Ulm

On Saturday we drove to Ulm. Ulm is on the boarder of Baden-Wurttemberg and Bayern. It is just under 2 hours southeast of Heidelberg. The Danube river runs between Ulm and NeuUlm. Ulm is home to a beautiful munster (building started in 1377 and it took 500 years to complete) that boasts the tallest church steeple in the world (just what this afraid-of-heights-person was looking for!). They also have a basketball team that just happened to be playing Bayer Leverkusen. Brandon and Kyndara were again so generous and got tickets for us. Thanks Brandon and Kyndara! Here are some highlights from Ulm...

The Christmas Markets (WeihnachtsMarkt) were being set up in Ulm, as they are in nearly every German town across the country right now. The Ulmer WeihnachtsMarkt looks like a really nice one! It is set up in the platz surrounding the Munster.

We think they were planning to have a live nativity here when the WeihnachtsMarkt opens.

Here you can see the Munster in the background.

It's just so hard to capture the size of these churches with a camera. Remember the steeple you see in the picture above is the tallest in the world.

The inside of the Munster is just magnificent! Paintings, sculptures, are everywhere.

One of my favorite things in the Ulmer Munster is this pulpit canopy. Not only is it beautifully carved but if you look carefully, above the spiral stairs for the priest is a second, tiny spiral staircase that leads to a tiny pulpit above the priest's pulpit. This tiny staircase and pulpit is for the Holy Spirit - what a great tangible symbol of Holy Spirit's presence and inspiration in each sermon preached from this pulpit!

Time to climb. Ugh! The Ulmer Munster steeple is 161.6 meters high. The viewing platform is 143 meters high and you have to climb 768 steps to reach the viewing platform.

Here are some pictures from the top of the tallest steeple in the world. You can see, not only Ulm, but the Black Forest and the Swabian Jura mountains. On a clear day you can see the Alps - I'm not sure if you can in our pictures or not.

These pictures are from the first viewing platform. You can see the Christmas Market nicely from here.

Ready to climb some more???

We made it to the main viewing platform! But that is not enough for Jeff and the kids - they need more...

Yes, those are more steps. I stayed put but Jeff and the kids continued up...

...and WE MADE IT!!!!!!

They all said the view was dizzying!

I thought coming down was worse than going up. The stairs and windows were positioned such that you had to look out. I was really scary! A reminder of where we were.

Ulm is the birthplace of Albert Einstein, although he moved from Ulm when he was one year old. Before WWII he was given honorary citizenship in Ulm but that was revoked by the Nazis because he was Jewish. After WWII Ulm asked him if he would like his honorary citizenship reinstated. He declined. Nonetheless there are several monuments in his honor in Ulm.

This monument marks the spot where Einstein's house once stood.

This strange fountain is in his honor and near the fountain in the wall of the white building is "ein stein" (translated = one stone).

Time for coffee and kuchen - one of our favorite German traditions!

This is a monument in honor of Hans and Sophie Scholl, brother and sister. They spent their childhood in Ulm. While they were university students in Munich they, along with some friends, spoke out against the Nazis by distributing fliers, etc. You may know them as members of the White Rose Society. They were killed by the Nazis in 1943.

The Ulm Rathaus is just beautiful! The whole thing is painted in ornate scenes. Inside is a replica of Albrecht Berblinger's (the Taylor of Ulm) flying machine - the prototype of the modern hang-glider. He invented it in 1802 and jumped (or some say he was kicked) from the city wall as the people of Ulm watched.

We had supper in the old fisherman's quarter.

Then it was off to the basketball game.

We got to meet Kyndara's parents - it was good to talk to someone from Iowa!

The tip-off...

The Giants lost a heartbreaker after leading pretty much the whole game by up to 15 points. They lost on a last minute basket - bummer!

Jeff and Ellen were pulled out of the crowd for a half-time contest. Jeff had to direct Ellen (blindfolded) to a basketball sitting at the free throw line. Then she could take her blindfold off and shoot. She made it on her second try but the other team was faster. They had fun and Ellen won a scarf.

A great day in Ulm! Thanks again Brandon and Kyndara. Bayer will get 'em next time!

Odenwald

Last weekend we spent Saturday driving through the Odenwald, stopping at places that seemed interesting. All the places we stopped were within an hour or so of Heidelberg. The Fall colors were past their peak but were still very beautiful.

Our first stop was Mittelburg, another castle Jeff drives by every day to and from work. It is near Hinterburg. We were not able to go in this castle. There was lots of renovation going on. It looked like it was being renovated for use as a hotel, apartments or a youth hostel.

Our next stop was Hirschorn, the Pearl of the Neckar. Hirschorn is a picturesque little town east of Heidelberg. It sits on the Neckar River and is full of beautiful old buildings and has a wonderful castle overlooking the city and the river.




















































See the kids peeking out of the tower?

















Joseph is always my actor!






Our next stop was Airlenbach. It was a really quick stop to see this 1000- year old "fat oak". It looked 1000 years old and had certainly seen better days but it was fun to imagine all the history this tree has witnessed.



















Our next stop was for Jeff - Mossautal and the Schmucker Brewery and Restaurant. We were hoping for a tour but we needed to call ahead and we hadn't. So, we settled for a wonderful meal at the Schmucker Restaurant! It was excellent!



























Our next stop was Michelstadt. This is the town hall from 1484. It is one of Germany's oldest oak buildings.

We stopped, next, in Steinbach, not far from Michelstadt, at the Einhardsbasilika...







and Schloss Furstenau.

Now, if I was really mean I would insert the picture of Ellen that we took in the car as we drove to our next stop. You see, Ellen stayed out way too late the night before this little adventure - salsa dancing! She was sawing logs big time - with her mouth wide open :) ! We got a great picture but she would kill me if I put it in the blog :) ! I'm sure you can use your imagination...








Our last stop was Breuberg Castle near Hochst. It was built in the 12th century.










There were sheep around the outside of the castle, inside of the outer walls. For a moment we thought we were really in the Middle Ages!

This particular castle is a youth hostel, so for only 20-30 euros per night, when you are traveling through Europe, you can stay in a castle - and that includes a meal - not bad!



















































A fun day but it was time to get kids to bed!