Stuttgart to Ulm
My next destination was Ulm. After only one night staying in Stuttgart, I moved to Ulm, which is a city not too far from Stuttgart.
Internationally, Ulm is known for Ulm Muenster, which is the church with the tallest steeple in the world, and the city is famous as the birthplace of Albert Einstein.
The enormous gothic church is in Muensterplatz in the city center. The church can easily be seen directly from the train station. It dominates the sights from any place around the city so there isn't supposed to be any chance of getting lost in the city.

There wasn't any chance of getting lost in the city center because of the huge landmark but actually it was very hard to find my accommodation.
My accommodation is close to the town hall(Rathaus) , which is a colorful medieval building and it is a popular tourist attraction in Ulm, so I was supposed to find my accommodation easily.
But before finding the eye-catching town hall, I got lost in Ulm's historical area called "Fischer Viertel(fishermen's quarter)". There were winding cobblestone streets, streams, bridges and, old houses, and it looked like a maze.
I heard that "Fischer Viertel(fishermen's quarter)" is the most romantic part of Ulm. Indeed, it looked like a wonderful tourist spot but it was the worst area to walk around with my suitcase to look for my hotel!!

These photos are showing that I was refreshing myself with a cold beer during looking hard at my city map!

I became discouraged to get to my hotel on foot many times and often I thought of going back to the station to take a taxi....

My accommodation was in front of Ulm's public library(a glass-walled pyramid in the above picture) and the beautiful medieval Rathaus(the town hall) is located nearby.

Hotel am Rathaus
Eventually, after I asked for directions three times, I arrived at my accommodation by myself.
It was a very easy-to-find location and I seriously wondered why I had SO much trouble in finding it!
Hotel am Rathaus was a cute small hotel. The atmosphere of the building was very nice and everywhere was kept tidy so I could enjoy my stay. I really liked it and I highly recommend it to you.

The hotel is located in a quiet housing area. The view of the housing area from my room was very interesting. Strange shaped houses, a triangle-shaped roof with tall chimneies, a pig-shaped wind dial on the top of a roof, houses hanging the national flag from their balconies and people having a pleasant chat on the roof of houses, etc. Everything would be an unusual sight in Japan.

Breakfast was typical for accomodation in Germany .

I unpacked my suitcase at my room and I lost no time in going out for a lunch break. I went back to the restaurant where I'd taken a beer break on the way to my accommodation a little while ago.
The restaurant offered Gold Ochsen's beer. "Gold Ochsen" is Ulm's oldest beer company and the largest brewery around the region.

When I'd stopped at the restaurant a little ago, everyone had been eating something round so I ordered the same thing for lunch. It was a kind of pancake! As you can see, it was very big. But because it was thin like a crape, I could eat much more than I thought. I really love a light meal like this pancake!

By the way, there are many sparrows which aim for your pancake so beware of the cute birds!