euro cents to light a candle and place it in the sand. 

The one in the middle is mine.

There was another one of these.

Went up a little bit to some sort of pulpit overlooking the pews.

Not uhh...not sure what these are.

And, as I mentioned before, I made the trek up the steeple. The sign at the bottom said 768 steps/marches. It felt like more, but I trust them. There were several levels and when you thought you reached the top, there was another staircase waiting for you. I wanted to get a picture of the staircase, but it was so narrow and tight, that the picture wouldn't have done it justice. There were times when there were two separate staircases (one up, one down), but sometimes there was only one. And when people ran into each other, there was usually a hardy chuckle and some squeezing by.

At the very beginning. Taken from a window on the staircase.

This picture and the next one were taken from what I originally thought was the highest point you could climb. But I was very wrong. We'll call this Site A.

Site A.

You can look in a tiny hole (covered with glass) down on the church bells.

The aforementioned holes are located on that...thing. This was a little rest area with some benches. Here, I met some German students from Stuttgart traveling with some exchange students from Singapore. We had a little talk and then became climbing buddies to the top.

Taken from what I thought was the highest point...again. We'll call this Site B.

Site B. You could sit on a tiered portion of the roof (forgot to take a picture of it specifically) and could look out. As you can see, that couple wisely brought some drinks and snacks. The spire in the photo was the FINAL staircase to the tippy-top.

Site B.

Site B.

Site B.

Site B.

Shameless selfie at Site B.

The only photo from Site C, the very top. I would have taken more, but the walkway was so narrow that it was filled with people shoulder-to-shoulder--none of whom were moving. This then caused a traffic jam on the narrow staircase. I quickly snapped a picture from the staircase and went down. I didn't feel like waiting a long time to be uncomfortable and shoved around (compounded with my fear of heights).

Just a photo I snapped through a window on the way down to Earth.

And now for some random pictures I took while wandering around that I thought I would share. These are not all of the pictures, just a selection. I didn't want to make the post THAT long and uploading some of these photos can take awhile.

From what I've been told, this fountain used to be used by fishermen who would catch fish in the Donau and would store them here. People would then buy them from the fountain. 

Note: this fountain is about 300 years older than the USA.

Just one side of the Ulm city hall. Every side looks like this.

You might be thinking "Sean, why did you take a picture of some bricks?" Let me tell you why. 

These bricks outline the house where Albert Einstein was born. The building was destroyed many years ago, but they decided to let people know using the red bricks.

Alas, only a small portion of these bricks are visible. The other bricks are being covered....by construction. (A new shopping center, I believe.)

Just a little alley.

No idea what this building is, but I liked it.

Panoramic shot of part of Munster Square.

Yes, I decided to pop in to a small (very small) pub and buy a beer. For those of you who do not know, I despise beer. But I thought I would try it. It was......bad.

And on my way home, I rode my bike on the Donau. Decided to stop for another shameless selfie.

And that about covers it for my "trip" to Ulm. I spent a little over 6 hours there and had a pretty good time. As I said in my previous post (I think it was the previous one...), I was going to develop a to-do/see list. And for the next few weekends, I have a plan!

Next week, Sept. 28: Munich for Oktoberfest. I plan to be as touristy and American as I can. And yes, I will drink another beer. It's Oktoberfest, afterall.

The following week, Oct. 5: I will jump on a train to Freiburg. My friend Eric was there for a little bit for a writing camp and told me it was really pretty. I figured I would check it out for myself. My host dad also told me that Ulm to Freiburg is considered one of the most beautiful train rides in Germany. Score.

Fast forward a little bit to the weekends of Oct. 19: The plan is tentative, but we are hoping to make it happen. The Becky Payne will hopefully be making the trek from Paris to Ulm. From there, we will continue on to Fussen to see the gorgeous Neuschwanstein Castle. It is her birthday weekend, after all, so that will be a wonderful way to spend it, if I do say so myself.

Thank you for reading! I know this post was especially long. But, I hope you enjoyed!

"A great city is not to be confounded with a populous one." - Aristotle