Cathedrals Everywhere

Palatine Chapel

Wow. Europe is gorgeous. In the past week we have traveled quite a bit more, and there are so many more places left to go! On Friday we got to travel to Aachen, a town not far from here, near the border with Belgium. First of all, Aachen embodied so much of the old German architecture that I was craving to see. It is an incredibly old town, which has had human activity around it as long ago as 3000-2500 BC.

 Eventually, Charlemagne became fond of the city, and brought forth the building of the Palatine Chapel. Now, many relics reside there. Coming into this trip, I admittedly didn't know much at all about Charlemagne, but found myself incredibly interested in the story by the end of the tour.

Unrelated to any of the history aspect, we encountered a really weird restaurant while there. The name sounded cool so we gave it a shot. By the time our food was delivered, we had about five minutes to get back with the group. So we scarfed down our food, threw the money on the table, and ran. Those were by far the strangest burgers we have ever had. Mine, in particular, was a beet and potato burger with peanut butter and bananas on it. It sounds absolutely disgusting and honestly, I have no idea why, but it worked. It was amazing.

Then, just today, we went to Cologne. This was my first time going to Cologne, and it was jaw dropping. After getting off of the train we immediately saw the Cathedral from the station. It was hard to fathom just how huge it was, and how intricate every detail was. 

Gothic architecture was always a favorite of mine, but this place just took it to a new level, I really have no words, I encourage everyone to see it in their lifetime at some point.

We got to do a rooftop tour, which was fantastic. It was actually a little scary at some points, but completely worth it. Getting to walk around in the ceiling and along the edges of the roof was absolutely incredible. I'll certainly be back soon to climb up one of the spires, I have to work off the tons of food I've been eating lately anyway.

With all of the cool stuff around it can be hard to focus on school, but unfortunately that's where my attention has to go for tonight. Regardless, the school here is one hundred times more fun than being locked up in the Annex 24/7.