Aachen, Germany

On Monday morning of my trip to Belgium, we mapped out our week. Monday we would go into Liege, Belgium for lunch at Asti Restaurant (the Asti website is down), Tuesday I would go for a run in their village then meet up with the third host family and stay over with the first host family, Wednesday I would spend the day with the first host family, then stay over with the second host family. Confused? I woke up one morning unsure of where I was -- town, country, continent and all. In ten night I slept in four different beds plus an overnight flight. Friday night I was so happy to see my own bed.

This left Thursday free on the calendar. The weather on Thursday was forecast to be perfect. It was late September. The sun was shining. Temperatures reached into the 60's. The area had already faced a frost. It was the type of weather you treasure and want to boil when the weather turns again. 

In other words, the perfect weather for a road trip.

Liege. Belgium is located about 20 minutes away from Maastricht, Holland and Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle), Germany. I thought I had been there before, but upon reflection I think I went to Konn (Cologne), Germany on a road trip from Belgium. The houses I lived in were on the Flemish / French border. Two of my host mothers grew up speaking Flemish, but married Francophones. The two cultures seem to live in harmony, but I bet they don't.

250,000 people live in Aachen. Liege has about 196,000 people. Getting distracted here, Princeton's combined (township and borough) population is about 30,000. Someone asked me if Princeton was as big as Liege and I just laughed. Um... no.

We parked outside the center of town and walked into Aachen. Madame set a brisk pace. All that bicycling has kept the septuagenarian in shape.

Aachen is the westernmost city in Germany, and home to the first German UNESCO site. Aachen's claim to fame (every place has one) is it is where Charlemagne lived. Yes, that Charlemagne. The one who lived from 742-814 (AD) and is considered the "father of Europe" (per the link I posted). Charlemagne made his subjects convert to Christianity. 

The most famous site in Aachen is its cathedral. Charlemagne is buried there, or at least half of his bones. The cathedral's relics also include the cloak Mary wore when giving birth to Jesus, Christ's swaddling clothes, John the Baptist's decapitated head, and the clothes Jesus wore when he was killed. The Presbyterian in me raised an eyebrow at such claims, to which the guide replied (in English) testing shows these items are 2,000 years old and no one else is making such claims, though someone is claiming they have the skirt Mary wore while giving birth to the Savior. Who am I to argue with such logic?



One of these reliquaries contains Charlemagne's bones. The other has the other relics. 

A sense of the original octagonal shape

The cathedral was constructed in the 8th century, during Charlemagne's lifetime. It has eight sides and a dome, making it in the same style as East Roman Empire. It is one of the oldest cathedrals in Europe. He wanted to be buried there. His brain is actually next door in the museum. Construction of the octagonal chapel began around 790 AD and was expanded during the Middle Ages from 1355 until it was consecrated in 1414 in honor of the 600th anniversary of the death of Charlemagne.

Aachen's main industry was steel mining. Their university has about 30,000 students (Princeton has 8,623). They have hot springs as their water source. 

We had lunch at a fish buffet in Aachen. Turns out, the concept of buffets does not exist in Belgium so when they go to Germany, my host parents feel this is a treat. It does help to point when you don't speak the language. Speaking of foreign languages, based on my limited experience that day, more Germans speak English than French, so I translated. Made me feel useful.

I tried to do some shopping in Aachen (I really needed a sweater, and wanted some chocolate), but I was unsuccessful. I did stock up on chocolate at the Duty Free shops in the Brussels and Reykjavik airports.

More pictures from Aachen.

Felt lime home since Einstein moved to Princeton, NJ

In the middle of a busy square is this Roman arch. Just because.

Aachen has a mix of the old and the new. In some cases the new was built because the old could not be repaired post World War II. In other cases the new (as in 20th century new) was because someone thought modern was better than old. 

Other times they incorporate the old with the new -- such as this facade to the Justice Building.

Germany is starting to honor their war victims. I could get the gist out of signs like this.

Then we walked back to the car.

It was a lovely end to my European adventures.