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Published: July 23rd 2009
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It looks like changeable weather doesn't just exist in the UK. After enjoying a good nights sleep on a real bed after our hectic first day on the continent where we had gorgeous sunshine, we arose to rain belting down out of the sky. Looking out of the window at torrential rain dampened our sprits just a bit. Thomas had gathered the ingredients for an amazing continental breakfast with lots of
brotchen (bread rolls), smoked ham and
kase (cheese). The rain had stopped and sun was shining down on us. Great. We'll walk up to the hill above Thomas' place to the revolving restaurant and see if we can get some pictures. We started out and quickly removed our jumpers, as the blazing sun was quite warm. The hillside was covered with trees and someone a couple of years ago had made an art installation that intertwined through the trees. It looked quite delicate and Thomas mentioned that the weather wasn't treating it so well especially with the snowfall they'd had last winter. The revolving restaurant was open so we brazenly walked in and out to the terrace surrounding it looking like we belonged there. The previous evening we'd spotted some
flashing lights coming from the hill and it turned out that parties and discos were being held in the restaurant of an evening. We found a couple of posters and the cost for admission was 8 euros.
We started down the hill towards the city and passed the place where, a couple of years earlier, I'd made my first ice-man. Shortly after we found a statue, which depicts the way, the canny Aacheners deceived the devil twice. The legend goes that some days earlier the people of Aachen had tricked the devil into helping them build the
Dom (cathedral) for free and the devil was still smarting. He'd gone away and thought of a plan to take his revenge on the city. He gathered some soil into a large sack and was making his way back to the city to bury it. The Aacheners had been celebrating their new Dom with lots of dancing and feasting and a farmers wife, after several days of dancing, was making her way back to her farm which lay not far from the city. She walked up to path and came upon the devil resting. The devil was not sure how far away
Aachen lay and asked the farmer’s wife if it was far. The lady noticed his cloven hooves and realising who he was she told him that she'd come from there. She told him to look at her shoes, they had holes in them and they were new when she set out, which meant Aachen was still quite a long way to go. The devil was fatigued from carrying all the dirt and decided that it was just too far to go so dumped his dirt out where he was. The hill we had just climbed was supposed to be where this dirt had been put.
This Sunday a flea market had been set up around the town centre. Stalls from both professionals and locals sold both handicrafts and a lot of antiques. It looked like anything that was surplus was being sold. As we wandered around we heard a great thunderous roar and the heavens opened. It went in moments from being a bright sunny day to torrential downpour. We joined the mass of people running for the Dom for shelter. Once inside we decided to take a look around. We noticed a statue of wolf near the entrance
and thinking this was a strange sort of thing asked Thomas to explain what was going on. Thomas smiled and explained how the Aacheners had first cheated the devil. When the town had needed money to finish their cathedral (Dom) they acquired a mysterious benefactor. Noticing his cloven hooves they realised who they were dealing with and agreed that he could have the first soul to enter the cathedral. When the Dom was finished they released a wolf into the building and the devil quickly took his dues. He realised however that he'd been cheated and flew into a rage slamming the door on his way out. The statue of the wolf has a hole in its chest representing where the soul had been taken from.
A quick tour of the Dom revealed an ongoing process of cleaning and restoration work, which showed the glided mosaics glittering where they'd been cleaned. Also in the Dom we saw
Charlemagne’s throne and the casket containing his bones. Another casket intrigued us and Thomas explained that it contained some holy relics, which were Christ's nappies and one of Mary's dresses. Amazing that someone had the presence of mind to keep the nappies
for future generations to admire. We looked through the door and noticed that the rain has passed.
We ventured back outside and decided to get some
Printen for Dave's work colleagues. Printen are gingerbread made with some crunchy sugar pieces either plain or coated with icing or chocolate. That done we decided to head back via the bakery and get on the road again.
Once again, gorgeous sunshine turned to torrential rain and I started getting nervous about camping that evening. At some points we had to slow down because we couldn't see the car in front of us anymore. We entered Belgium and noticed that the flatness we'd experienced in the northwest became rolling hills as we made our way to the southeast. The plan was to get to
Han-sur-Lesse and take a tour through the caves. We had made quite a late exit from Aachen and weren't sure if we'd get there before closing. As it was we made it in time to take the last tour of
The Domain of the Grottoes of Han. These caves were pretty awesome and the train ride to the site was cool. We took some pictures of the more
noteworthy structures and then (after 2km of walking) came time to exit. We were treated to the sound of a cannon being fired just to show us what the acoustics of the cavern system were. Apparently it's tradition. Thankfully they didn't do it further in where there was evidence of rock falls. The guidebook said you got a short boat tour at the end but we found they had put bridges in and so we missed out. This was a bit of a disappointment as it was the reason we wanted to go in the first place.
Back in the village of Han we decided to push on towards Luxembourg but it was around 6:30pm so we figured we'd see how far we could get before we had to stop for the evening. We made it to
Bastogne and found a campsite on the outside of town. We quickly set up the tent in case of sudden downpours but we were disappointed as the evening stay fine. We made up a meal of
brotchen, kase and schinken (bread, cheese and ham) and got together a couple of glasses of red wine. Dave looked a bit sheepish and said he
had to make a confession. At this point I started to get worried. He was obviously winding me up though because he said it was nothing bad but he'd been in contact with my parents. I was confused...
then he asked me to marry him. Shock doesn’t even begin to describe it as I thought it might happen around Christmas time when we were in Australia. Of course I had to say
Yes. He pulled out a ring of white-gold and tiny diamonds which we then realised didn't quite fit. We'll get it resized back in Reading. Next of course, Dave pulled out the emails he'd been exchanging with my parents and I got to see how he'd asked my parents permission. Very sweet. Anyway, day of surprises - night.
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Simone
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congratulations!!!!!!!!
CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!! Weve got something to celebrate this week!!!!!!!!! See you soon! x