When planning out the second night of our trip through Europe, we decided upon the German city of Ulm (Try saying this local tongue twister six times: In Ulm, um Ulm, und um Ulm herum.) Not only would it be just a short two hour drive to our six night stay in the Alps, but where else can you lodge overnight in the world’s crookedest house? I mean really, why WOULDN’T you want to sleep on an angle in Ulm?!
Albeit in the late afternoon/early evening when we started on our venture to Ulm, we drove through the peaceful French countryside. As we approached the French/German border, remnant of the not too distant past, sat on the side of the two lane country road, the abandoned old border crossing building. Krista hopped out of the car and posed for a picture of our arrival into Deutschland!
Alas, our arrival in ULM! As Dad’s French boutique country manor pick was a huge hit with Zach last night, the pressure was now on Mom, as Ray and Zach’s skepticism grew with her wonky lodging choice–a crooked house, really?!?! As we drove up to the empty hotel side parking space, seemingly reserved just for us, Zach’s eyes lit up as a placard adorning the entrance to the hotel read–“Guinness Book of World Records 1997–Worlds Most Crooked House”.
“I’ve been Vaiting fah you,” responded the young German innkeeper as we made our way to the small front counter to check in. “Your vroom is number two– ztraight up zee stairs. Breakfast is included in the Blau river view dining room in the morning. Gutenacht and enjoy your stay.”
Zach led the way up the creaking wood stairs of the small 12 room inn (only of which four of the rooms are crooked beyond belief.) Our first observations, aside from the obvious uneven wood floor, was the LEVEL that was conveniently nailed into the top of the bed…just in case you had any apprehension that you’d wake up dizzy! Zach was amused as the suitcase with the rolling wheels kept sliding across the sloped floor. Ray’s wake in the middle of the night to use the bathroom found him sliding towards the windows, before he gained enough footing to climb his way back up the “kinder hill” 😉
Sunday morning brought sunshine and a delicious European breakfast (including cold deli meats, fresh fish, cheese, beer hall pretzels, and poached eggs) The Frau kindly made two additional scrambled egg orders for Zach and Ray and before you knew it our tummy’s were full and we were ready for some historical adventure after our eccentric and crooked night sleep. Before heading out however, only a few hundred shots were clicked as Krista sought to capture the angular glory of this 15th century rarity.
What a quaint town!! (Again, no English language spoken or Americans in sight) One of the highlights included the town square’s Munster Cathedral, celebrating the world’s tallest steeple at 161.5m high. The only chance of fitting the entirety of the spires into one photo, was to lie down on the cobbles–exactly what Ray did. Zach attempted to secure our buy-in to climb the 768 spiral stairs to the 143m high tower, but we took into consideration that we might need to save our walking/skiing legs for the Alps over the next few days, and that Ibuprofen can only do so much. (Maybe next time!)
Oodles of bridges line the waterway canals throughout the old city and colorful half timber German houses dot the streets. It was a great out-of-the way stopover with a lot of character, charm, and crooked memories that were made!
Next stop….Garmisch-Partenkirchen!
White House Adventures 
Loved the photos and once again a marvelous article. Reading about the Crooked House I was trying to figure out how much medicine i would need to stay there. I don’t think it would be good for Rheumatoid people. Then again maybe it would straighten me out. who knows? It looked like a neat place and one that you guys will always remember in your many travels. I can just envision Zachary there and he must of loved of it!
It looks like a dreamland vacation. And maybe even an alice in wonderland variety at that :).