Just Ice and Whiskey: Ulm: Day 4

March 27th

Today I tackled Ulm Münster. It is 768 steps to the top of the steeple. Jana gets vertigo and Dan had conference things so I went alone.

In the beginning.....is an exquisitely carved wooden door.

And a ticket machine that ate my money.

Thankfully the bookshop in the church believed me and gave me a ticket.

"A journey of a [768 steps] begins with a single step." - Laozi

I may have paraphrased.

First viewing tier. I'm not that high up yet, though the people are starting to look small in the square.

At this level I can take a photo of the square while still mostly looking out instead of down.

The Münster bells. Surprising at the bottom of the steeple.

I guess that makes sense for weight and structural purposes, but it was unexpected.

Looking down on the square from the second viewing tier.

Definitely mostly looking down to get this photo.

Next to the pink blob on the bench in the middle is a person with a bit of yellow.

You might just have to take my word for it.

At this tier there was a foyer with images of other famous churches, about 1/3 of which I have visited.

Also this Art Nouveau style poster about the church.

Also also there was an office up here.

I had many questions that did not get answered.

Did the office occupant have to hike all these steps every day to get to their office?

Was there a secret elevator somewhere?

Did they have a bathroom or did they have to go downstairs to use a bathroom?

What did they do, good or bad, to have an office up here?

Originally I was going to take photos of all the tier starting steps, but I forgot when I left tier one. Here's tier two's starting steps though!

Tier three was full of fun gargoyles. This dude.

This dragon/lizard guy.

A lion and.....another dragon, maybe?

Two more dragony type gargoyles.

That one's definitely a goat. No idea what the one in the back is. I'm going with dragon.

Danube winding through Ulm and into the countryside.

To get to the fourth tier and top I got to climb this central column.

I was not so sure about this.

I made it this far. I better suck it up and make it to the top. Let's do this!

I may have stopped several times on my way up this last climb. The central tower was a bit unnerving in that it really felt like it was out in space. I kept imagining tripping and falling down the stairs or spraining an ankle and having to hop all the way down. Dan would never let me climb anything ever again.

I MADE IT! LOOK AT THESE VIEWS!

Also it was very blustery and chilly. I was happy to have my gloves and hat, though the hat kept trying to escape.

Looking down onto the rest of the church (left). A very nice German couple came up not long after I had made it to the top. I asked if they would take a photo for me to prove I was up here (right).

More views around the Baden-Württemburg countryside.

Okay, time to go back down.

I took a lot of "artsy" photos on the way down.

The last stairs down to tier three!

I made it down the column! No twisted ankles!

Leaving tier three.

Yes, those are my feet. Leaving tier two.

Artsy pigeon!

Hello creepy man coming out of the corner.

I'm not sure if the graffiti makeup makes him more or less creepy.

Down to the final stretch. My legs are kind of wobbly.

That makes it 1,536 steps total!

Ulm Münster conquered!

This concludes the Ulm Münster climb portion of our adventure.

I left the church and wandered off to find Jana for bakery explorations. We were quite successful.

Token large meringue photo.

The amazing delicious array of baked goods at the bakery.

Every new thing they brought out looked amazing.

Flowers for Spring and Easter.

Later we met up with Dan and Andrew to tour the inside of Ulm Münster.

I only did the steeple climb earlier.

Lots of family crests.

The stained glass in this church came is many different styles. The glass was from different lives of the church. Some was from the original construction in the 15th century, while other glass was from post WWII reconstruction, and a few eras in between.