The Romanesque arches inside the Palace Chapel portion of Aachen Cathedral.
October 3
What a difference a day makes. The day before, the weather was clear and I was healthy. Today, I awoke with a cold in my nose/throat and overcast conditions outside. In fact, it was so foggy that I couldn’t see Cologne Cathedral’s spires (as I could the night before). To make matters more interesting, we had planned to undertake quite a bit of traveling that day. But, I had traveled with colds before and was familiar with the routine. So, I took a couple of Sudafeds and headed downstairs.
We ate breakfast at the Hotel Lint’s dining room. While the breakfast buffet wasn’t as extravagant as that at the Radisson in Lubeck, it had more than enough choices to make for a satisfying breakfast. With our stomachs full, we went off to the Cathedral. We had seen the exterior, and now wanted to get a look inside. Between wandering around ourselves, taking a guided tour, and viewing a movie at the visitor center, we spent about two hours at the Cathedral.
Having temporarily satiated our thirst for exploring the Cathedral, we walked over to the train station and bought round trip tickets to Aachen. Shortly after purchasing our tickets, we were taking the one hour train ride to Aachen. I was looking forward to a quick trip to Aachen’s Cathedral and then back to Cologne. However, the train station wasn’t as close to the town’s main attractions as the stations in Lubeck or Cologne were. It was a ten minute walk (and we walk quickly) to the Cathedral. Dianne expressed some concern that we might get lost along the way. But, the path to the Cathedral is well posted. And, once you get close to it, it’s hard to miss the building that towers over all other buildings around it.
We spent about an hour touring Aachen Cathedral. By this time, it was almost 2 p.m., and it was time to eat. Given that our colds had suppressed our appetites, we weren’t in the mood for a full restaurant meal. Instead, we walked to the east of the Cathedral and stopped at one of the café/bakeries that were nestled in the Cathedral’s shadow. While Dianne stocked up on printen (a variation of a gingerbread cookie), I noticed that they had an apple cake that looked delicious. I thought that a slice of that cake and some hot chocolate would be perfect. However, in another bout of “German-ness”, the clerk indicated that she couldn’t sell a slice. She could only sell half of the cake, or the entire cake. Given that choice, I bought half the cake for €1.88. Fortunately, it was very good and filled me up perfectly (I even had some left over for an evening desert).
With our stomachs again pleasantly full, we trained back to Cologne. Before leaving Cologne’s train station, we purchased seat reservations for the following day’s train trip back to Mannheim. For €3/seat, we knew it was money well spent. With seats now guaranteed, we went back to Cologne Cathedral for another round of sightseeing.
After a short time in the Cathedral, we decided that it would be prudent to eat dinner at a reasonable hour (instead of the 10 p.m. of the previous night) and get to bed early in order to rest our colds. So, we set off in search of a restaurant. Fortunately, we had to go to the Hard Rock Café in order to pick up some souvenirs. The walk to the Hard Rock provided an excellent opportunity for scouting out some restaurants along the way. And, sure enough, we found one that looked promising. After finishing our shopping at the Hard Rock, we headed back to our discovery: El Chango Argentine Restaurant at 9 Bolzengasse. Dianne was salivating at the thought of eating authentic Argentine barbeque. I was a little more skeptical…I mean, how authentic could Argentine food be in Germany. But, thanks to the fact that it’s owned by Argentines who immigrated to Germany, it turned out to be fantastic. Dianne had grilled pork chops which were very tender. I had sausage, which was barbequed to perfection. Both dishes cost about €10 each (although most items on the menu were slightly more expensive). Best of all, we found out that the restaurant is owned by an “M. Lima.” No, he’s not a relative of mine. He’s not even a namesake (his name was Marcello Lima). But, the fact that we found a great Argentine restaurant in the heart of Cologne that was owned by someone whose last name is the same as mine was another reminder of just how small our world has become.
With our stomachs again full and our bodies ravaged by colds, we trudged back to the Lint Hotel and climbed into bed in order to get some major rest before the next day’s travels.
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