After a 2-hour drive, Lars and I arrived in Aachen last Monday. After a bit of rest in our hotel, we went to the center of town, to have some dinner. We chose a restaurant quite close to the Aachen Cathedral, called Rose am Dom.
We felt quite at home in the rustic but cosy interior. The menu features mainly regional specialties, which are reasonably priced.
I have to admit that don’t like pork, but I will make an exception for a well-prepared schnitzel, which is fried breaded pork filet. Lars, on the other hand, went for a Wienerschnitzel, which is fried breaded pork or veal filet, traditionally served with lemon and anchovy.
It was still raining when we left the restaurant and the somber clouds didn’t predict any good weather.
We first visited one of Aachen’s most important landmarks, Aachen Cathedral.
This was actually the first site in Germany to be included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. According to Wikipedia,
Aachen Cathedral (German: Aachener Dom), traditionally known in English as the Cathedral of Aix-la-Chapelle, is a Roman Catholic church in Aachen, western Germany. It is the oldest cathedral in northern Europe and was constructed by order of the emperor Charlemagne, who was buried there after his death in 814. For 595 years, from 936 to 1531, the Aachen chapel was the church of coronation for thirty German kings and twelve queens. The church has been the mother church of the Diocese of Aachen since 1802.[1]
The Palatine Chapel has the shape of an octagon and its decorations are breathtaking.
It was our first visit to this cathedral; Lars had never been to Aachen before and I had only visited its Christmas market. We are so happy that we could finally admire this astonishing piece of religious architecture.
Finally, we were back outside, where it was still wet and gloomy.
If you like exploring religious buildings, the nearby Pfarrkirche is also worth a visit, although it lacks the grandeur of its bigger neighbor.
A nearby candy-shop caught our eye…
The shop specialises in the so-called “printen”, a local delicacy, we will talk about in the next part!
