It is back to Germany for one very short day but first, here was dessert from last night.
We had a very short day as it was cold and, once we saw the Cathedral and walked a little in old town, there was nothing else we wanted to see. It was worth the trip back, though, as the Cathedral is beautiful.
On our way into town, we went past one of the two remaining 13th century gates. Luckily, I was first at the stop light, so I was able to grab a quick pic.
We lucked into a disabled parking spot just outside the pedestrian street, so it was a short walk to the Cathedral. In addition to scaffolding all over the building, they are preparing for the upcoming Christmas Market so there were trucks everywhere. As a result, the pictures don’t show the Cathedral very well. But here’s a pic I took the last time we visited.
The outside makes the Cathedral look much bigger than it is on the inside. Of course, I’m sure there are hidden rooms we didn’t see, but the inside looks quite small. The Cathedral is one of the oldest in Europe having been ordered by Emperor Charlemagne in 796. He was buried there in 813.
We were able to walk around the side to get a little closer to the main altar.
The gold box in the foreground is the Marienschrein (Shrine of Mary) that holds the swaddling cloth and loin cloth of Jesus, a dress of Mary and the decapitation cloth of John the Baptist.
The gold box in the background, closer to the stained-glass windows, is the Karlsschrein or Shrine of Charlemagne. This is where the remains of Emperor Charlemagne have been held since 1215. We couldn’t get close enough to take a good picture so here’s one I found online.
I couldn’t find any information about this, but it was hanging in the middle of the front part of the Cathedral.
And, of course, the incredible stained glass windows.
The ceiling is gorgeous.
The Cathedral also hold the throne of Charlemagne.
There was a special pulpit, called the Ambion of Henry II. It was built 1002 and 1014 and was quite beautiful.
We have no idea where they were hiding the organ as we didn’t see it anywhere, but here’s what it looks like.
There were also several side chapels, only two of which we saw.
After we were finished inside, we took a walk through the pedestrian street around the Cathedral. The shops are already gearing up for the holidays. Apparently, Aachen has one of the best Christmas Markets in Europe. It opens on 11/18 so we missed it by a couple of weeks.
We had to pop into this candy shop to compare German chocolate to Belgian. While good, the German variety is not as creamy as the Belgian. We bought a little bag, though, just so that we had enough to really make a good comparison. I also couldn’t resist a gingerbread Christmas stocking.
Adjacent to the candy shop was a bread store that also had pastries and sandwiches. We decided we didn’t want a big lunch, so we picked up a couple of sandwiches to take back to the hotel. But we decided to have a little dessert before lunch.
I’m not sure what this building was, but the very bottom was the Rattskeller Restaurant.
And this one is for you Desiree. It wasn’t a big market, but it was nice.
We actually only stayed in the city center for about 90 minutes before heading back to the car. It was only in the mid 40s, cloudy and windy so we were getting cold. We’re staying at the Hampton Inn about 15 minutes from the center of town. We stayed here in 2018 so we knew it was a nice hotel. We got here super early, but they allowed us to check in, so we’ve been snug in our room for the afternoon. We’ll have sandwiches again for dinner as we’re both a little tired of eating out. I bought rolls and we have our usual ham and cheese I got yesterday from the market.
Tomorrow, we head back into the Netherlands for the last day with the car. We were going to go to Nuenen to see Van Gogh’s house, but it’s temporarily closed so we’ll head straight to Leiden where we’ll spend the night. It’s just under 3 hours away, so depending on what time we leave here, we may make a side trip to The Hague, which only adds about 20 minutes to the trip. But, as of right now it looks like rain all day, so we’ll see.
Yes to another market! Thank you! Even through it was small, I would have had a a bag full of yummy items. With all the pictures of delicious food which I can just taste but what are the smells in the market, pastry shops and chocolate shops. Then I can add another layer of pleasure for my senses. Ate the sweets very sweet or just enough?
How does the ham compare to ham at home, the taste, smell, texture etc? Just wondering if it has more flavor or has a fresher taste.
The smells in the markets depend on what they’re selling but to be honest I don’t really notice too much unless there are a lot of meats. But even then, because the market is outdoors, I think some of the scent gets lost. Yesterday, I didn’t even notice a scent in the part of the market that was selling flowers.
Of course, it’s a different story with the bread and chocolate shops. They smell just as you would imagine, delicious bread and yummy sweets. Some of the desserts we’ve had are very sweet, but most are not. The cake I had the other day with the 2 flavors of mousse was not in the least sweet, even with all the chocolate. Based on this trip you think we were fanatical about sweets, but we almost never eat them at home. I’ve had more sweets and desserts in the last 15 weeks than I normally have in a year at home.
It’s funny that you mention the ham as it does have a different flavor, especially in Italy where the ham is prosciutto rather than a cured ham. Overall, I think the ham has a lighter flavor than ours, which is good, because we eat a lot of it.
just finished reading the comments……………have to go get something to eat!
I never used to post about the food we ate so I didn’t realize how often we’re stuffing food into our mouths. But it is so good! I’m going to have to get back to healthier eating habits when I get home.