Adventures in Europe: Aachen, Germany

This morning I woke up sometime before 7:00, fairly well rested, but already stressed about driving.

Two things worried me: one, of course, the fact that I was driving a manual car; and two, that I doubted the GPS would take me outside of Germany, meaning I would have to try to navigate through Europe and worry about stalling, etc.

I walked up the hill in the dark to the parking lot and turned on the GPS.  I punched in the address of my hostel in Belgium that I would be staying in tonight, and lo and behold the GPS brought it up without difficulty!  So that was a relief.  I decided I may as well take advantage of the quiet morning to go ahead and do some practicing, so I pulled out of the parking lot and did a spin further up the hill.  I don't think this practice helped me too much, but it ended up being a lovely way to watch the dawn break, with large dairy cows mooing at me, and the dew rising from the fields.  It was really surprisingly gorgeous.

I parked again, and walked back to the hostel.  The hostel lobby was WiFi equipped, but it cost 1.5 euro/hour.  I went ahead and paid for an hour, and watched YouTube videos on how to drive manual cars.  Most merely told me things I already knew, including "its harder than it looks," but I did learn how to use the emergency brake when starting out on a hill, which was something I don't remember ever learning, nor would I have tried it without the tip.

I watched these videos while eating breakfast at the breakfast buffet, which was once again plentiful, and even had kiwis.

Shortly after 9:00 I checked out and punched in the intersection in Aachen that had a park and ride lot.  I had planned to simply drive and park downtown Aachen, but now that I was driving stick this idea seemed less appealing.  The park and ride seemed a much less stressful option.

I drove the opposite way the GPS told me to, wanting to extend my time around the Eifel National Park and the hills above the Rur Lake.

It was an incredibly gorgeous morning, and in retrospect I should have spent more time driving around there and stopping at the many pull offs/lookouts. 

Around 9:30 I finally heeded the GPS lady's commands and headed northwest to Aachen.  For about half of this drive the road took me through little towns, which was pretty neat, and I was even able to relax and enjoy the drive.  I have come to very much appreciate roundabouts, which do not require me to come to a complete stop and risk stalling.

I got to the park and ride lot easily enough, and then got on a bus to take me into the city.

I got there sometime after 11:00, but sadly the cathedral, which is what I really wanted to see, didn't open to the public until 12:30, since there was a mass in progress (not that surprising, given that it was Sunday morning, but I hadn't thought of it).

Aachen was Charlgemagne's capital and he began building the cathedral, which is the oldest in northern Europe.

Before learning this, I had planned to pass by Aachen without stopping, but the cathedral drew me in.

I considered going into the cathedral's treasury, or Aachen's town hall, both of which appealed to me somewhat, but they both had entrance fees and I decided I'd rather sit beneath the cathedral and have coffee and eat a pastry.

At 12:20 or so I went to buy a ticket for the cathedral, but the man working said I only needed a ticket if I wanted a guided tour.  Since I had already talked to him an hour prior, and was pretty sure he told me I needed a 4 euro ticket, I was very surprised to learn I didn't.  He did tell me that the tower wasn't open, however, which was disappointing.

I went ahead and bought a 50 cent guide, and it in hand queued to go inside.  The massgoers filed out and the tourists filed in, and I was amazed!

The Cologne cathedral had been dark, even dank, and was almost depressing rather than uplifting.  The Aachen cathedral, in contrast, was full of gold and other colours, and art and carving, and was really a sight to behold.

The little guide pointed me to the highlights, including the shrine of Charlgemagne (where is bones are), and the chest holding relics, including some shroud of Mary.

Although the cathedral was stunning, I was also struck with how small it was, especially compared to the one in Cologne I had been in yesterday.  I do not know what how they would compare in terms of area, but I assume, the Aachen one is as small as a quarter of the Cologne cathedral's size (which granted is absolutely massive).

After leaving the Cathedral, I bought a donair before catching the bus back to the park and ride.

Adventures in Europe: Cologne, Germany

I managed to sleep much later this morning, thankfully, and was actually surprised how good I felt when I woke up.  I went for breakfast, without needing to wait around, and then went out to run.  It was drizzling when I walked outside, but decided to go ahead with it anyway, and I was glad I did because it stopped raining almost immediately.

