No1 was up early and on a mission for Sunday breakfast. We jumped in the car and headed for Belgium….2 mins away….we were headed for Little Turkey where they have the best freshly baked bread for breakfast. Little Turkey was fab, in the one shop I could have bought Halal meat for the BBQ, a new burqha, a tangine to cook on, a new Persian style carpet and any wondrous jar or can of weird and wonderful foodstuffs….Rosie could have wandered around there all day.
The Belgians come to Holland for cheaper groceries, the Dutch go to Belgium for cheaper petrol and cigarettes. The Germans come to Holland to buy there Marijuana which is illegal in Germany. This is a lesson in how the EU harmoniously co exists and supports each other.
We all had a wonderful family breakfast in the garden of 4 different styles of bread, just as many choices of sliced meats and cheese plus chocolate and fruity hale if you wanted something a little sweeter, and the best coffee ever. It was the most excellent start to the day.
Teenboy is studying to become a carpenter and his college was having an open day to show the parents and prospective applicants what it is all about. We went along for a looksey and No1 and Aurora were so proud. Teengirl was too busy checking out the lads on the course, or Rosie should say, they were too busy checking out her….
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Teengirl has to study for her exams so we dropped her off at home and headed for Germany where we going to visit Aachen. It was starting to get hot, 24c on the mercury we got a great carpark in a parking building right next to the old town square. Check it out, ladies only parking! They are the closest parks to the door to make woman feel safer in the big scary parking building….great for us, there were two woman in the car and not far to walk.
We rounded a corner and there in a small square surrounded on all sides by medieval houses was the Aachen Basilica. You needed to stand back with your back nearly against the wall of the houses to see it in all its glory, it looked too big for the space it occupied but it was majestic. Hints of it were to be seen between the trees growing in the square, there was no way you could look at it in its entirety.
The square was swarming with people…a flea market was in full swing selling the most amazing vintage things, clothing, china, religious icons, ancient metal chandeliers and antique everyday equipment, coloured glass and jewellery…Rosie was in heaven. Shame she only had a suitcase….if we were driving home, the car boot would have been full.
The Basilica was built in 796 under the direction of Charlemagne Emperor of basically everywhere in Europe at the time, he in turn is buried in a golden casket inside the cathedral, they are very old bones alright.
The inside seems quite small compared with how big it is outside…it is ornate and plush with marble walls and floors, huge chandeliers and stained glass windows. For 600 years this Basilica was the site for the coronation of the German Kings and Queens.
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We wandered up the street to the square in front of the city hall, a huge open plan area surrounded on all sides by cafes and bars. It was lunchtime and we found a place in the shade and watched the people, absorbing the impressiveness of the huge hall built in 1330 and had a great lunch! Aurora introduced Rosie to a local wheat beer…it was not bad.
We then collected TeenGirl and TeenBoy from home and went to Maastrict for a late afternoon stroll. Maastrict sits on the banks of the river Maas and is the biggest town in Limburg, it is full of lanes to wander that lead to squares which were full of people enjoying the sun and people watching from the terraces with a beer or coffee.
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In front of the church a sideshow was set up, screaming rides and blaring sideshow music rang out. It was a pretty high class show with plenty crammed into a small area, we skirted the swirling rides and found a nice terrace ourselves to while away the evening sun and watch the people come and go.
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As promised No1 had taken us into Belgium 3 times, Germany once and Holland multiple times…well done No1. Even though the radius of our journey was no more than a 40 km, very clever.
It was a big day of wandering, looking, eating and drinking…..we all drove home and settled into No1s and Auroras garden for abit more of the same. It dosent get dark here till about 9.45 so we had plenty of time for some more of the above. It was Rosie and The Operators last night in Holland and we talked till late. Rosie and The Operator have made new friends and cant wait to meet up with No1 and Aurora again in France towards the end of their holiday.
Tomorrow we say good bye and head into Germany proper, Rosie had better start brushing up on her German…..
