Orient Express Day 12 Ulm Rest Day - 0km

"In Ulm um Ulm und um Ulm herum..."

This, according to the hotel guide, is a well known German tongue twister meaning "in and all around Ulm". Today's sunny rest day gave me the opportunity to take a closer look around this quite remarkable city where new buildings had been seamlessly integrated with architectural genius beside ancient structures.

As the birthplace of Albert Einstein, there are two significant monuments. 

The sculptor Jürgen Goertz created this bronze sculpture of Ulm’s internationally most famous son in 1984. It is located on the grounds of Zeughaus, Ulm’s historic arsenal. The sculpture consists of three elements. The rocket symbolizes technology, the conquest of the universe and the atomic threat. On this base you see a big snail shell which symbolises the opposite, namely nature, wisdom and scepticism about mankind’s dominance of technology. On the side of those two pieces - somehow like a parenthesis - is the world famous image of Einstein’s head with mischievous look in his eyes and tauntingly sticking out his tongue.

Over near the Hauptbahnhof, on Bahnhofstrasse, is Max Bill's monument (1979) to the great physicist, a stack of staggered granite pillars on the spot where Einstein's babyhood home once stood. This is a place you somehow automatically would walk past if you did not know that it was there. It is easy to miss but almost at the entrance to McDonalds which is always a good reference point!

On my wanderings through both old and new Ulm I came across the usual spatterings of graffiti and street art and here are some selections.

I have been waiting for days to have a bratwurst from a street vendor so for lunch today I realised my
wish at a classy outlet in the Munsterplatz.

So that's about it on this very pleasant rest day in Ulm. Have not seen Edna today but we are catching up for a light dinner a little later. Will leave you with one more image of the old town.