Well Ulm, was not at all for Storks as we had seen everywhere up to this point, but for Sparrows. The history of it came from medieval times when at one point they could not get a log through the castle gate, until someone noticed a Sparrow carrying a twig in his beak (end on) and in so doing they got the log in, and have honoured the humble Sparrow since.
The magnificent (very tall) Cathedral that I managed 2/3 of & Jan to the top, was really quite magnificent, also the Astronomical Clock (smaller version of Prague's) but just ss beautiful and complex. We decided to hold up in Ulm for an extra night. The city hall an art piece in its own right.
We bought our roll, pate, cheese & wine and sat riverside (in the duck poo) to watch the passing parade. An Ol touring cyclist manage his cycle-o-van off to his next stop, a homeless person & dog, errect his hammock between two trees, set up his mobile rap music back pack, lie back with a beer retrieved from cooling in the Danube, whilst a learner skipper attemted umpteen circuits & bumps in the latest solar powered
boat for tourists.This town is intricantly exquisite with every turn revealing another new intrigue.
Ulm to Dilligen was a smorgasboard. First we passed the Einfahrt Hotel (1 fart Hotel), then a lake with a huge fish that I could just not 'snap' in time, frenzy feeding on the surface, a turtle that nothing could stop getting to his river, then stumbled upon some Roman ruins. Dilligen was a small clean cut little town, sort of short back & sides style haircut town.
So it was off and on our way to Donauworth. Before our 10 O'clock coffee & pastry stop, we passed Schloss Hochstadt but since not open yet, moved on.
We then came upon a stream of icy cold healing waters (1800 something or the other). The local parish priest had a lung condition, said to be incurable, but he bathed daily in the icy waters & was so cured. A German & Kiwi cycling couple happened along & advised that the signage 'In German' had bestowed on those, the title of Ironman or 'Mountain man', to anyone (as I had just done) that completed the circuit of walking knee-deep up & down the stream, plunged fully
submerged, then got doused under the hand pump waterfall !
Now I should start seeing some respect !
By 3pm that afternoon we were hot, exhausted & famished on arrival in the village, so after a brief shower to cool off and freshen up, we slipped into the conveniently placed icecream parlor a few doors down. Of the 12 page icecream menu (both sides of each page), Jan pigged out on icecream spaggetti, where I had the more sombre banana & chocolate more sedate option. We slept well that night.
It must be the time of year for weddings and medieval festivals for as we cycled into Neuburg they were setting up for another medieval extravaganza or so an enthusiastic trumpeter advised us after our personal guided tour of the entire town & the minutest detail of all the goings on, that he very proudly bestowed on us -- by now we both much needed a beer.
We sat in the town square, under an awning,at a medieval bench being watched by bemused locals at what probably looked like two apparitions guzzle their drinks in no time flat. Alongside us on the newly errected medieval merry go round,
another wedding was in full swing as the bride & groom , and entire wedding party (all in medieval dress) climbed aboard the ride to celebratory songs.
On the ride to Ingolstadt the following day we had time & the inclination for a relaxing swim in a lake & sunbathe in an attempt to remove our very distinctive 'bike tans'.
The town of Ingolstadt we heard had also a magnificent church. On arrival whilst Jan had entered to admire the incredibly ornate ceilings painted by the brothers Saum, and achieved in 8 weeks (in the 1800's) (( or so we were told by Kennedy from Madras/India, who lived over the road, and studying here for his Doctorate in Law & Finance before returning home to India -- Oh, and could I fix his bicycle puncture))
The following day started as they all do, up early and on the bikes by 8.30am, stop for coffee & pastry about 10, then stop for lunch when we find an apprpriate place, which we did on this day on the riverbank under a tree. Some young lads in an inflatable dingy past by us, beer in hand, ghetto blaster pumping out
music in the boat as they joyfully bobbed along, then it all happened ...........it must have started the procession !
Every conceivable floating contraption you could imagine, dingies, tyre tubes, rafts, kayaks even a floating penis - this was the annual 'float down the river day' - 100's of them.
They float past Wultenburg Abbey to, where the monks have been making a particularly well renowned dark beer since 1500's, so we had to stop in for a short but vety pleasant interlude (and our obligatory float in the Danube with the other devotees). After this we decided to take the ferry to Kelheim just around the bend and you guessed it, Kelheim had its town party on. So after finding our amazing, huge room, very cheap with full bike self service workshop, Carlbauer Penzion, we shot into the village for a great evening of revelry.
