Aachen

We went to the city of Aachen today to see the Cathedral that houses Charlemagne's bones. Whether or not his remains are actually there, I do not know, but I saw the gloriously insane shrine that says they are there. We also went to the chocolate shop next to the Lindt factory and I bought chocolate for way cheap. Papa keeps insisting that I eat lots of sweets and drink lots of alcohol. We went to a "liquor store" in Aachen near the church and I tried this wonderful apple flavored stuff that was totally yummy. I can't comprehend why Europeans are not drunk all the time.


This is the seal of Charlemagne, it was all over the streets of Aachen.

When we got home I was cold and had a runny nose so I curled up on the couch with a blanket to rest for a bit. This set off alarms across the house that I was incurable ill or something. It is sweet how much they care, but sometimes it is a bit overwhelming. I was immediately given some lemon schnapps to clear my throat, a mug of gluwein (warm spiced wine) to warm me up, some sort of medicine to stop my nose from running, and tons of gummy bears. I understand that alcohol here will cure anything and everything, but I'm not quite sure about the gummy bears. I think Papa just likes to give me sweets.

It's been a rather quite evening so far, but Fran and I are going out to a club to meet some of her friends tonight. I met two of her good friends yesterday and they were very nice, so hopefully these friends will be just as nice. Her friends all speak English, so that is a huge bonus. As much as I would like to learn German, the one semester that I took at Manchester was nowhere near what I would have needed to survive here. If it was absolutely necessary I think I would be more likely to survive using my French. Well, tomorrow we are going to go sight-seeing in Düsseldorf, so I'm hoping we don't stay at the club too long and my jetlag allows me to sleep tonight. It is getting better, but I am still exhausted randomly during the day. I am glad that I am dealing with it now and not in a week like all of the other BCA students. It will be beneficial to have the heads start even though now it is not so much fun.