12-7-2015 ULM, GERMANY

It was easy to pick up a rental car in Basel, one tram stop away.  Rob went and picked up the Audi Q3 and I finished packing, we loaded up and hit the road.  We brought the GPS from home with Europe loaded into it and Suzy-Q (the lady inside the GPS) actually spoke English!  Rob did all the driving (cheaper for insurance) and he averaged about 75 mph.  When driving 100 mph, we were passed like a dirty shirt by Porsches, Bimmers and the occasional Ferrari.

Now, we are in Ulm/Neu-Ulm.  “Eu” in German is pronounced “oy.”  Neu-Ulm is “noy ulm.”  You don’t say the word “euros” like “you-rows.”  You say, “oy-rows.”  So we got that part straightened out.

Tired and travel-weary, Rob fixed up a couple of cocktails and we ordered dinner in the room.  Rob was fine with this.  Wienerschnitzel mit fries, are you kidding me?  I was just glad to stay in and stay warm and call it an early night.  I slept peacefully and smiled in my sleep sometimes when, just beyond the window, the church bells rang through the night, reminding me of past times when I stayed overnight at my Gramma’s.

Ulm Cathedral (Munster) from the
bridge across the Danube

I don’t know how Neu-Ulm differs from regular old Ulm.  Maybe it’s a suburb or a sister city.  The Münster Cathedral stands majestically in the center of Ulm.  (I thought “Münster, sometimes “Minster,” meant “Monster,” which it sure could, but it really means something like “monastery” or “church.”)  It has the highest spire in the world at 528 feet into the sky and on the ground, it is many blocks around the whole structure.  The construction began in 1377 and the spire was topped off in 1890.  Interestingly, the cathedral was originally Catholic but a Bishopric was never established so it isn’t really considered a cathedral.  In fact, the town of Ulm decided that they (and you) should be Lutheran so the religion practiced in the cathedral now is Lutheran.  The cathedral is a major human achievement.  Benevolent dictators that we are, the Allies obliterated 90% of everything else around the cathedral and didn’t touch a hair of the Münster itself.  Currently, the Krauts talk a lot about how the Allies bombed the shit out of this and that during WWII.  Hey, they started it.

The main event, the Ulmer Weinachtsmarkt, takes place in the courtyard of the Ulm Cathedral, a brief stroll on the bridge across the Danube from our hotel through narrow streets and past one of the oldest buildings ever.

Yup, narrow!

  It might actually fall into the river, eventually.

Crooked old hotel and restaurant

 The marketplace is so big that a map pointing out all the specialties is provided.  Immediately, we zeroed in on brats for breakfast and, boy oh boy, they are everywhere, of every type and spice imaginable and lengths to include hanging out of the bun by about six inches on each end. 

Ulmer Weinachtsmarkt under
the watchful eye of the Munster

Lindy & Rob at Ulmer
Weinachtsmarkt

Sides include spätzle mixed with cheese and garlic, German potato salad and sauerkraut.  These are my people!  (Well, to a degree.  They’re pretty liberal over here.  One of our tour guides on the boat said that Germany must help the refugees, saying “These poor people don’t even have iphones!”  Gosh!  In other news, Obama says the White House “has a plan” for defeating ISIS and “it’s working.”  I wonder if one of you can tell me what the plan is, please?  And tell him to hurry up!)

On to München this morning.  A short distance and so we are taking the back roads.