Nadine

Breakfast was included in our room cost so we started out with the traditional breakfast of every food under the sun.  I was able to try quince jam for the first time!  Just yesterday we saw quince fruit growing on trees along the way.

Today was an easy day walking to Ulm (about 4mi). The only major milestone was reaching the Donau (Danube) River.

Along the river walk we met a woman named Miriam and her Rhodesian Ridgeback dog named Moe.  As I walked past her I mentioned the breed of dog and she stopped and said, “You know Ridgebacks?”.

We chatted for about 10 minutes.  She had the best expressions as we told her our story.   I wonder if we look different or if it’s just the backpacks and our walking sticks that make people curious.  I’m always a little surprised that people talk to us!

Moe is famous. He has his own instagram page.

We toured Ulm Minster after we deposited our bags at our lodging for the tonight.   In 1890, the Ulmer Münster became the tallest building in the world and still holds the record for the world’s tallest church spire.  Also, Allison read that Mozart played the organ in this church.

Upon leaving the church we chatted with Susie from Texas who married a German she met while in school in Ireland and has lived the last six years in a small town near Ulm.  She expressed that she dearly missed America and seemed so happy to communicate in English.  Susie if you are reading this, my heart goes out to you and if you ever need a place to stay in NC, you will be welcomed!!

Susie gave us a recommendation for lunch and off we went.  We’ll always remember the place we had lunch by the music by Celine Dion, “The Power of Love” which played over, and over, and over again on a loop.  No other song played for the entire hour or two that we were there.  It was a funny moment/hour.

After lunch Allison and I climbed the hundreds of stairs to the top of the church spire, well at least as far as you could go as renovations were underway.  (Mark had done this on a previous visit so he took care of yet another difficult lodging booking a few days from now. Thank you Mark!) In order to get tickets to climb the church spire, it took Allison and I about 15 minutes to scan the QR code, fill out a ridiculous amount of personal information, pay online, then have the tickets sent to email, open the email and THEN scan the e-copy to a machine…and things are simpler now???  Crazy.

After lunch we just wandered the shopping district and visited a few stores for fun. We eventually decided to visit the grocery store and buy some food provisions for tomorrow. This is a daily practice. We never know the type of grocery store you will encounter. It is always an adventure. We promised to film a grocery store trip and we will fulfill the promise. We just keep forgetting.

It was a cloudy and wet day here in Ulm so we retired to our tiny room for the evening. Everything in this place is packed in so there is little room to move around. It’s….cozy.