Ulm: In Ulm, Um Ulm, and Um Ulm Herum!

Saturday, July 21^st – Thursday, July 26^th

            After a rather sleepless and seat less ride to Ulm, we arrived at the station at about 11 o’clock, and were met by our cousins Anneliese und Hans.  No rest for the weary, however, as we were immediately rushed off to a birthday/anniversary party for friends of theirs on top of a hill out in the middle of nowhere.  There we spent the rest of the day in 9 degree Celsius, raining, windy weather, in a stone floor hut which was even colder than it was outside.  It also didn’t have a restroom.  Isabella and I (Anneliese) spent a fair amount of time talking to a slightly tipsy, elderly French man, “This [holding up empty glass]!  Uh… Champagne is like the…. ummmm…. Sun!   But now the sun is gone….”.  He also tried to tell me why he kept on calling me Isabella (the only one of our three names he could remember) in English, German, and French, with the help of many hand signals and me filling in the blanks.  It was, he claimed, because he couldn’t see since he had had a surgery on his eyes which involved 39 - 40 shots in the eyes!  Ah!  Anyway, that was interesting. 

             Our stay at Hans und Anneliese’s consisted of enjoying Anneliese’s wonderful cooking (lots—lots of it), and a strict schedule of foot baths and tea to get rid of my cold!  Again, some of our most interesting and notable things we did during our stay:

•  Expressing ourselves in paint at Cousin Anneliese's art studio.  First we learned about applying colors and about different scraping and layering tools, and then we went wild! The first drafts were on paper, and the second round on white-painted cardboard rectangles. (Back to Anneliese) I don’t think Anneliese liked my painting much, as she complimented everyone else on their beautiful paintings, but never said a word about mine until I asked. I think it was too neat and orderly for her. That is where Anneliese and I differ. I like all my ducks to be in a row, you might say, but cousin Anneliese thinks differently, and will happily let them all run wild. After painting, we hopped back in the car, only to find it dead, and so after asking a third Anneliese for help in jumping the car, we were on our way back home. 
• Walking through the countryside with Hans (we had thought was going to be short, that is until Hans said (in German) “Can you walk in those?” talking about my “high heels”, which I was wearing since my shoes were still wet.  “Ja,” I replied, dread filling my heart as I watched him pull on hiking boots.  “Ja, ok” he said, and out we went, only to return an hour or so later after a “short” walk.)

(Johanna writing now: Anneliese shall refer to my sister Anneliese, Cousin Anneliese to our cousin):

Climbing up the Ulmer Münster, the world’s tallest steeple.  It was 768 steps, but hey, for Gimmelwald-hikers, Strasbourg-finders, and Himmelsleiter-ascenders, that’s nothing!  Isabella was feeling under the weather, but was an excellent sport, as was Anneliese, who despite having just rediscovered her mild fear of heights, was determined to make it to the top!  My favorite section was where the staircases on the side towers opened to a platform leading to one final staircase that led to the top of the steeple—the lighting there was amazing!  Actually, it reminded me more of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” than of anything German.  The final staircase was very, very tight—if I touched my fingertips against each other, my elbows would scrape the walls.  Getting past people coming down was quite tricky!  The view from the top was fantastic, of course, but to me the best part was seeing the cathedral roof, the flying buttresses, and the gargoyles from above!

Speaking of facing fears, we also went berry picking, where Isabella bravely fought through swarms of raspberry-loving bees to secure the best fruit for our table.   (We also got a few baskets of Johannesberries, and some excellent Gooseberries, which none of us three had ever really had before.)  My fear?  Escalators.  I’m a lot better now than I used to be, thank goodness, but going down still makes me hesitate for a second!  And of course, all three of us now have a terror of sitting in reserved train seats.    

• Other highlight of the week: visiting the Ritter Sport Chocolate Art Gallery, Museum, and discount store!  Below I contemplate the most enigmatic of the works on display, attempting to discern a philosophical interpretation, and below right, Anneliese showcases the massive amount of chocolate we were about to buy...

 

           Later that evening we went out and spend the evening with some old friends of ours, the Gruenthalers.  What a fun evening we had wandering about Ulm with Herr und Frau Gruenthaler, and their daughter!  Frau Gruenthaler, a former tour guide, showed us about Ulm, and told us the stories behind some of the things we saw.  Then we wandered about some stores before heading out to a fabulous Italian Pizza place for dinner. 

On Friday we headed to Marburg, which we will post more about soon!

Liebe Grüße!  Anneliese and Johanna (and Isabella!)