Day trip to Aachen, Germany

We set off on a day trip to Aachen in Germany, it was

kind of unplanned but based on info from some friends who

went there the week before. Travelling there was really

easy and straight-forward, we just had to take a bus from

the stop outside our guesthouse to the central station and

then change another bus that went direct to Aachen. 

A single day pass cost 4 euros and would allow us to travel as

many times as we wanted. In total the trip took around

1 and a half hours, we set of at 10.30 and reached there 

around 12 noon.

Heres the bus-stop we got down from, you'll be able

to observe some similarities between the architecture in 

germany and holland as you view the other pictures.

Our first stop was lunch at a thai restaurant called

"Shokuthai". There werent any economical eating places

nearby so we decided to try this one out...

The food was good, we ordered 3 dishes - Sweet & Sour

Fish, Turkey(seriously tasted like chicken but costs 20cents more)

and tofu with leeks & onions. We ordered tom yum soup

too just to try it out and it was pretty spicy. All of us were

really craving for rice and we had like 2-3 servings each, the

best part was that at the end of our lunch we found out that

the rice was free-flow! We're so going to come back here again haha,

the entire meal came up to around 8 euros per person but it was

way cheaper than the other eateries nearby.

This is the visitor's centre, unfortunately for us it was

closed and we were not able to get any extra info. 

Fortunately, we had some places in mind to visit and we decided

to go according as planned...

A view of the streets, basically it looks pretty similar

to that of holland's, but the buildings are more squarish

and regular. It was also slightly colder than in Maastricht,

with temperatures from 0 to maybe -2 or -3.

1st stop: towards DOM, the most famous cathedral in

Aachen and one of the must-see buildings here

I took a shot of the spires by zooming in before we were near,

it always amazes me how people design & build these magnificent

structures. Each one is unique and to really appreciate it you have

to be here to see it for yourself =)

Check out the details on the arc and the windows, they're so

intricate and to think that this has been here since

the 8th century!

More architecture shots (cos i like the architecture alot)

Click to zoom in on the details and just imagine how

long it must have took the masters to chip and carve

the stone into those figures

Here's a model of the entire Aachen cathedral

or "imperial cathedral". Its the oldest cathedral in 

northern europe and contains important shrines and relics.

The stained glass inside the cathedral as well as the

shrine of the virgin mary (the golden chests below)

Just to show you the height of the cathedral &

 the Barbarossa chandelier.

Starbucks seems to be quite crowded here, but

we didnt go in cos it'll probaby cost like twice the

price in singapore...

Another church in the area, just beside the marketplace.

In europe, marketplaces are busy streets/squares where

people usually hang around to trade/shop/makan

or just stone (like the many statues you see there)

Here's another fountain (again not working, i dunno why

we're so suay the water doesnt seem to flow leh)

Next stop: Carolus Thermen, a hot water spa and

relaxation resort...

But we first had to walk past the casino, so here's a

shot of the lawn in front of the casino with all the ducks

and finally a working fountain (yay!) 

It was a pity we couldn't snap any pictures of us feeding

the ducks cos we onli brought chocolate chip cookies and

apparently its not their fav food... 

Botak trees, but nonetheless a really nice shot.

can't wait till spring comes! then it'll be less cold

and we can do away with the jackets & gloves

Alright! here's the indoor pool, looks nice right?

Unfortunately for us, it was V'Day and the place was

swarming with couples who were literally planning

on a "hot" date... the warm water looked so tempting!

We struggled with the decision whether to go for it or not,

but in the end gave up the idea cos it was way too crowded,

kinda wierd for us 4 guys (+ one girl) to camp at one corner 

and watch the other couples in the pool right??

sianz so we abandoned the hope of taking a shiok swim in this

cold weather (maybe we might come back some other time)

Heres the outdoor pool (just the top of it where the water

runs from the white structure all the way to the waterfall and

into the pool area)

Well, plans always change so we decided to check out the

casino (to have a look onli though). On the way we saw

kids playing with their gravity powered go-karts =)

looked really fun and brought back memories too (we had

something called a "speed racer", a swing left and right

go-kart)

Some garden we walked past on the way to the casino

i like the tree on the extreme right of the photo

Ok, so we reached the casino... only to find out that

there is a dress code, no boots, sport shoes and we must

wear shirts and pants(no jeans allowed too).

It was a letdown but then again, i wasnt that keen to go in 

anyway so haha no harm done

More little fountains outside the pool, there were quite a few

expensive cars to the left of this photo which explains the dress

code part... couldnt let us go in there, we looked too "sum seng" 

already haha

Expensive restaurant anyone? well sometimes when you can't

afford it, it still pays to take a photo and go back and hope that

some day you'll be inside there having a nice meal

Lastly, guowei and one of his dream cars, the Audi R8

(he has plenty of dream cars so this is one of the low end ones)

I'm not that of a car lover, but you've gotta admit:

4 doors good, 2 doors better! (Sweet~ this costs S$500k btw)

Well, it was a pretty good trip, even though we couldnt go for the 

hot swim (it would have been so shoik... hiaz) but anyway the

household goods here like shower gel and shampoo were cheaper than

those u find in maastricht so we stocked up on those... pretty worth it 

for a $4 ticket there... imagine going to the zoo costs like twice the price

Next up is London! 18th Feb - 28th Feb, looking forward to it haha

will be meeting up with Rev Lim, Benedict & Chuan Wei