I checked out after my run, and took the S-bahn east, getting off near the European Central Bank (which I had run by yesterday), and near where Google told me the Enterprise location was.  Sadly, I relied on Google rather than the address Enterprise had put on the reservation, because of course their address was right and Google was wrong.  Interestingly, though, you can even streetview the spot Google says it should be, and it appears, even though "in real life" it isn't there.

A bus driver helped me out and told me what bus to take to get down the street to where Enterprise actually is.

But then, a far worse catastrophe presented itself: this location had zero cars.  The girl blamed this on a massive Lufthansa strike that is going on, but did not elaborate.  Maybe she means passengers who can't fly have taken all her cars.  Anyway, she put me in cab, and sent me north of Frankfurt to a different Enterprise location.

Forty plus euro later, I go to this new Enterprise location, which had a handful of cars.  I had chosen to reserve an automatic, even though they are considerably more expensive than manuals, because I have not driven a manual in over a dozen years, and even then had only ever driven one with my dad in the car coaching me though each step.  In other words, I have no idea how to drive manual, and had decided it was better to pay the extra than try to learn.

Of course, now Enterprise only had manuals.

I ended up with a SEAT Alhambra, a diesel minivan, with GPS, which was a really nice bonus.  But that didn't change the fact that it was manual.

Literally I had problems just rolling out of the driveway.  A random German man hopped in and ran through everything with me and with that I was on my way, with the echoes of horns honking behind me.

I actually had little problem getting to Cologne, because the autobahn gives few opportunities for stalling.

Once there, the park and ride lot was in a quiet neighborhood far from the highway, and easy to find.  I was glad to be out of the car, that's for sure.  The tram station was right by this little creek.

I caught a tram into the city, which was about a half hour ride.

I got off the tram on the other side of the Rhine, and then walked over a bridge towards the cathedral.

I knew the cathedral tower closed at 16:00, and it was already 15:00, so I was hurrying.  There was a long line for the tower once I arrived, but I was evidently on time.  They cutoff selling tickets at 15:30, so it was good that I had hurried.

They say it takes 30 minutes to climb the tower, but that is a very conservative climb, and obviously most people were doing it much faster.  I think I took 15 minutes, but even then I was stuck behind people and such, so could have done it faster.  Nonetheless, even if its ten minutes going full speed, that's still an idea of how tall this tower is.

I am not sure I have ever been in such a high church tower.  It was certainly considerably higher than the Frankfurt cathedral's tower.  Unfortunately, however, it was also a lot more popular, and it is 100% fenced in, much like the Eiffel Tower is, which makes it much less enjoyable to look around from.

After touring the cathedral, I wandered a little bit, stopping to buy a halve hahn sandwich and then some groceries.  

Around 16:00 I caught the tram back to the park and ride, and then drove into the Eifel National Park, where my hostel was.  It was dark as I drove, so I did not get to enjoy the scenery, but for most of the way I was on windy roads through forest, so I suspect it was quite beautiful.

I found the hostel without problem, but then I had a terrible time parking the car.  I had so much trouble that the lady who checked me in (who spoke almost no English) tried to help me.  The problem was that the parking was on a hill, and in a rather tight spot.  But really most of the problem was that I was having a terrible time driving the car in first gear and reverse.  I didn't know to use the emergency brake, so I was jerking around terribly, trying to prevent myself from rolling the opposite way I intended to go.  Anyway, long story short I ended up backing into a low retaining wall.  I actually hit the wall with a bit of force, because my foot was on the gas at the time.  The only good thing about hitting the wall was that it allowed me to maneuver into a better position, but needless to say this was incredibly embarrassing.  It was far too dark at the time to see if the damage was serious, but it was obvious that there would at minimum be scratches.

I was not looking forward to driving this car any more.

Adventures in Germany: Frankfurt

I woke up shortly after 5:00 this morning, which meant I had a solid 8+ hours of sleep.  But I was disappointed, because I had hoped to sleep much later than 5:00, so I tried to get back to sleep for an hour or so, before finally getting up. 

