Walkin in Aachen

Once again the third Friday of the month arrived and we arranged to have dinner with the Village Connection. This month's dinner was in Aachen, a large city located about and hour south of Geilenkirchen. We visited Aachen in July and were impressed with the cities Dom, not nearly the size of the Köln Dom, but still a very beautiful church. The city originally attracted the attention of the Romans because of its hot springs and baths. Many kings were coronated here and I believe that Charlemagne is responsible for the actual construction.

Terry decided since we are now seasoned banhof (train) commuters, we would ride the train and walk to the restaurant, as an added bonus-Starbucks was not far out of the way. We were both looking forward to an evening out..............Terry googled all the information, maps, train times , distance to and from etc. etc.... We were sitting on the train when Terry looked at me and calmy said, "I forgot the maps"............... It almost goes without saying we wandered around the city. I would say aimlessly but Terry assured me he and an idea of where we were going. Thankfully we had allowed plenty of time so it was no problem other than the fact that I had worn high heeled boots, which by the way, I would not recommend as the best footwear for cobblestone streets, let alone walking aimlessly.........in the cold...........uphill!

We did have a very nice walk thru the city center where there was a Christmas Market set up. Thousands of lights decorated the city, people were everywhere, kids laughing, it seemed as if we stepped into a Norman Rockwell painting. Germany is a magical place around Christmastime and there are markets in many cities from now until Christmas, obviously the bigger the city....... The sounds, sights and smells of the market are incredible. Chestnuts roasting, people singing, chocolates being dipped, open air tents everywhere. After about 45 minutes of walking around we arrived at our destination, Terry said, see I knew right where we'd find it.

Dinner is never hurried in Germany so we enjoyed a relaxing time with three other couples who we met up with at Cafe Madrid. The menu was all tapas or appetizers, we all kept ordering and sharing food. We learned that frito is a small fish, whole/fried/skin and all-not my favorite by the way! All in all it was another good time and after two and a half hours we said goodbye and bee-lined for Starbucks. Can you believe, we missed getting a latte by 3 minutes!.........we had been so so sure they would still be open.............so back through the market towards the train station we went. As we rounded the last corner Terry noticed a brick wall/horse gate across the street, part of the original wall around the city, he said that looks just like the one outside Cafe Madrid, why I do believe it IS the same one and course it was.........basically what we had done was walked well over a mile in a big circle. Sore feet and no latte....we boarded the train for home.

There are several planned group trips as well as a schedule of all the Christmas Markets in the region. My friend Jen has marked all that are within two hours of GK and we'll plan an outing with a Christmas Market as our actual destination.

love and miss you all