To Aachen and the Netherlands

So I hopped the early train to Aachen this morning and arrived in one piece after a pretty late night. We, for some reason decided that it was in some way necessary to stay up until 4:00 a.m. this morning. Uggghh! Unfortunately I wasn’t able to sleep on the train in the extremely erect position but was fortunate to see the beautiful country side. Aachen is in North Germany on the border of Germany and the Netherlands. There are many green rolling hills covered with vineyards and small little quaint towns with much character. I am being picked up my a hometown friend, Janelle Robinson this evening in Aachen for a little visit to the Netherlands. I had a pretty easy train ride here but missed my first connection in Koln so had to wait for the next train to Aachen. Fortunately I was able to read the departure and time tables pretty well and it was only a 30 minute wait. I didn’t take the time to print a map of Aachen before I came and assumed that I could get a little map when I got here. That didn’t work so well but I was able to see a posted one to get an idea of the city. Janelle is meeting me at a coffee shop that she said was across from a main building in town, so I figured I could find it. It seemed to have a main area in the middle of the city with plenty to see so I followed a big group of people off the train into town assuming they knew where the action was. So guess where I was side tracked first? YEP! A Bio Markt or better described as a whole food grocery store. So of course I had to stop in and check out the products and attempt to read the nutrition labels. It is still pretty foreign but I must say I am getting to know my ingredients and food translations. Kinda funny that most of the words that I know in German seem to be food :) After walking through the store, I continued on through some really cool cobblestone streets and into a main market place area with a big cathedral and tons of shops. Just so happens that today is the beginning of a big Open Air Concert and Festival Series happening so there are tons of people and lots of booths and stages being set up. Strangely enough but not so strange to me these days, I was lead directly to the coffee shop so here I am updating you on my travels and ready to check out some more of the city before we head to the Netherlands. Check back soon for info on my visit.