One big ass cathedral
Trip Start
Jan 01, 2009
1
70
123
Trip End
Ongoing
Ulm, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
We parked a bit of a distance but with a clear view of the cathedral tower and navigated our way towards the pious beacon. We stopped at a cafe for a drink before heading into the church. I knew that Lincoln could not go into the cathedral but I was hoping he could go up the tower. Unfortunately this was not so. Mom was very happy about this and offered to stay in the square outside with Lincoln. I guess climbing 768 steps for a nice view isn't her thing. More her thing is the little booths in the market square outside the cathedral.
It was a long and tedious climb to the top of the 162m high spire. We finally reached a platform I was sure that was the end and stopped to walk around the diameter of the platform and see the view. The spire was in the centre of the platform and it wasn't until we had walked around 3/4 of it that I noticed the stairs up the spire. So we climbed the narrow, winding steps to the very, very top. It was quite windy up there but wow what a spectacular view!
A platform about half way up contains windows below to the bells for your viewing pleasure. In this room there are also pictures of other cathedrals around the world, with their name, place, and height. I was surprised to see I have visited a few of the tallest churches. However, my suspicions were confirmed that Cologne was (until today) the tallest church I have ever visited at 157m.
We decided to count the steps on the way down, because by the time we got to the top we couldn't remember how many we were told to expect. I counted 767 and my boyfriend had 769. When we returned to the entrance we were reminded by a sign that there are actually 768. But after that workout I think a deviation of 1 is not too bad.
I have to admit, when we stepped outside into the sunny square it felt like I was walking on legs of jello. It seemed very strange walking on flat ground again. I thought to myself it would be nice to live in Ulm because you could get a great workout every day and rewarded with a fantastic view, and only for a few euro.
