Weekend trip with the family

My son Max and girlfriend Caitlin deserved to take a little break. They’ve been with their noses in schoolbooks since Christmas, so it was high time to save them from going completely mad and take them away for a few days. But where could we go: Somewhere in Belgium, in Holland or in Germany….Or… why not do all three?! Off we go: starting with Aachen in Germany

The sun is shining and we take a little break at the kids their preferred ‘Starbucks’.

After a bit more than 2 hours, we arrive in Aachen, Germany. Aachen is known as ‘the city of Charlemagne’, ‘, ‘Aken’ in Dutch, Aix-la Chapelle’ in French and ‘Oochen’ in Luxembourgish. With no doubt Aachen is the perfect place for anyone interested in Europe’s history. If you know a bit about the history of Germany, you must be aware that Aachen is mostly known for ‘Charlemagne’ – the father of Europe. We are all enjoying the first sunshine of the year, strolling around the old town, full of narrow streets, small shops and unique looking cafés and patisseries. Food everywhere somehow always makes me hungry.

Speaking about food, my mother smells her childhood food, so we decided to go and taste a bit of sausage and leberkase in das ‘Aachener Brauhaus’. Everything sounds so delicious: Sauerbraten mit Knoedel, Leberkaese mit Kartoffelsalat and of course Schnitzel. Not to forget the Apfelstrudel….We are in heaven!

Since the Aachen Cathedral is one of the highlights of Aachen it cannot be missed. This stunning cathedral built in 813 represents the rule of Emperor Charlemagne, one of Europe’s most effective rulers who united Western and Central Europe. During his rule in the 8th century, Aachen became the capital of his empire, simply as it was his favorite. Following this period, numerous German emperors and kings were crowned at the Aachen Cathedral. However, the city declined after Frankfurt am Main took the place of Aachen as the crowning city. Charlemagne was buried here in 814 and you can still view his grave.

The absolute highlights of the Dom include the Barbarossa Chandelier, as well as plenty of incredible mosaics (in total, over 32 million stones were made to create the intricate mosaics!). All in all, the cathedral at Aachen is easily one of the most beautiful cathedrals in Europe, if not the entire world… It is hard to imagine that, during WW2, Aachen was almost completely destroyed. On the other hand, this was also the first German city, which was captured by the allies.

We have spent a perfect day in Aachen and that is why we were sorry we needed to leave it so quickly. We returned to the car with bags full of Leberkase, Weisswurst, Susser Senf and Printen.

Last but not least, if you really want to impress locals, make sure to learn the Aachen greeting. All you have to do is wave with your pinkie up in the air. The greeting came from the Aachen industry, where they once produced sewing needles, which were sold all over the world. Because the sewing needles were small, they used children to remove the bad ones from the good ones. To do that, they used their little fingers and that is where, the Aachen greeting originate from..

Family weekend in Rolduc Abbey for a visit to Aachen and Maastricht.

As people know, I love unique places to stay. After coming across Abdij Rolduc (Abbey Rolduc), I knew that I wanted to surprise the family with a stay at this impressive abbey, which is the largest abbey in the Benelux region. And I must say that I was pretty curious myself…

Here is a bit of history about Abdij Rolduc. The abbey dates back to 1104 when it was founded when a Dutch clergyman (Albertus of Antoing) and his brothers left the monastery of Tournai. They ended up in modern-day Limburg (a Southern province of the Netherlands) and decided to start a church in 1106. What is now the crypt of the church can be still visited today and you can spy the (possible) remains of Ailbertus within the sarcophagus. The church surrounding it has been renewed a number of times. Later on, the church was built upon and many of the canons became pastors in the surrounding areas. The abbey was not afraid to show its political influence and one of the abbots even convinced Limburg to join the United Dutch States.

The abbot was abolished by the French and the building was briefly abandoned prior to being turned into a property used for coal mining. Starting in the 1800s, the abbey was turned into a Catholic boarding school. Finally, in the post-war period, the abbey was used by monks as a seminary. In recent years, parts of the abbey have been turned into a hotel, where you can stay overnight! So, hence our stay 🙂

One of the highlights of staying at Rolduc Was definitively the Rococo library. The library can only be visited by a guide. But it comes highly recommended. The chapel itself is incredibly impressive and I can honestly say that I spent about thirty minutes just admiring the interior.

With a keepsake crate of beer produced by the monks and some selfmade honey, we went on our way to Maastricht. Unfortunately both Maastricht and Valkenburg were closed off due to the Carnival frenzy. But we ended up savouring ‘high tea’ at the Castle of Ehrenstein and that quite lovely.

It was a lovely weekend with the family. Hopefully next time we will have the chance to visit Maastricht, do some skiing in Landgraaf or visit the Gaia zoo. Because, life is not about what we have. But it is not about what we have in our life, but is is about who we have in it. And at the end of the day, all that really matters is that your loved ones are well, that you have done your best and are thankful for all that you have…