Ulm City Tour, part 2 – Germany Trip Blog Post #2

Our walking tour of the city of Ulm took us, in the rain, into the Fishermen's Quarter and the Tanners' Quarter. I’m not sure where one quarter started and the other ended, so I am going to dump that whole area together.

The River Blau flows thru this historic, picturesque district, which is filled with medieval half-timbered houses, narrow alleys, and small bridges.

The River Blau empties into the Danube River near this point and across the Danube is Neu-Ulm, or New Ulm.

Ulm was founded around the year 850. Isn’t that insane? Neu-Ulm was part of the original town until 1810, when the Danube River became the dividing line between the kingdoms of Bavaria and Württemberg. The left side became part of Württemberg and the right remained under Bavarian sovereignty. The handful of homes on the Bavarian side eventually grew into Neu-Ulm.

One of the truly fascinating buildings in the old part of Ulm is the Schiefes Haus or Leaning House. 

It was built in 1443 but started leaning in the 17th century. At some point the foundation was shored up, but it continues to lean.

It is currently operated as a 16-room hotel and passes routine safety inspection. The guest rooms still are on a slant and anything round you put on the floor will roll into a corner.

The oldest part of the building below was built in 1370 (but I don't know if this is that section or not). It was mentioned as a town hall in 1419. 

The walls on all sides are opulently painted in early renaissance murals. I’m going to guess that the paintings all tell a story, but I don’t know what it is.

 

The beautiful astronomical clock was installed around 1520.