3 Best Sights in Ulm, The Romantic Road

Ulm's Minster, built by the citizens of their own initiative, is the largest evangelical church in Germany and one of the most elaborately decorated. Its church tower, just 13 feet higher than that of the Cologne Cathedral, is the world's highest, at 536 feet. It stands over the huddled medieval gables of Old Ulm with a single, filigree tower that challenges the physically fit to plod up the 768 steps of a spiral stone staircase to a spectacular observation point below the spire. On clear days, the steeple rewards you with views of the Swiss and Bavarian Alps, 100 miles to the south. Construction on the cathedral began in the late-Gothic age (1377) and took five centuries; it gave rise to the legend of the sparrow, which was said to have helped the townspeople in their building by inspiring them to pile the wood used in construction lengthwise instead of width-wise on wagons in order to pass through the city gates. Completed in the neo-Gothic years of the late 19th century, the church contains some notable treasures, including late-Gothic choir stalls and a Renaissance altar as well as images of the inspirational sparrow. Ulm was heavily bombed during World War II, but the church was spared. Its mighty organ can be heard in special recitals every Sunday at noon from Easter until November.

Built in 1370, the city hall maintains its original, opulently painted Renaissance facade despite its interior having been gutted by World War II bombs. Paintings depicting virtues, commandments, and vices dating back to the 1500s adorn the exterior and an astronomical clock to rival that in Prague was added in 1520. Still in official use, most of the interior is closed to tourists; however, inside hangs a reproduction of the local tailor Ludwig Berblinger's flying machine. In 1811 Berblinger, a local eccentric, cobbled together a pair of wings and made a big splash by trying to fly across the river. He didn't make it, but he grabbed a place in German history books for his efforts.

The most important attraction in this museum of art, natural history, and archeology, founded in 1924, is the Löwenmensch, a 40,000-year-old figure of a half-man, half-lion found in a nearby cave. The museum illustrates centuries of development in this part of the Danube Valley. Art lovers will appreciate its collection of works by such modern artists as Kandinsky, Klee, Léger, and Lichtenstein.