Ulm Cathedral

On Sunday we decided to go to a small town call Ulm.  In the little guide book we were reading from it said not many people go there, but the Ulm Cathedral was a place they said is a must see.  It was only about an hour from Stuttgart  so not far at all.  All the shops were closed, but thankfully the Cathedral was open.  It was an amazing sight to see coming into town and than walking towards it.  Now for your history lesson for the day.  Ulm Cathedral - This is the second largest Gothic Church in Germany and has the tallest steeple on the face of the Earth.  It was begun in 1377 but not completed until 1890, when its spire was at last raised to pierce the heavens.  The cathedral's interior is awe-inspiring, with a ceiling nearly one hundred feet above the central nave.  The organ has 8000 pipes.  The pulpit, dating from 1510 has above it a splendid sounding board and a second pulpit for the Holy Ghost.  We climbed the 530-foot tower with 768 steps in it which has a panorama view where we even saw the Swiss Alps.  The boys were so excited, they were basically running up the steps.  We were having a hard time keeping up.  The steps weren't big either and they were in a tight spiral.  On the way down I got a little dizzy when I went a little fast to catch up to the boys.  

Our first full view of the Cathedral and its height.  We were at the top of that tower, still incredible to look at.

We are about halfway up at this point.  Luckily there were a few stopping points to rest, I mean take some great pictures!!

                                Here we are at the top looking out over quite a bit of Germany

                                    Another look down at the top to show the difference in height

This kind of shows how small the spiral stairs were that we went up and down - these two were making jokes almost the whole time, I am surprised they still had breath to make it up them all.

                                       The church bell, I am glad we weren't there when it went off.

                                                    AJ showing off his monkey skills!!

                                                 Some of the beautiful carvings on the cathedral

                                            They love their stained glass and so do I!!!!!!!

                             These were all over the cathedral - we think they are family crests but not sure

                                                       Their beautiful nativity scene!!!

                                                   Just one word - AMAZING

                                 
                                The ceilings were over 100 feet high, it was very breath taking

                                                    This was a confessional  - very ornate

                                        They had a plaque in this cathedral also for the US Army

                                  I wanted to put this in to show the perspective of how big it truly is

                                                              It is towering over the city

                                  This is the last set of stairs to get to the top - you can see how small the spiral is

                                     A beautiful, peaceful scene from halfway up the Cathedral

            Still smiling after going up all those stairs and then back down a few, the boys were champs

                                                              showing the height of it

                                                        details on the front of the church

We had a wonderful time checking out the cathedral.  It was a bit cold and a lot windy up there at the top.  So then we decided to stop at the only coffee shop that was open and have some hot chocolate.  David tried a white hot chocolate and that was really yummy!!!  It also warmed up our toes and bellies.  It was really packed and we were lucky to find seats.  After that we headed back to our friend's house to relax and get ready for another day of adventuring.