Month: May 2017

Rob discovered a park with a pirates’ ship, a rope course, and a river near his office. After we dropped him off at work, we played there for a while, with a detour to a toy store. Spencer got a soccer ball and Meg got some art stuff.
We played until lunchtime, when Rob joined us to go to the Ulm minster to climb the tower. The staircases were narrow and had frequent windows, so you could simultaneously enjoy claustrophobia and a fear of heights, if you are in to that sort of thing. Meg and Clare stopped after a chapel at a midway point and went back down to enjoy the stunning interior and listen to the pipe organ. We did get high enough to look down on the 8 bells and a chapel high above the rest of the city. Rob will post views from the top of the tallest church tower in the world later.
I found the restoration efforts quite fascinating. I wonder what we are working on now that will attract attention in 650 years or if there is anything started now that someone will come back and finish 500 years from now.

We dropped Rob off at work in the morning, found our way home, went grocery shopping, cleaned up, made lunch, cleaned up again, went swimming at a local pool called the Donaubad, and picked Rob up from work. We walked around downtown Ulm a bit, but were to late to climb the cathedral tower today. Still beautiful; we hope to explore more later…

Today Rob’s coworker Reiner took us to Nördlingen, a city on the Romantic Road with a wall from the fourteenth century or a bit earlier built in the center of a 20 km wide meteor crater created 15 million years ago. He brought 3 of his kids, Hugo (10), Erika (7), and Anna (4). Hugo knew some English and he and Spencer got on quite well. The boys played in the fountain in the square where we got lunch. The restaurant was very tasty, but they forgot to bring the kids’ food, so we got them crepes after. We checked out the first of many churches. Climbing the tower, we saw an old human powered elevator. Apparently prisoners provided the power that brought up construction materials to finish the church tower. The view from the tower was pleasant. It included a stork tending its own babies on a nearby room and the town hall (which has a green onion dome). The “mountains” in the background are actually the ring of the metro crater. Rob checking out the view. The Nördlingen church tower had about 350 steps, some of which were a spiral staircase. After our climb, we got ice cream. And went to a museum to learn about the meteor crater, which seems to have been a pretty epic event. The meteor vaporized upon impact. The meteor liquified silicone, the droplets resolidified as they were flying in the air, and were found somewhere in the Czech Republic. Climbing up onto the city wall to walk back to Reiner’s car. They boys defending the city from imaginary invaders on our walk back. Trout in the river within the city wall. Wall with a view of a defense tower. Down from the wall, loading up the van. Back from our adventures, reading Frog on a Log.

The kids loved that the airplanes had stairs and bathrooms downstairs. Once we got into Frankfort, we rented a car to drive to Ulm. German drivers are polite and the autobahn is fun. We checked into our apartment and got groceries and made dinner. Now time to unwind and get some sleep in a real bed.

For selling over $1000 of popcorn for the cub scouts, Spencer won a visit to the Broncos stadium. We got some autographs, got to look around the locker rooms, go out on the field, see the Superbowl trophies, and hang out with about 400 other scouts from around Denver. Thanks to everyone who supported Spencer.

Our adventure begins, like many do, with waiting in an airport. Promisingly, our plane has arrived.

Meg learned to tie her shoes a couple days ago, just in time to finish kindergarten

Today we planted the garden. Meg and Spencer were quite helpful for awhile, until they weren’t 🙂 We planted almost 20 hot peppers and tomatoes, plus some cucumbers, squash, eggplant, basil, and marigolds to try to keep out the bunnies.