25-SEP-2007
Half-timbered houses
Ulm is a very old city. A lot of the houses are like this - half-timbered. You can see that they're very well maintained, but it's neat to see the old house side-by-side with the new cars.
25-SEP-2007
No Escape from it
The ubiquitous graffiti is everywhere, and Ulm is no exception. This picture shows the ancient town wall. I guess someone decided it would be better with paint on it, so they sprayed graffiti on.
I think graffiti CAN be art on a railway freight car, but I'm pretty sure this view wasn't improved by the artwork.
25-SEP-2007
The Munster
Some old things can be improved with modern touches...
The cathedral at Ulm is one of the most beautiful in Europe, and boasts the highest church spire in the world. You can see the spire from miles away, and it is awesome.
They were working on maintenance/restoration when we were there, so the lower part of the spire had scaffolding on it.
When we visited Ulm, it was a cold, grey day. Since the skies were so grey, I thought it would be interesting to show the church in a black and white mood. Kind of a dramatic look, isn't it.
25-SEP-2007
The gargoyles
When we were walking up to the front of the church, I started to take some pictures. All of a sudden, I noticed these 2 gargoyles on the side buttressing. It was really unusual, to me anyway, that a church built in the middle ages would have an elephant gargoyle. But...there it is.
25-SEP-2007
Munster Sundial
There aren't just gargoyles on the sides of Ulm Munster. I found a large sundial near the front of the church. Of course, with a grey day like we were having, I couldn't get the right time on it.
Maybe it was working on daylight saving time....
25-SEP-2007
Is it high?
Yes, it is claimed to be the highest church steeple in the world! And! You can climb it to the top! There are ~783 steps going up.
25-SEP-2007
Going Up?
When we were in London in 2001, I climbed to the top of the dome at St. Pauls.
Now that we were in Ulm, I was bound and determined that my first major trek in Europe would bring me closer to heaven, so climbing the Munster was absolutely necessary. What made it even better was that Mona decided she would go up, too! I think she just didn't trust me to make it, and wanted to supervise the climb .
Here we are...5 lbs. heavier and still smiling.
25-SEP-2007
Climbing Views
The stairs start in a lower side tower and then switch over to the centre tower at a certain point. They're also open to the air thruogh these little slit windows, covered with mesh so people can't jump or throw things out. You can see a view to the central tower here.
25-SEP-2007
Slowly working our way up...
25-SEP-2007
The Stairs
The stairs to the top are all in a circular staircase made of stone. There's amazing stonemasonry at work here! Every step is made up of the stair tread AND the central column, then stacked on the step below it to form the corkscrew effect. It's amazing to look at and marvel at how advanced the technology of 100's of years ago can still be today.
25-SEP-2007
We made it!...to the Middle
It didn't take a long time to get to the Middle chamber of the tower, but we were certainly feeling the climb already.
Here's a view out to the city. I would guess we were already at the 20th floor level of a modern building.
