Sightseeing in New Ulm

A day off! After breakfast team A went to see the sights in New Ulm while team S considered a trip to the land of nod.

New Ulm is in the Minnesota River valley. The section along the river is known as Goosetown because back in the day the residents raised free ranging geese. We liked Goosetown because it was easily accessible without climbing any hills.

With all of the rain in the last few days, the Minnesota River is well over it's banks. That clump of trees in the water marks the normal riverbank.

We enjoyed a small hands on museum in Goosetown. Kids can learn about the natural history of the Minnesota River valley. We learned that badgers and coyotes sometimes cooperatively hunt prarie dogs. If the prarie dogs flee above ground, the coyotes get a meal. If they flee underground, the badger gets the meal.

The old Goosetown schoolhouse has been repurposed as a museum.

These cups contain milkweed seeds. Kids visiting the museum will plant them at home to attract monarch butterflies.

Climbing up from the river takes you to downtown New Ulm. The city was settled by Germans. One of the downtown attractions is a glockenspiel which plays concerts 3 times a day. We joined a dozen other people to enjoy the noon concert.

Bells are ringing, mechanical characters are appearing.

The glockenspiel concert went on for close to 15 minutes.

New Ulm features many attractive parks and historical buildings.

The historical society was closed on Sunday.

A nod to the German/Bohemian heritage of the city.

Once a Catholic high school, now a convent.

For those who were willing to climb a steep hill, New Ulm held a couple of additional attractions that dominated the skyline.

What's up there? And why do steep hills always look so flat in photos?

On the left is "Old Main" from Martin Luther College. On the right is the Hermann monument.

For those not in the know, Hermann lead several German tribes to victory in a battle against the Roman empire in 9 AD. A larger Hermann monument can be found in the Teutoburg forest where the battle was wagged, but we were quite satisfied with the New Ulm version.

Hermann. Defeater of Rome and a Minnesota Vikings fan.

Today Martin Luther College has an attractive campus with a dozen buildings. When the college was established in 1884 Old Main was the only building. The building held a professor's apartment, student dormitory, bathrooms, classrooms, study rooms, a chapel, offices, dinning room and kitchen. MKC was not a party school. Students were not allowed to play cards, eat in places that served liquor, bathe in the river, or use tobacco products.

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