Aachen, Ancient City of Kings

The last full day we had in Germany was a John's Pick Day, since he had come with us to the Steiff factory.  He picked the city of Aachen, which is very historically significant because it was not only a favorite of Charlamagne's, but it was also the coronation city of kings of Germany.  In Roman times people took advantages of the springs there, and in the middle ages Aachen became a royal city.  The main attraction is a huge cathedral, which has been built over many centuries and therefore looks like a hodgepodge of architectural ideas.  It also houses the remains of Charlemagne and his throne.  The rest of the city has some interesting history too, but we didn't get to see much of it, as I shall explain later.



It was nice to not get up at the crack of dawn for once.  Previously I had been up early either on planes, getting ready to go on planes, or to board some trains.  We did indeed board a train this day, but the morning had a much more leisurly feel.  Although Aachen was not the city I immediately thought of when thinking about "cool cities to visit!" after learning a bit about the history I was excited to see this big important cathedral and the ancient city.  Plus, you know, Charlamagne's an important guy so it's cool to see his stuff.  When we got to Aachen the weather was quite nasty; cold, sleeting, and grey.  We had to find our way around the city somewhat blindly.  None of us had ever been there before, but luckily there are a lot of tourists and also a lot of tourist information.   When we did find the cathedral it was very large, Gothic, and impressive.  Around the outside was another Weinachtmarkt, the Christmas market, and so I headed for some gluwein to warm me up.  I was also quite hungry, so I feasted on a potato pancake (which came with applesauce, oddly enough) and gluwein.  I paid a few extra euro for a deposit on the mug.  It began to sleet and rain in earnest, so I downed my potato pancake and ran with Dad and John for the inside of the cathedral.  I rather forgot that I had the mug still and when I got inside Dad advised me to down the drink so that I wouldn't get in trouble for having it inside.  I did, and stashed the mug safely in the bag.  We milled around the inside of the cathedral's entrance and main hall area for a while, admiring the colorful mosaics and ornate saint boxes.  John went to see if he could find information about getting a tour.  It turns out that tours can only be booked several days in advance (especially English ones) and there is a minimum number of 10 people per tour.  Uh oh.  So we didn't get the tour, but later we saw a photo of the throne of Charlemagne and...it was a wooden chair that looked like an ancient toilet.

\

After we left the cathedral we browsed the Christmas market a bit and then headed back through the city towards the train station.  The sleet had stopped, but it was still pretty cold.  Especially for someone who had been acclimated to Africa for the past four and half months!  We passed a lot of gorgeous shop window displays with holiday themes, exciting fountains, and big posters for Steiff bears.  We also got a little lost in the dark.  When we did make it back to the station I was very, very grateful to get on the warm train back to our apartment in Dusseldorf.  

 A few days earlier we had seen a wooden music box nativity at one of the Dusseldorf Weinachtmarkts that we thought would be just perfect as a Christmas gift for mumsey.  Now we were determined to try and find it again because we wouldn't have another chance before leaving for the US.  The entailed the three of us running around Dusseldorf at night, in the frigid weather, getting more and more frustrated.  Eventually Dad's German insticts lead us to the right place and we were so relieved!  Music box, purchased!  Then it was time for a celebratory last dinner in the Altstadt, and Dad took us to one of his favorite haunts.  Unfortunately our friend Ollie was locked up in a business meeting and couldn't join us :(  But we did have a great dinner and some quality drinks!  I was quite tired by this point, and ready to sink into my comfy bed.  It was going to be another extremely early morning.

The Promise Land: Steiff

The next day we got up early- before the sun was up- in order to make the long trek across Germany to Giengen where the Steiff factory has been located since it was founded by a young woman named Margarete Steiff in 1880.  If you aren't familiar with this company check out their US website here.  Since I've been collecting Steiff my whole life it is literally the promise land.  Dad's friend John was very good natured about being dragged on an all day trip to a toy factory.  We started out
the journey with some (haha) Starbuck's coffee in order to fortify us.  What followed was many hours on trains, changing trains, and also some train stations.  We saw a lot of the countryside, which I liked because it was a good way to soak in the country during my brief visit.  The precise schedule of the German train system became very apparent when our train came into the platform a minute or two late and we consequently missed our connecting train to Giengen.  So we killed some time in the station and waited for the train that would take us on the last leg of the journey.  It finally came, right on time, and I was going mad with anticipation.  Giengen is a cute little town, almost entirely based around the Steiff factory and the historical aspect of the life of Margarete Steiff, who is the local hero.  We got off the train and immediately saw signs pointing us towards the factory.  In addition there were giant bear pawprints on the sidewalk to guide us.  It would have been a real feat to get lost.  As we walked we passed a Marklin store, but for some reason Pappy didn't go in for a peak.  Marklin trains are his Steiff.

The factory, when we arrived after a short walk, was just like in all the photos I oggled.  It was glorious!  The white building is the 'klinik" where Steiff go to be fixed, and the glass and round buildings are part of the museum tour.

The big glass building was the original factory, but has since been retired.  When we walked inside the museum we were immediately greeted by a display of a wintery tree, giant Steiff bears, and a profusion of Steiff squirrels.  On the other side was the (!) store (!).  We power browsed through it before purchasing our tickets for the museum tour.  John decided to come along with us, but I suspect he may have regretted his decision when it began and became obvious that it was designed for young children.  Pappy and I found it amusing, and I put up with the kitschy stuff because the displays, layouts, and magnitude of Steiff animals was magnificent!  In one area there were studio sized animals, which are huge Steiff that are rideable, and I went around and sat on the giant elephants, polar bears, and caribou.  There were all kinds of giant animals.  Like a wonderful petting zoo.

There was event a snake slide that led to the floor below!  I slid down it twice!  The floor below (also reachable by staircase and elevator) had all the historical animals in glass cases.  Also very fascinating and wonderful.  This then led back into the (!) store (!).  Pappy and I spent a lot more time browsing around while John went off on a self guided tour of the town.  We decided to venture across the street to a cute little shop called Barenburg, which is turned out was started by Margarete's sister and has been selling ever since.  It was packed with all kinds of animals, including vintage Steiff!  The staff were very kind and didn't mind me running around and touching everything.  They only spoke German, so Pappy communicated with them for me.  It was sososososososo hard to make decisions!  In the end, after A LOT of deliberation (let me say that again, A LOT) I ended with two fine canines and a little Christmas fawn.  By that time was dark and had started to snow.  It was a beautiful way to end the shopping experience...well, it was almost ended.  We went back to the factory to buy a teddy bear for my then-not-yet-born nephew.  Since my parents had bought a Steiff bear for me before I was born they thought it would be cute to buy one for the nephew too.  Pappy spent a lot of time selecting the most perfect bear.  I bought a few Steiff critter keychains for myself, my goddaughter, and one of my good friends.  Then we met up with John and headed back to the train station.  It was snowing in earnest by then and we were glad to get onto the train.  It was a long, sleepy journey back, and I kept peeking at my delightful new Steiff critters.  When we finally got back to our little apartment I was quite happy to curl up under my blanket.  I think Pappy and John were too.