June 30 to July 1—Aachen, Germany, the Land of Friendly Friends

First: HAPPY 60TH BIRTHDAY TO MARTHA'S DADDY ON JULY 13TH! HOPE YOU HAD A WONDERFUL 'FRIDAY THE 13TH'! HAPPY BIRTHDAY ... AND MANY MORE!

Dear Family and Friends,

Saturday, June 30, we have been away a month and a half now, and Martha realizes that this is the longest she’s been overseas before. We let the day decide our plan of action, since we were having trouble knowing if we should stay in the wonderful city of Koln for one more day or continue to another city that we could fall in love with, as well! The fates were put to the test, as we agreed that if the hostel had room for this weekend night, we would stay, and if not, we would head to the train station. They were fully booked, so we packed up, enjoyed breakfast at the hostel one more time among the groups of youngsters who had bonded over drinks the night before at the first-floor bar, and headed out with our packs uptown. Another nice walk with our packs, we made it to the train station, managed to get the right tickets to Aachen and board the right train, which was kind enough to be two-minutes late so we didn’t miss it.

From the spotty windows of the top level of the two-story train, we could see the German countryside as it passed us by—open fields of wheat-colored crops, a nuclear power plant emitting a huge cloud of smoke across the sky, and windmill after windmill in the distance. Aachen is West of Koln along the border where the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany meet at the Three-Country Point. The town is particularly known for the hot springs that draw tourists, and we thought we might spend part of Saturday or Sunday enjoying them, as well.

When we arrived in town, we had no map and no real idea of how our day might go. So, we called Markus first to check in, since we hadn’t had time from the train station in Koln, and to wish him well on the day of his mother’s 60th birthday celebration. He was busy, but happy to hear from Dani.

“Did you get the fax I sent to your hostel?”

“No, we didn’t,” says Dani. He sent us a fax? This man is the sweetest!

“I set up plans for your day. My best friend’s girlfriend is willing to put you up for the night,” he says. WOW! So, Dani walked from the train station to the pub on the first floor of the hotel across the road, totally unsure of what she was going to say upon arrival.

“Fax?” says the woman in response to Dani’s confused state. And she soon had a piece of paper in hand. Markus had taken the time out from helping his mom as she prepared for guests at their home to put together an itinerary for us in his college town of Aachen, including providing us with a map that had little ‘travel marks’ from place to place, where to find a cheap lunch in the student quarter, and where to end up for the night, with instructions for us to arrive any time after 8 PM!

After stowing our bags in the train locker room for the day, we decided to patronize the pub for a quick drink to thank them for their kindness. When we left, it was nice to know exactly where we were going! We spent the afternoon wandering through the gentle streets of Aachen, a small college town with TONS of charm. We paid a visit to the Dom in town, which was begun by Charlemagne in the last quarter of the 8th century, making it the oldest church in Northern Europe. His remains are even housed behind the main altar of the church.

The church’s legend is perhaps even more impressive than the reality of its creation: When the townspeople did not have enough funds to complete the structure, the devil in disguise offered to finish it for them. Payment would be the soul of the first to enter the church; the devil figured he would get a pope or bishop out of the deal as the church was consecrated. The townspeople realized that the devil was in the details, so released a wolf as the first to enter the church, and its soul was ripped from his chest as the devil was fooled into taking a non-human soul (a bronze statue of the wolf with a gaping hole in its chest stands in the church entrance). The devil was so angry at being tricked that he caught his thumb in the door on the way out; if you stick your fingers in the right doorknob of the front of the church, you can feel the digit still there.

Continuing north, we found ourselves on the street Markus recommended for lunch, filled with outdoor eateries that seemed super cheap, and decided that if the place Markus recommended at the end of the road didn’t look appealing we would return to this cute district. Of course, right across the street was the recommended place, and it was full of charm! We enjoyed a 4 PM lunch at Labyrinth—Martha had one of the day’s specials, little meat rolls drenched in a red sauce with chili powder, while Dani’s dish of Spanikopita satiated her need for veggies in tasty fashion, though not with a typical German dish. The dishes each came with a salad that included sweet cabbage—is it picked while young or does German cabbage just naturally have this sweet flavor? We dined in the back terrace area, paved and full of potted basil, stalks of red pepper plants growing strong already at the close of June, and quaint trees providing lovely shade.

From lunch we continued our wandering through town, searching for the many fountains and statues listed in the guidebook with fun stories attached to each:

• Earlier in the day, we had found the “TaxMan,” a circular fountain with a drain at the bottom and people eternally standing around the edges demanding a piece of everyone’s hard-earned money.

• The puppet fountain had movable parts that welcomed the public to play! Martha and Dani did, moving the figures into different positions, taking photos, and enjoying the cool air from the fountain’s water.

• A giant monster statue is rumored to jump on the backs of intoxicated late-night wanderers, demanding a lift home! (Eh hem, he did not come to life when we passed.)

• The Chicken Thief statue had a rooster peeking from his back pocket (quite a surprise for him, we're sure). And we peered through a kaleidoscope and passed a group of women with umbrellas that were not mentioned in the guidebook.

What a fun town to stroll through! We passed into the evening enjoying the plaza next to the Rathaus (town hall), and decided it was time to find the house of Markus’ friend as 8 PM approached and passed us by. We picked our luggage from the train station lockers and followed the map to her place. It was next to another fountain, a simple, large silver ball that seemed odd among the fun of the other fountains (until the next day when it opened into a flower with water streaming down from the center).

