Our First Visitor!!

We had our first visitor just 2 weeks after we arrived!  Our friend Tom was leaving London, and we decided it was "now or never" that we get to see each other in Europe.  Luckily, we had gotten a huge bundle of free furniture that week before, so we had our own bed, and had the sofabed all ready for a guest!

It was a good excuse to leave the work behind for a couple of days and check out the town.  We went to the Dreiländer Eck (the 3 land corner) where Germany, Holland and Begium connect.  We toured Lousberg and we visited Heimbach in Eifel National Park.

 Dreiländer Ecke

On the train with Tom

Heimbach, view from the fortress 

Thanks Tom for being our guinea pig visitor.  We didn't even have curtains up for him, and he slept in a sleeping bag!  But we had a great time, and hope to have lots more visitors so that we can get this down to an art!

Suggested Itinerary for a 6 day trip to Aachen:

Day 1 - view Aachen city, have an ice cream by the Dom, see the Dom, Rathaus and beautiful fountains.

Day 2 - visit charming Monshau in Eifel National Park.  (1 hr bus ride)
Day 3 - visit Maastrict and take a tour of the underground tunnel system. (1 hour bus or train ride)
Day 4 - visit the Dreiländer Ecke for a beautiful hike, and ride the elevator up the tower for a view into all three countries
Day 5 - visit Kornelimunster and the museum (check opening times!) it's only open occastionally.
Day 6 - take a nice long hike around Lousberg, which has a beautiful view of the city of Aachen.  Have dinner in Aachen and enjoy the city center one more time.
If you have kids, the South Swimming Pool, Frankenburg Park and the Tierpark in town are also great!

Also visiting Cologne on the way makes for a great stop since the largest cathedral in Germany is right outside the trainstation.  The cathedral is breathtaking.  If Roman history is interesting to you, right next door, there is also a Roman museum.  For a longer day, you can take a boat ride up the Rhine.  You can also take the train across the river and go up the spindal tower for a view of the area.  There is also an expensive but nice zoo there for a full day activity by itself.

Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and London are 3 hour train rides away, if you were interested in seeing more of those cities in the area on the way in or out.