2008 letter about visit to Aachen, Germany, continued: The Cathedral is amazing. In the 800’s, Charlemagne built an octagonal cathedral. It is still there and still beautiful. You step down onto the original floor and the original church is intact. In later centuries, a building was built around the original octagon to make it bigger. The decoration is spectacular. There is a 15th century bas-relief in the nave – and a 12th century candelabra of gold made to celebrate the coronation of Frederick Barbarossa in 1125. The 9th century doors have been taken away for some reason, and we didn’t get to see Charlemagne’s throne or the side chapels which were closed, because they only allow tourists in with a guide. Neither of us felt like touring the cathedral with a German speaking guide!
We did return to the City Hall to see the room where the powers that be greet distinguished visitors. The room is white and gold and gorgeous. Then we went upstairs to the enormous coronation room. Very Gothic with white paint between the stone pieces that hold up the ceiling. And very nice flowers and other decorations on the white. When we left, we asked when those panels were painted and were told 1951, after the repairs were made to the building after the war. The stained glass in the Cathedral, too, dates from after World War II. But they are still works of art. It’s just that we know when they were designed and who did them!
After lunch, we walked around again. In our wanderings, we saw a beautiful old church. We walked in and found it has been taken over by a Greek Orthodox congregation. We walked through just to see the way it was decorated. Then we continued until we found a shopping street that we had been on in 2002. Ron remembered that there had been a Woolworth store there – long after those stores had disappeared everywhere else – and we looked for it. Of course it is gone now too – but Ron took a picture of the stores that he thought were the replacements for it, and he found a picture showing the same rocks and the same markings on the ground.
Aachen is a very nice little city. There’s a very small area that is old. We’re amazed that anything survived the beating the city took in 1945 when it was the first German city to be occupied! We enjoyed our day there. Now we’re debating our next stop. You’ll find out in our next letter.