The Frankfurt Hostel serves a breakfast buffet starting at 7:00, so I hung out til then and then hit that up pretty hard.  I was impressed, it was certainly the best hostel breakfast I'd ever seen. 

After breakfast I went out for another run along the Main again, but this time I went further east for a total of about 8 kilometres.  The weather is nice again today, although much less sunny, and I really enjoyed the run.

Among other things, I ran by the European Central Bank building, which as you can see is a) enormous and b) relatively set off by itself, quite away from downtown.

After returning to the hostel and showering, I lay down to see if I could nap, but sleep didn't come, so I headed out to look around some more.

I headed for the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, and I was surprised how small it was given how significant it is worldwide.

From there I wandered somewhat aimlessly, and bought a postcard and mailed it, then went to the Dom, or cathedral.

I paid 3 euros to access the tower, and hiked the 328 stairs to the top.

Maybe because its so high and takes so much climbing, there were not very many people up there, so I had it more or less to myself for 20-30 minutes.

I took lots of pictures and enjoyed looking at the river and all the buildings, but somewhat surprisingly the most interesting thing to see was a four crane construction site just below the cathedral.  I probably spent half my time up there just watching the cranes do their work below me.

Once back down on the ground, I crossed the river (on the fifth bridge I've been on) and looked around a neighborhood over there famous for its ebbelwei (apple wine) cafes.

I want to try this famous Frankfurt wine, but I was too early, because they were all closed.  I'm not sure what time they open up, but evidently sometime after noon.

I walked back across the river and got a donair, then coffee and a pastry, sitting on the outdoor patios both times.

It was extremely overcast, even dark, by 14:00, which made it much less pleasant to be outside, although it was still 16 or 17 degrees Celsius.

I spent a couple of hours back at the hostel lounge before heading out just before sunset to see the Alte Oper, the old opera house.

I got a bratwurst at an outdoor market by the stock exchange before heading back to the hostel for the night.

Adventures in Europe: Frankfurt, Germany

We landed in Reykjavik at God knows what time in the morning.  It was still dark and as cold as Edmonton, but wetter, and we had to walk outside and overall I was unimpressed with their airport.  I managed to make my flight, but I was paged on my way to the gate as one of the last passengers.

Despite a late take off from Iceland, we landed more or less on time, around noon, in Frankfurt, and soon after I was able to catch the S-bahn, or subway, to Frankfurt's main train station.

The train was relatively easy to figure out, and relatively quick, and I was at the Frankfurt Hostel (just across the street from the train station) shortly after 13:00.

I didn't sleep a wink during the flight, so I was already at that point going on 24 hours without sleep.  I've decided to try to stay up until something resembling a decent bedtime, so I decided to go for a run.  The weather was incredible--high teens and sunny--and I was in need of a shower anyway, plus I thought running might give me a bit of an energy burst.

I headed down to the Main River and ran the trails along the river, as well as numerous bridges, including some pretty special pedestrian bridges.  This run was probably about five, maybe six, kilometres, and it did wonders for me.  Of course, it also was a great introduction to the city, particularly the banks of the Main.

After some lunch and a shower, I put on walking shoes and went out for a walk through the streets of downtown Frankfurt.  This time I stopped at a cafe for coffee and a pastry and I more or less stayed out until sunset, which apparently happens very early here--about 16:30!

Adventures in Europe: Flight to Frankfurt via Reykjavik

It's just before 19:00 Edmonton time, well into the night in Iceland, and I'm on Icelandair's Boeing 757 known as "Grimsvotn," after the very active Icelandic volcano, en route to Reykjavik, and on to Frankfurt.  There I plan to take two nights to try recover from the accursed and inevitable jet lag, and then on by rental car to Cologne, Aachen, Maastricht, Tongeren, Waterloo, Mons, Ypres/Ieper, until reaching Vimy Ridge for the morning of November 11--Remembrance Day. 

From Vimy I will return westward through the Ardennes, stopping in Luxembourg, Trier, and at the castle of Bacharach, before getting back to Frankfurt on the 14th, from whence I will fly home on the 15th.

Meanwhile, I will be enjoying my Appelsin.