Hello blog! Today, we visited THE tallest church steeple in the entire world, located only an hour away from Augsburg, in Ulm city!
This morning we woke up around 8:00, ate a quick hotel breakfast, and then hit the train station. It was great to see Nikolas and Maxi again, as I taught them how to “dap” me up, aka properly greet in American. Of course, they responded with their own version, but it’s still a work in progress :). Today was supposed to be our first experience with the famous bullet trains that Germany is known for, but unlike the common stereotype of public transportation always being on time, our train was cancelled, forcing us to wait another 30 minutes for a different train. While on our way, we all discussed the daily WORDLE and talked about our plans to go to Salzburg on Thursday during our free day.
Upon arrival, I was surprised by how big the city actually was! I was expecting a much smaller town, but the city was very modernized with tons of clothing shops and many restaurants, similar but smaller than Munich. Our tour guide took us inside the church, talking about the preservation of the building and its perseverance during the war. It turns out that about 80% of all the buildings in Ulm were completely destroyed, and by a stroke of luck, the church has been standing for over 200 years! The stained-glass windows on the inside were each as beautiful as the last – many artists from over the years had donated their work and contributed their own style.
After walking inside the church, our tour guide took us around the town. There were several beautiful canals, as well as the Danube river nearby, where many old fishermen worked and sold their fish many years ago. We also saw a peculiar building, which was famous for the fact that it was tilting over on its side. I learned that the furniture inside had legs which were adjusted to the unusual tilt, so the beds and furnishing were all level.
After our tour, we walked 300 steps up the church steeple. The top floors were closed due to construction, but WOW, it really reminded me how out of shape I was in. The view at the top of the climb was beautiful. Similar to Oberammergau, we had a view of the entire city and took some beautiful photos. On the way down, our group shaved off some time singing karaoke from Pitbull, Outkast, and other American bands, which reminded us of home.
After the climb, we got some more of my favorite food at a nice restaurant, L’ Osteria, a tasty Italian restaurant! I ordered a huge pizza for myself, which I had to scarf down in 5 minutes because we were late to the train.
Ulm was gorgeous, even though it was rainy the entire day. Tomorrow is our last day trip of the program, which is probably the most anticipated day of the entire 2 weeks, when we visit the castle at Neuschwanstein! I will update the blog with some stunning pictures of the castle tomorrow!