Sam's cousin, Silke, and her husband, Ralf, invited us to their place in Ulm. That was about 2 weeks ago I guess. We were finally able to get there this weekend and really enjoyed our visit. Saturday morning we drove to Ulm which is about 85 km away from us. The drive was absolutely beautiful. Silke had to work, but we met Ralf and their son, Dominic, downtown and were given a wonderful tour of the city. Silke's twin sister, Iris, also met with us downtown. I love the old cities here in Germany. Every town seems to have it's own unique story. I learned that Albert Einstein was from Ulm. That's one of their "claims to fame".
Another highlight of the day was the Ulm Cathedral. I couldn't get the whole building in the picture because of the height. This church was built around 600 years ago and is unbelievably beautiful. It's known to be the tallest church in the world at 530 feet. We could have climbed the 768 stairs to the top, but it was a little warm for that the day we were there. We were not suppose to take pictures (with flash) inside the church, but I did get one of Sam standing beside the wooden pews (posted below). I can't explain how awesome this church was. The detail of the statues, the stain glass windows, the old pews--it was just incredible to see. Such a piece of history. That's one of the things I love about Germany. It's such an old country so you're able to see a lot of history with the buildings that are still around. They sure know how to build a sturdy structure here since some of them are still standing hundreds of years later.We went to Ralf and Silke's house for the afternoon. We needed to leave early enough to go by Ikea when we got home, but we stayed until a little after 7:00. They all tried to speak English so I could follow along in the conversation, but I'm sure they were much more comfortable reverting back to German. Sam's German has gotten much better in the two months we've been here. When we first arrived, I could see him struggling to remember words. Now, it seems to come to him much more fluently.
I was taken back by how much Iris reminded me of Sam's Mom. She could easily be her daughter. It was really interesting to see those similarities in someone I had just met.
Silke made a wonderful dinner for us. It was so nice to meet some of Sam's relatives here in Germany. We had such a nice day with them and I'm sure we'll be getting together again in the future.
Here are a few more pictures from our day in Ulm. I know Sam's family, in particular, will be interested in seeing them.
Sam standing by the pews in the Ulm Cathedral
Misty, Sam and Iris
Iris, Sam, Ralf and Dominic in front of the Ulm Rathouse (City Hall)
Sam, Misty, Iris, Ralf and Dominic in front of the oldest house in Ulm. It's now a hotel.
Ralf and Dominic in front of their house
Iris and Silke
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