Kaitlyn's PTP European Adventure: Ulmer Munster Cathedral

Today we woke up at 6:30 am for school again. Dagmar made an awesome breakfast! It was shredded apples in yogurt with cornflakes and raisins. I loved it! She packed us mini nectarines for a school snack and drove us to school. Our first class was religion. We learned about Paul and the teacher spoke in English. The second class was biology. Biology was cool, but I didn't know what we were doing since it was taught in German. We did something with plants, alcohol, flowers, and test tubes. The last classes were German and French.

After we got back home, we had lunch. It was watermelon, bread, and Nutella. WOW! This is the first time I have ever had Nutella and it is incredible!

Annika had gymnastics training. She was really good! We went shopping and did a few errands around Ulm.

The pigeons weren't scared of people at all!

I bought Makenna some chocolate lip gloss and a sucker and a magnet for my mom. Did you know that Albert Einstein was born in Ulm? While we were doing errands I was handed a flier for wetsuits?! I guess there is a holiday coming up soon where many people swim and it's pretty cold then.

After our errand we went back home to take care of Peaches. Peaches is a sweet cat that the Brosch's found a day before we came. I got to help name her.

Harald came home and I gave Annika and Leonard my last host gifts, DUCT TAPE! Annika and Harald were amazed and really loved it. I showed them all the basics like how to make duct tape fabric and wallets and purses. They said that there is no colored or patterned duct tape in Germany and they had never seen items made from duct tape. I should remember to send them some more since they liked it so much.

Dinner was homemade pizza with salami, ham, mozzarella, and a secret cheese. I think it was some type of local cheese. It was the best pizza I've ever had besides the pizza I have in Texas with the Pattersons. Dagmar is such a great cook.

Dessert was an airy marshmallow thing on top of a wafer and covered in chocolate. It had a funny name!

After dessert we talked around the table, played games, and Annika read the magazine I brought for her. We played a game that is similar to "Guess Who". It was fun.

Tomorrow we have to say goodbye to our host family. I'm not looking forward to that :(

Today we woke up at 6:30 am to go to Annika's school. Dagmar asked me what I normally had for breakfast and when I told her cereal, she seemed surprised! We had cereal for breakfast. Dagmar packed mini nectarines for us for a snack to have at school and then drove us to school. I was really nervous and thought it would be more strict than my school, but it wasn't. We had French, German, and English classes. It was kind of boring because everyone spoke in German or French. During part of the time we got to use the computer. The school computers didn't block access to Facebook, so this is when I found out that my new cousin, Stella Mae, was born! I was pretty excited about that. This is the picture that my mom emailed to me. She is adorable!!

Annika's school was different from my school

No lunch there
It was much bigger
There were more grade levels there
They didn't have as much technology
They had CHALK BOARDS!
The day seemed shorter than our school at home
They go to school all year round
Instead of students rotating from class to class, the teachers rotated

Dagmar picked us up from school and we went home to have lunch. For lunch we had noodles, lentils, and sausage. Dagmar is a great cook! Later in the afternoon we were going out site seeing. Before we left I took some pictures of the house. It was very nice. It had 3 stories, 3 bathrooms, and at least 4 bedrooms.

Annika and me

Leonard at the kitchen table. He's nine and doesn't speak any English

Outside of the house

One of their two cars

The front door. They put up a welcome sign for me and Mercedes (she ended up staying with a different family though)

The bathroom. The white square on the wall is how you flush the toilet.

The backyard was big by German standards, but small compared to my yard.

They had cool modern furniture that I liked

Annika's room. I slept in the bed on the right.

We headed out to see the Ulmer Munster Cathedral. Here are some stores I saw while we were walking to the cathedral.

Harald came from work and met us at the cathedral. It was REALLY big. It is the tallest cathedral in the world.

We climbed all of the stairs to the very top. I believe there were around 700-900 stairs. I can't remember the exact amount. My friend Savannah counted them when she went there with her host family though! I think it took about half an hour to make it all the way to the top.

The steps

I took a picture of a fountain at the street level. I tried to take pictures of it every so often to show how high we went.

fountain from the top

The view from the top was gorgeous!

Once we got to the bottom, we went into the cathedral. At the exact moment we entered, by coincidence, this band started to play music.

What was most impressive for me were the stained glass windows. I am in love with them. They are amazingly beautiful! I wish I had gotten better pictures.

and the art too

In the cathedral you could pay money and light a candle. When you lit the candle you could make a wish. I wished that Stella Mae would have a long and happy life. My candle is the one in front.