Silke was, as were all of Markus’ friends, wonderful to get to meet and share time with! She stated that she was nervous about her English, but it was indeed quite good—she had effectively studied the language by watching television programs from the US and Britian (including Martha’s favorite Buffy the Vampire Slayer). Her apartment, shared with her boyfriend and another friend of theirs, was gorgeous, with high ceilings and lots of lots of open space in an old building. Having two strangers show up on her doorstep and being unnecessarily nervous about her English, the beautiful blond German lady had invited a coworker, named Phillip, from their economics institute over for dinner. Phillip’s English was also really strong, and his love of world travel made him quite a lot of fun to chat with. Both Silke and Phillip were happy to hear that we had found the German people so welcoming, with their smiles and ‘Hallos’ as we passed folks in the streets. It seems a ‘New Germany’ has developed that is more open and inviting; their stereotypical reserved approaches and coolness melts with time. We stayed up until the wee hours chatting about life, education, the world situation, love, China, and new friendships.

Sunday, July 1, we got up later than anticipated, dressed, and headed out the door in hopes of placing our feet upon a new country’s soil! We wanted to walk to Belgium!! We loitered first at a coffee shop to nourish ourselves with a delicious baked German good, managing to pick a tasty morsel that was like eating cookie dough for breakfast. Martha LOVED it. She usually gets smacked for getting into the cookie dough! As we walked North and West, we found signs of the Camino de Santiago and later confirmed that it does indeed flow through that region of Germany! Managing to find a gorgeous park followed by open fields of hops, Martha had taken us too far North, and we ran out of time (we were supposed to meet Markus at Silke’s house around 1:30 PM) and had to head back without quite making it to the next country. We had entered the Netherlands once again, however, and could see Three-Point Land mountain where the three countries meet. A little way up that mountain is the highest point in the Netherlands, but you continue climbing into Germany.

We hiked back into and through town, just in time to find Markus on the street feeding a meter! Great timing! We kept Silke from her school work a little longer, chatting with her for a while about her scholarly trials (professors can be very difficult when two professors teach a course and want different things from their students) and the many plants in her kitchen window—avocado, tomato, and more—that she had grown from seed.

Markus called to check in with his other buddy, Jan, who needed some assistance bringing new furniture up to his beautifully-decorated apartment. We all grabbed a piece or two of the new wardrobe and were rewarded with grape juice and a fruit bowl for snacks as Jan shared his space and his music with us. We were to meet up with Silke and her boyfriend/Markus’ best friend, Andreas (an avid mountain-biker getting excited as an eight-day, 800-km biking tour through the Alps approached), back in the heart of town for ice cream! But, first, we stopped for an Aachen-specific treat: gingerbreads plain and soft or soft and drenched in chocolate or frosting or nuts and chocolate!

Outdoors at the Eis Café, six of us enjoyed hours together, and we especially enjoyed seeing Markus get to enjoy his vacation time catching up with his friends. The eis (ic cream) was lovely, but even the large bowls that the boys had polished off as we sat was not enough for them, so they stopped at the pick-up counter for a second scoop as we walked to find a place for dinner. Leaving Silke was tough as she returned home to battle her school work; she is a very sweet person, and even invited us to visit Aachen again.

The guys’ first choice for dinner was closed, and as we searched for an alternative, Jan told us about the horse statues all over town, each with original painting in this town known for its horses. As the winter would come, the horses would disappear, only to reappear in different spots when the warmer weather returned. Our five-some dinner destination was one of the oldest restaurants in town, housed in the old post-office next to the Rathaus and the Marktplatz. Martha ordered sauerbraten (a family favorite that is usually reserved for her dad’s birthday dinner) that was slathered with the local gingerbread-based gravy, and Dani enjoyed the local traditional blood sausages on a huge bed of mashed potatoes with fried onions. Markus ordered a mixed meat plate with the intention to trade dishes with either of us if we did not get along well with our meal choices.

We took a long time saying goodbye to Jan and Andreas as they talked about their bikes and we dawdled in the square. Andreas told Dani of their friends’ tradition of going to the town hall on the 30th birthday of each unmarried man—the unmarried bloke would have to clean the steps until kissed by a young maiden. Depending on the man’s friends, he may have to sweep the steps with a broken broom, or clean it with a toothbrush while wearing funny hats, and any young woman who approached would likely be ushered away by the friends to prolong the agony of the unmarried man! Andreas had finally won the heart of a four-year-old to gain his freedom when it was his turn on the steps! Martha and Jan got into world politics for a moment and was not too shocked to hear that Jan didn’t blame Iran for wanting nuclear power with the US being so overly aggressive in their part of the world.

Still unable to say goodbye, we kept on enjoying each others’ company as the sunlight faded; Martha and Dani received a second invite from Jan to return to Aachen when we go back to Germany in September. We might just have to do that, and were especially sad that we had not brought our cameras along for the afternoon with these fine folks (hence all of the photos posted from this day are from our attempt to Belgium in the morning, including the photo of the Three-Point Land mountain to the left). The people of this town are wonderful. We drove the hour to Markus’ family home, decompressing the day and speaking highly of Markus’ friends and their kindnesses. He gave us a little tour of the house as we tip-toed around on the floor above his sleeping parents, trying not to play with the toys in his mother’s workspace (she’s a child/adolescent psychologist of high regard in the community), before settling in the cool space of the basement for an amazing night’s sleep. But not before Markus set up the phone in the basement for us to cheaply call our families when we wanted to in the coming couple of days! Tomorrow we meet Markus’ parents!

In love and light,

Martha and Dani