"My Trip... Aachen, Germany"

Charlemagne

Karl The Great

I took a train from Frankfurt to Aachen, Germany... arriving the afternoon of June 28th. There was no one at the train station to meet me... I had difficulty finding anyone who spoke English that was able to help me... so I set out to find my lodging and to get my bearings on the city.


If any of you are ever responsible for someone from another country visiting your  city, make sure someone is at the airport/train station/wherever to meet and greet them... and get them to their accommodations.

Aachen is a very storied city... it is best known for its association with Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Emperors that followed him.  Charlemagne's Cathedral is located in Aachen, as are many important artifacts of that era.

The school that I visited... and where I lectured, is located here.  All in all, I had a good experience here, although, it was in Aachen were I was probably the sickest.  I would wake up, have something light for breakfast... have about a 45 minute walk to the school... teach my materials, and then return to my room.  Most of the afternoons there, I would get in bed and try to rest/recover.  For someone who is seldom physically ill, I spent a great deal of time under the weather.

A City Gate

(My photo)

At one time in Aachen's history, the city was fortified... completely walled in, and in the walls, were eight gates just as the one above.  To put everything in perspective, there is a life size statue of a man to the right of the open gate in the structure.  Invading armies would have great difficulties breaching these city walls.  In World War II, Aachen had the distinction of being the first German city to fall to the allies.  The city suffered great damage during the battle.

Guard At The Gate

(My Photo)

Aachen, as I stated above, was the first German city to fall to allied forces in WWII... the damage to the city was significant...  I've read that the city of Aachen was 85% destroyed... unbelievable...

(obviously not my photo)

Anyhoo...

(not my photo)

This is Charlemagne's Cathedral, The Aachen Cathedral... construction of this magnificent building began in the late 8th century... now, in order to put things in perspective, here is what the people living in my part of the country were building at about this same time...

Now, if you are thinking, Hell, that's nothing but a pile of dirt... you are exactly right.  This is one of the Winterville Mounds, located about 40 miles south of here.  As a matter of fact, the mounds are dated to about 1000 AD, which means that these mounds were built about 200 years after construction of this cathedral in Europe started...

(my photo)

This is the main entrance to the cathedral...

(not my photo)

(not my photo)

I attended a Sunday Morning Mass in this building on my last Sunday in Aachen.  I sat in this rotunda area where Charlemagne and other Emperors of the  Holy Roman Empire celebrated religious services...  me, a long-haired leaping gnome of a professor that lucked up into this trip.

I tend to not be a very religious person... I'm more spiritual than religious, but when you sit in such an environment... and see all of this... you start to think that maybe... just maybe... hmmm.  I do have great respect for others' religious beliefs, whether I agree with them or not...  that's the least I can do.

That chandelier in the above photo dates back to about 1400 AD... unbelievable...

(my photo)

This is one of the towers of the Cathedral... believed to be one of the oldest structures of the church, and is believed to have been erected around 780 AD. 


I read that in the bombing of Aachen, that the Cathedral took a direct hit from a bomb, but... given that the bomb was a dud and didn't explode, the Cathedral received minimal damage.  The article stated that the  size of the bomb, had it detonated, would have destroyed the  entire structure...

(my photo)

(my photo)

The sides of the structure had all of these statues situated around the windows... so much to see... so much to take in... I'm sure I missed a host of more minute detail.

Located a few blocks away was the Aachen City Hall...

(my photo)

I was told that once upon a time, it was connected to the Aachen Cathedral, but that damage during WWII destroyed the building that connected the two... in the area between the two buildings, you could see 'old' architecture that was blended into 'new' architecture... I'm pleased that they worked to keep as much of the integrity of the original structures as they could.

Charlemagne

Aachen City Hall

(my photo)

What I didn't do...

I didn't take photos of the store fronts... I didn't take photos of the streets... I didn't take photos of the people...


One evening when I was down by the City Hall, there was a most wonderful antique car show... and the car that caught my eye was a 1934 Bugatti... BEAUTIFUL!!!


The next day, there was a antique tractor show...  I saw Ford tractors and John Deere tractors that I never knew existed...

I wish I had felt better...

I sent many a text to people back home telling them how sick I felt...

There were parts of  this trip that were totally uplifting...

There were parts of this trip that were upsetting...

... but that's Life...

Isn't it?

~shoes~