Ulm

After visiting Strasbourg, we drove Dave and Angie back home, and the next morning set out for Ulm and Fussen. In Fiddler on the Roof, Tevye sings about how if he were a rich man he would build, "a big tall house with rooms by the dozen, right in the middle of the town . . . with one long staircase just going up, and one even longer coming down, and one more going nowhere, just for show." The cathedral in Ulm, the Ulmer Münster, is the tallest cathedral in the world. It has several long staircases only leading up or down, and one leading to the tower, which gave us quite a show. Jenny and I dropped by Ulm hoping to poke around the base of the cathedral, and maybe look around inside. Until we arrived we had no idea that we would be able to climb the cathedral at all. We found a narrow spiral staircase leading up, and started climbing, excited to get a better view of the city. With impeccable timing, as we began to ascend, someone in the bowels of the cathedral began to play Bach's Tocatta and Fugue in D minor on the organ. The music, ornate and ominous, fit the mood of the architecture perfectly.

We reached a balcony overlooking Ulm, and peered down at the plaza below. The view was dizzying, and I thought that we had probably reached the highest area that could be climbed.



As we began looking for the long stairway leading down we found a belfry, and then another staircase leading up. As we reached its top, we were surprised to find a final staircase leading to the pinnacle of the spire. So we would get to climb to the top of the tallest cathedral in the world!



By the time we reached the top, the two of us were exhausted. We spent a good amount of time taking in the breathtaking view of Ulm, and after finding our way back down, we entered the main part of the Organ in Ulm Cathedral.



The organ recital that had begun as we had started our ascent had not finished, so we enjoyed the music as we examined the cathedral's interior. From the inside, the cathedral had a calm, timeless feeling. Statues, paintings and murals adorned the walls, and stained glass windows colored the sunlight in jeweled tones. After the organ recital, a choir from Africa performed, filling the air with quiet and sincere folk songs. As we left the cathedral, the plaza outside was filled with vendors. By this time we were both hungry, so we bought some delicious aged goat-cheese and enjoyed it with some hearty bread we had purchased earlier. Then, with no time to lose, we were on our way to Fussen, to see the fairytale castle Neuschwanstein.