The magnificent (very tall) Cathedral that I managed 2/3 of & Jan to the top, was really quite magnificent, also the Astronomical Clock (smaller version of Prague's) but just ss beautiful and complex. We decided to hold up in Ulm for an extra night. The city hall an art piece in its own right.
We bought our roll, pate, cheese & wine and sat riverside (in the duck poo) to watch the passing parade. An Ol touring cyclist manage his cycle-o-van off to his next stop, a homeless person & dog, errect his hammock between two trees, set up his mobile rap music back pack, lie back with a beer retrieved from cooling in the Danube, whilst a learner skipper attemted umpteen circuits & bumps in the latest solar powered
boat for tourists.This town is intricantly exquisite with every turn revealing another new intrigue.
Ulm to Dilligen was a smorgasboard. First we passed the Einfahrt Hotel (1 fart Hotel), then a lake with a huge fish that I could just not 'snap' in time, frenzy feeding on the surface, a turtle that nothing could stop getting to his river, then stumbled upon some Roman ruins. Dilligen was a small clean cut little town, sort of short back & sides style haircut town.
So it was off and on our way to Donauworth. Before our 10 O'clock coffee & pastry stop, we passed Schloss Hochstadt but since not open yet, moved on.
We then came upon a stream of icy cold healing waters (1800 something or the other). The local parish priest had a lung condition, said to be incurable, but he bathed daily in the icy waters & was so cured. A German & Kiwi cycling couple happened along & advised that the signage 'In German' had bestowed on those, the title of Ironman or 'Mountain man', to anyone (as I had just done) that completed the circuit of walking knee-deep up & down the stream, plunged fully
submerged, then got doused under the hand pump waterfall !
Now I should start seeing some respect !
By 3pm that afternoon we were hot, exhausted & famished on arrival in the village, so after a brief shower to cool off and freshen up, we slipped into the conveniently placed icecream parlor a few doors down. Of the 12 page icecream menu (both sides of each page), Jan pigged out on icecream spaggetti, where I had the more sombre banana & chocolate more sedate option. We slept well that night.
It must be the time of year for weddings and medieval festivals for as we cycled into Neuburg they were setting up for another medieval extravaganza or so an enthusiastic trumpeter advised us after our personal guided tour of the entire town & the minutest detail of all the goings on, that he very proudly bestowed on us -- by now we both much needed a beer.
We sat in the town square, under an awning,at a medieval bench being watched by bemused locals at what probably looked like two apparitions guzzle their drinks in no time flat. Alongside us on the newly errected medieval merry go round,
another wedding was in full swing as the bride & groom , and entire wedding party (all in medieval dress) climbed aboard the ride to celebratory songs.
On the ride to Ingolstadt the following day we had time & the inclination for a relaxing swim in a lake & sunbathe in an attempt to remove our very distinctive 'bike tans'.
The town of Ingolstadt we heard had also a magnificent church. On arrival whilst Jan had entered to admire the incredibly ornate ceilings painted by the brothers Saum, and achieved in 8 weeks (in the 1800's) (( or so we were told by Kennedy from Madras/India, who lived over the road, and studying here for his Doctorate in Law & Finance before returning home to India -- Oh, and could I fix his bicycle puncture))
The following day started as they all do, up early and on the bikes by 8.30am, stop for coffee & pastry about 10, then stop for lunch when we find an apprpriate place, which we did on this day on the riverbank under a tree. Some young lads in an inflatable dingy past by us, beer in hand, ghetto blaster pumping out
music in the boat as they joyfully bobbed along, then it all happened ...........it must have started the procession !
Every conceivable floating contraption you could imagine, dingies, tyre tubes, rafts, kayaks even a floating penis - this was the annual 'float down the river day' - 100's of them.
They float past Wultenburg Abbey to, where the monks have been making a particularly well renowned dark beer since 1500's, so we had to stop in for a short but vety pleasant interlude (and our obligatory float in the Danube with the other devotees). After this we decided to take the ferry to Kelheim just around the bend and you guessed it, Kelheim had its town party on. So after finding our amazing, huge room, very cheap with full bike self service workshop, Carlbauer Penzion, we shot into the village for a great evening of revelry.
