This photo came from Denny Warta of New Ulm, Minnesota. He received it from his German friend Rolf Grüner, a former newspaper editor in Neu Ulm, the Bavarian city on the other side of Ulm on the river Danube. In the background is the Ulmer Münster.

The German cities of Ulm and Neu Ulm are sister cities of New Ulm, MN. The Minnesota town was settled in the mid-19th century by pioneers from German-speaking Europe. Warta's ancestors hail from Bohemia, now part of Czech Republic. In the background is the Ulmer Münster.

The Ulmer Münster, a Lutheran church, is the tallest church in the world, with a steeple measuring 530 ft and containing 768 steps.

Located in Ulm, Germany, the church is not a cathedral in the technical ecclesiastical sense, as it has never been the seat of a bishop. The responsible bishop of the Evangelical Church in Germany resides in Stuttgart.

However, it is a famous example of Gothic ecclesiastical architecture and is typically and mistakenly described as a cathedral.

After climbing to the top level there is a panoramic view of Ulm in Baden-Württemberg and Neu-Ulm in Bavaria and, in clear weather, a vista of the Alps from Säntis to the Zugspitze.

The final stairwell to the top, known as the 3rd Gallery, is a tall, spiraling staircase that has barely enough room for one person.

Like the famous Cologne Cathedral or Kölner Dom - another building of the Gothic era - the Ulmer Münster was not completed until the 19th century.