The Last Big Trip

The last big trip I took while I was in the Netherlands was south, to Italy and Albania.  It was very cheap--the flight from the Netherlands to Milan was only about $15 each way and the train tickets were very reasonable.  Also, since I took night trains and ferries most of the time, I saved loads on hotels.  I had been looking forward to seeing Albania for about 15 years, so this was a trip I was very excited to take.

• I flew from Eindhoven, in the Netherlands to Milan, Italy on Saturday.  
• I wandered around the city for an afternoon, and then took the night train from Milan to Rome, where I arrived early Sunday morning.  
• I checked out the city for a few hours and then took a train from Rome to Bari--a port city on the Adriatic. 
• From Bari, I took an overnight ferry across the Sea to Durrës--an Albanian port city.  
• Then I took a train from Durrës to Tirana--Albania's capital city--where I stayed for a day.  
• Then I returned to Italy, via the train to Durrës and another overnight ferry back to Bari.  
• From Bari, I took a bus across country to Naples.  
• In Naples, I took the regional train system (which is separate from the national train system) to Pompei, where I stayed overnight and checked out the ruins.
• Then I headed back to Rome, where I took a night train back to Milan, just in time to catch the plane back to Eindhoven.

It made for a very busy and hectic week (and also a bit warm, as I was visiting at the beginning of the summer, in mid-June) but I am glad that got to do it.  I saw a lot of things that I had wanted to see for a long time and it provided an interesting comparison between the cultures of Southern and Northern Europe.

Aachener Dom

One of the main attractions of Aachen is the Cathedral, called Aachener Dom.  It was built  in the late 8th century by Charlemagne and it towers over the whole city.  It was the religious and political center of the Holy Roman Empire and, for 600 years, it was the site for the coronation of German kings and queens.

On the right is a picture of the back-side of the cathedral as I first saw it, coming up through the town.

Below is the Aachener Dom, from one of the upper windows of the Aachen Stadhuis.

The cathedral has a complex floor plan because various additional towers and additions were added at different times.  It makes for an interesting picture.  Here you can see the floor plan for the cathedral and you can see the multiple additions throughout.  The darker section, the main circular section, is the original part of the cathedral, built around the octagonal central section which Charlemagne found significant (there is more about the importance of the octagon in this brief video here).

There is a little statue of the church in the courtyard, which gives a little better view of the church from an aerial view.

  

When I arrived, I was about 15 minutes late for the only English language tour of the church offered and I wasn't confident enough in my understanding of German to pay the money to go around with a German tour. Since you weren't allowed to go into the church without a tour, I didn't get a chance to see the interior.  However, you can see some pictures from the interior (which is very beautiful), here and here.

The exterior walls were covered with filigree and statutes of saints.  There was also a statute of a man in the inside courtyard of the church.  I don't know who he was.

One of the turret doors into the cathedral.

This is a steeple in the front yard of the Dom.

If you watch this, you can see St. Foillan's and the backside of the Cathedral.  You can also hear some very beautiful violin music that was being played in the alleyways between the churches.

The Aachener Dom, from one of the upper windows of the Aachen Stadhuis.  The tower on the left is St. Foillan, the Scottish Missionary church.  

This is the first of a two part series about the Aachen Cathedral.  It is about 15 minutes long  and talks about the church and the history of the city.  It is pretty interesting.


This is the second video of the two.  It is about 5 minutes long.

Aachener Weihnacht Markt (Aachen Christmas Market)

Walter's return from Germany, and his reports of the fun time he had there, reminded me of how much I enjoyed the Christmas markets in Prague.  So, in the spirit of the holiday, because I am writing about Aachen (even though I wasn't there during the Christmas season) I thought that I would share some pictures I found of the market, which is located in the Katschhof, the large plaza between the Dom and the Stadhuis.

If you go here and here, you can see some photo albums from different fairs.  Here you can see an interesting  blog post about visiting the market.  Here you can find the official website for the market.  And, if you go here, you can see an official Christmas Market website that talks all about the different German Christmas markets.  If you scroll down a ways, you will find a video of the market which includes a little history of the market and a couple of really interesting bits about popular cookies and candies at the market.