We are taking you on a trip to Aachen, Germany's westernmost city, right next to the Netherlands
and Belgium.
It is a typical place but famous for one very special building, the cathedral.
Aachen is a city with a very ancient cathedral, and most famous as the home of Charlemagne.
That great European leader, Charlemagne, was the Holy Roman Emperor who came here in the
year 768.
Charlemagne spent most of his final years in Aachen and he ordered the cathedral to
be constructed, and it still stands today, as you will see while we explore that magnificent
building, which is one of the most important architectural landmarks in Europe.
I arrived in Aachen bus from the nearby Dutch city of Maastricht.
I'll show you some of that bus ride at the end of the program.
The bus drops you off right in the center of town, then it's a 500-meter walk to the
cathedral.
If you arrived by train the station is twice as far, just over one kilometer away from
the center.
Two other main sites are City Hall and the market square.
Everything is quite close together here in the pedestrian center of the old town.
In a few minutes we will show you these charming lanes with the outdoor restaurants and locals
taking a stroll.
We will have a look at the market square with its colorful produce and inexpensive eating
– less than five euros for a casual standup bratwurst and fries.
Next to that we will bring you inside the City Hall.
Aachen's other remaining historic building dates to the early 14th century.
Take a lunch break in the park and enjoy the historic old buildings.
The pedestrian zone is rather small, just 400 meters across, with the Dom, or cathedral
at the center, as usual in a medieval town plan.
We'll show you more of this lovely town in a short while, but the reason that you would
come to Aachen is to visit the cathedral, a place so important that 43 kings and queens
of Germany were crowned here.
The Aachen Cathedral was built between the years 793 and 813, making it 1200 years old.
It's an incredible structure.
The cathedral was built in two different architectural styles in two different time periods, early
ninth-century Byzantine, that's 1200 years ago, and then later Middle Ages, the gothic
extension of the choir with the stained glass windows around it.
The surface area of the stained glass is more than 1000 square meters, based on the model
of Sant' Chapelle in Paris.
From the outside you can see the gothic features of the pointed arches and the buttresses holding
up the walls.
It's one of the oldest cathedrals in Europe.
The original part is the octagonal chapel in the middle called the Palatine Chapel with
eight large columns holding it up, and beyond, there are some smaller chapels around it.
That early Byzantine architectural style was influenced by churches in Ravenna and Constantinople.
It was huge for its day.
The width and height of the chapel were the largest ever built north of the Alps until
the Middle Ages, when the large gothic cathedrals were constructed.
Not only is the cathedral a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it was in the very first list ever published.
The first 12 sites were declared in 1978 with this cathedral among them.
Now there are over a thousand UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
So that's another indication of the extreme cultural and historic importance of the dome.
As usual with such an extraordinarily beautiful and complicated structure, you have to see
it in person.
Its pictures just do not do it full justice.
You'll get some idea from looking at the images but being inside this building is an otherworldly
experience.
You will be an enraptured and awestruck in looking around at the dazzling beauties of
this amazing structure.
The best way to appreciate such a complicated space is walk to various locations so that
you can gain perspective on the different angles, and then you may sit down in peace
and just absorb the quiet beauty of this wonderful space.
Aachen and the Cathedral were so important to the Emperor Charlemagne that he is buried
here in this golden coffin in a place of honor in the choir, with the vaulting gothic arches
and stained-glass windows all around him.
The entryway is decorated with a bronze pinecone statue from antiquity that was probably part
of a fountain with little holes for water to shoot through.
Another bronze statue of a bear dates to the 10th century, serving as a ferocious guardian.
The exterior of the gothic portion of the church has many statues typical of that time
portraying saints and apostles in a grand setting surrounded by the stained-glass windows,
the buttresses and the pinnacles.
The building stands in the middle of the pedestrian zone, so all of a sudden outdoors is quite
lively with people walking and they're shops and restaurants.
So let's go take a look.
You've seen how Aachen is worth visiting just because of that one building, the magnificent
cathedral, but now you'll see that the town itself, especially here in the historic center
in the pedestrian zone, is really a most enjoyable place to spend some time.
As we've seen already, this central zone is not huge.
It's about 400 meters across, so, really quite easy to wander around.
You might spend a couple hours here, have a meal, do a little shopping and just relax.
No cars allowed in this peaceful neighborhood, but you've got the bicycles and some bikers
appear able to carry large cargo on their bike.
That's quite a challenge.
Of course you're going to see quite a few dogs out for a walk with their owners on a
leash.
Sometimes they see friends they haven't seen in a while and have a little happy reunion.
Dog lovers will have a ball.
This couple just had a very successful shopping expedition with these boxes filled with fresh
produce, because they are coming from the outdoor market just around the corner.
The market takes place twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 7 am till 2 pm
in the market square just in front of the picturesque Town Hall.
We will take you inside it in a couple minutes.
There is also a market for fresh organic produce every Saturday morning from nine am till two.
Along with fresh fruits and vegetables, you'll find some flowers.
There is also some clothing available, but not many souvenirs.
This market is more for locals rather than tourists, but of course visitors love this
kind of authentic experience, and a chance to eat some very tasty inexpensive food.
This booth was a very popular spot, dishing up just four basic items.
There is reibekuchen, which is a potato fritter deep-fried, bratwurst, french fries and currywurst.
This is outdoor casual dining at its best.
There are a couple of tables or just eat standing up at the counter.
The large historic building next to the marketplace is the Rathaus, or City Hall, with 50 statues
of kings of Germany on its façade.
The building was constructed between 1330 and 1380, open to the public with a small
admission fee as a museum.
Most impressive is the Coronation Hall, or Kaiseraal, where banquets were held after
crowning a king.
It's 45 meters long, spanning the entire length of the building.
Naturally this Town Hall has gone through some renovations and reconstructions during
its 650 year history.
It was severely damage in World War II, but you'd never know it with the way it looks
today.
There is an impressive variety and style of rooms, with baroque and rococo and gothic,
and yet it's a small enough building that you can do a complete visit in 30 minutes.
Well worth it.
The Ratskeller Restaurant is on the ground floor serving German-style cuisine in a medieval
setting.
Pontstrasse is a quaint pedestrian lane with those cafés that provides our last look at
the historic center of town.
On our way to the bus stop for our journey out of here we passed through a popular little
park, Elisengarten, packed with students having lunch.
Next to it is the Elisenbrunnen, a pump room famous for its spa waters.
Out front there are some kids having fun with the macarena.
[singing] We are taking the bus back to Maastricht,
and there's a convenient bus stop right behind Theaterplatz in Aachen.
Bus number 50 will take you directly from Aachen to Maastricht, no change of bus needed.
It's a 50-minute bus ride and quite pleasant.
You're going through some open countryside.
While riding on the bus you might even make a new friend.
The scenery is quite nice along the way.
Most of the route is green fields, and low hills, and trees and there are some crops
growing.
You'll pass by some cows, a few old châteaux, all of which makes the 50-minute trip pass
very quickly, and the bus provides a smooth comfortable ride.
We have returned to Maastricht in the Netherlands.
It's the southernmost city of the Netherlands and it's been our home base for a couple of
days while we've been viewing Maastricht city itself, and this trip out to Aachen.
This is part of our in-depth series tha we've been showing about the Netherlands and nearby
sites, today Aachen.
There are 24 movies in our Dutch collection.
Be sure to look for them.
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