Ulm Pictures

Views of the Ulmer Munster (the cathedral) on the way toward it. The round white building on the right edge of the right-hand picture is the new community building or some such, which is very modern and caused some controversy. About half the people love it and the rest hate it. The architect (American) kept it low to the ground so as not to compete with the cathedral or block the view, and included a lot of windows to "mimic" the gothic style, though I don't really see that it helps the resemblance any, haha. Interesting contrast, though.

Inside the Munster.

There were figures like this on every column. The ones on the right are from the New Testament and the ones on the left from the Old Testament, if I remember correctly. This one is Paul.

This is the Rathaus (City Hall), and is pretty much the only picture of Ulm that I have that is not the cathedral or the view from it, as my camera's batteries died at this point. This just means I have to go back. ;)

View out of one of the beautiful Gothic windows on the way up to the top of the tower.

View of the back part of the cathedral from the top of the tower.

View from the top of the highest church tower in the world!

Again.

On the other side of the river you can see New Ulm which is in Bavaria (Deutsch: Bayern), the neighboring German state, where Munich is. This division was made by Napoleon.

The remaining height of the tower past where you can climb.

The super-modern community center juxtaposed with one of the gargoyles on the old Gothic cathedral.

If you look at the tiny people and trees you can kind of get a sense of how high up we were.

Me with the fabulous view of Ulm.

The staircase was really narrow and twisty!

Translation: Tower Climb
768 steps

Tickets at the Register across from here (but that's not important)
I did that!!!!

McDonald's had Schnitzel Nuggets. (Schnitzel is flat-pounded deep-fried pork that is very German) I could only think, oh my goodness, I am definately in Germany. Only here...

A nifty little lighted sculpture at the train station. (says "City train station Ulm")

Blaubeuren Pictures Part II

Amazing View #1 on the way up the mountain. I think we actually ended up going over 2 different peaks just so they could bring us to more viewspots, haha.





All Oklahomans note: The soil under the leaves is brown, almost black. Not red. I am told this is normal. ;)
















Viewpoint #2
Consisted of this rock, which was rather high.















Left, the rock as seen from the castle, so you can tell how much it sticks up off the mountain.
Right, me on top of said rock.






The castle ruins as seen from the rock. I think this is the main reason they took us to the rock.

The ruins of the castle entry arch.

Going up to the (ruins of the) castle itself.

I'm pretty sure the railings aren't original.

Viewpoint #3, aka The Castle Ruins













More of the castle ruins

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Apparently this tower-y place made a great gathering spot!

Me in the castle ruins, great view in the background.

The rock and the ruins as seen from a street near our dorm!

The group at a local "Kneipe" (kind of like a pub). We were the only ones there besides 3 older people -- the waitress and her two friends. The two friends were locals and spoke Schwabisch (local dialect) and also had an accent when speaking regular German. The waitress was from East Germany and had lived here for a number of years, and we had a blast talking about getting used to the local culture and dialect! When we as an international group speak German to each other, I think it encourages native Germans to come talk to us more.
(from left: Katherine, Ian, Todd, Chari, Adi [Adelaida] from Columbia, Me)

Blaubeuren Pictures Part I

Okay, so I guess I will start with actually posting the pictures I promised like 2 weeks ago.













The tiny, but well-arranged room that I shared with Katherine. This section is exactly as wide as the bed. The wardrobes are in the entryway, along with the door to the little bathroom, and the entryway is separated by that blue curtain.


They key to the room had a massive keyhanger thing with the number, which I'm pretty sure could double as a deadly weapon. It was heavy too!































Random pictures of around Blaubeuren, taken on the way to the monastery (which is now a boarding school).

The monastery

Left, view of the monastery from the courtyard. Right, looking out the window at the herb garden in the courtyard, which would be much more impressive if it were spring or summer, I'm sure.

The high alter in the monastery, which is quite famous as one of the most impressive in the style.

Some crazy carving at the top of the choir-chairs where the monks sat. It is all one piece.

Graffiti from 1694. There was also graffiti from the famous German poet Hoelderlin from when he went to school here.

A statue of "Die Schoene Lau", who, according to legend, was sent to live in the Blautopf (lit. Blue Pot), which is the natural spring in Blaubeuren and the source of a river, so she could learn how to laugh.

A rather picturesque "Germany" image. Foreground, Blautopf.

Some of the group I hung out with from the class: Me, Katherine, Chari [pronounced Harry] (Charalampos) from Greece, Marie from Denmark, Zsofia from Hungary, and Angelie from Sweden.

On the way to hike up to the castle ruins.