Ulm (April 12, 2007)

Complete Set of Photos

The other day, Isaac and I, having nothing more interesting to do, decided to go the Ulm for the day. We got a BW ticket and got to ride one of the nice trains directly from Stuttgart to Ulm. Ulm is about an hour east of Stuttgart, directly on the border between Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria (still in BW though).

Ulm is famous mainly for two things: the highest church steeple in the world, and for being the birthplace of Albert Einstein.

After walking around the old town center for a while, we saw some of the canals that run through the city (with many tasty trout in there that I could see), and then we walked through the park that's on the Danube River.

After a quick lunch at Nordsee (fast food seafood), we began the climb up the church tower. It’s 768 steps and 161 meters high, like a 42 story building! We could see the whole city and more from that tower - it was very cool! I was very tired by the time we got to the top though - it took us a good 20 minutes just to climb the stairs!

After that, we walked over to the German Bread Museum. It sounded so boring we had to check it out (it was listed as one of the main things in my guide book). We joked with the receptionist, wondering if we got free bread samples at the end. She chuckled and said no, but gave us some candy instead! It was kind of boring, but was a little interesting too. Mainly, it was rows of paintings with bread in them.

Now, Albert Einstein was born in Ulm as well, but moved away when he was 15 months old or something. His birth house, within sight of the main train station, was destroyed in WWII. Today, there’s the foundation outlined in the sidewalk and a monument that says that he was born here. There’s also a fountain a little ways away with his face in it too.