Wednesday 7th June

We had come to Ulm partly to satisfy my curiosity. I had visited Ulm on business 30 or so years ago and could remember the awe inspiring Cathedral and a small beer festival that was taking place in the town, but like with most business trips there was no chance to explore.

Now I have read the Guide Book Ulm seems slightly less interesting, primarily for one reason – the RAF! Late in WWII the RAF made one raid on Ulm and virtually destroyed everything in the old town except the Cathedral.

Ulm sits on the banks of the Danube and Sarah and I, rather than get a bus, decided to walk the 2km into the centre along the beautiful banks of the Danube.

We started by visiting Tourist Information which is housed in one of the ultra modern buildings which Ulm has chosen to contrast with the old buildings.

We visited the Cathedral first, which is truly a spectacular building. Currently the tallest church in the world, it was built in the 14th Century, but the amazing ‘lace’ spire was beyond their technology and during the construction it collapsed in the middle of the service and the architect had to flee for his life. It was finally finished in the 19th Century when technology had solved the problems required to complete the spire.

The interior is enormous and features some spectacular modern and medieval stained glass. The older glass was removed from the windows during the Second World War and thus saved.

We then visited the Fisherman’s Quarter, which was the area of the medieval city where artisans were located. There are two small rivers running through this neighbourhood and we were told that the rivers fed rooms where fish were kept until ready for market.

We finished our day with a Southern German meal – Spätzle. These are a type of noodle particular to this part of Germany and Sarah had a vegetarian cheese version and I had mine with sausage and belly pork. All this was washed down with good local beer!