My legs hurt
- 21 Jun 06, 03:11 PM
AUTOBAHN A6, RICHTING NUREMBERG – Ulm Munster has the tallest church tower in the world, it stands 161.53m high and has 768 steps, and this morning we sweated all the way to the top.
Not such heartfelt thanks are due to blog reader James who directed us towards it when we asked for things we should do on our way to Nuremberg.
We had a preview of the tower yesterday evening as we watched the England game in the square beneath it.
This morning that square had reverted to its normal Wednesday function, as a fruit and veg market, and we entered the munster.
Check out the video.
It costs four euro to climb the steeple, and we almost immediately regretted handing over the cash as we began the ascent up a steeply-winding staircase.
It seemed to go on forever, winding and winding until you were dizzy, with only brief alcoves where you could look up and see that you still had a long way to go.
The sweat began to pour off my forehead about a third of the way up, I was thoroughly regretting my choice of a fresh T-shirt this morning - schoolboy error!
And on the climb went, and on, and on.
Just when we thought we’d reached the limit of public access a new, somehow even narrower, staircase presented itself.
It took a fair few minutes to catch our breath at the top, and even longer for our vision to clear so we could enjoy the stunning view of Ulm and the surrounding hills.
We could even clearly see the where car park we had left Svan on the outskirts, but unfortunately we parked him under a tree.
Going down was even worse in terms of feeling dizzy and we had to spend a few moments in the church itself to cool off before heading back out into the relentless heat of this World Cup.
After a spot of lunch and a look at the German papers – see our video – we headed off to Nuremberg for tomorrow’s game between Ghana and USA.
Thanks for all your suggestions so far on where we should visit, we’ll try and get to some of them, route permitting.
So keep them coming, but please, no more towers.
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Hi Martin, was in Ulm last Thursday too together with two friends from France who were visiting me for the World Cup. Nice town indeed but just missing a museum for Albert Einstein who was born there. Anyway, if you are still around head on to the Romantic Road which starts in Würzburg and carry on to my hometown Nördlingen - a nice mediaeval town and drop by for a beer in a Biergarten. On the way there and after visiting it you can see many more nice towns and at the end in south Bavaria you'll find the magnificent fairy tale castle Neuschwanstein.
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So glad you went to see Ulm. I've been 4 times and never made it to the top, and not for want of trying.
Also, a heartfelt thanks from me for your excellent coverage and Positive German Attitude. I'm a Brit and I've lived in the area of Ulm for 8 years and know exactly what you are talking about.
C'mon England! Deutschland! Deutschland!
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Thanks Martin for making a trip to the world’s tallest church tower in Ulm Munster and sharing your experience and my thanks is also for James for his idea.
It is an exclusive experience for one to be in the tallest church tower in the world and the readers will be introduced with some of the world’s fascinating sites through your articles. So, I find no wrong in this kind article though these are not related to football. Germany is very rich in its culture and it bears the testimony of many historical incidents and if you the Ö÷²¥´óÐã journalist could possibly be able to make a trip in some of these areas then it will make the Ö÷²¥´óÐã blog more interesting. I hope you will try to do as much as possible.
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wow. i couldnt run that far... EVER. i would probably die, slowly, and painfully.... heh.
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That reminds me of the time I climbed up the Sagrada Familaria in Barcelona. The view should have compensated for your climb though!
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Oh, don't be such sissies! ;-) I've seen groups of kindergarten kids climbing that church. Did it myself when I was one, actually. Everyone is sweating once at the top but if you don't think you'll make it alive, maybe it's time to think about this as the second half of your life...
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I'm sure we suggested to you before you went that you should try doing keepie ups with a ping pong ball in a wind tunnel!
Must be easier than having to climb 768 steps and end in a sweaty mess mate!
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