Aachen

We arrived in Aachen late, actually we haven’t entered a destination this late since Bruges. It was getting dark and we had found the Stellplatz we were planning on staying at. We had been rationing water up until we left St Goar, we officially ran out in Koln and bought two bottles of water (and more food) on the way to Aachen. We didn’t do the laundry at our last campsite stop so I was officially out of clothes to wear too. The stellplatz looked more like a campsite but we decided that we shouldn’t pay for one night when it was so late and we didn’t have the time to do everything we needed to. We generally use the campsites to charge our batteries/laptop, wash our clothes, fill up on water and do any dishes we neglected to do…oh and shower. Conveniently, there was a parking lot right next door to the stellplatz so we freecamped. The next morning we decided to visit the tourist office in hopes of finding a campsite with free water, showers and a dump station for our toilet. We learnt that the place we parked next to the night before was the only site and was considered a campsite/stellplatz with a 5 star ADAC rating and was 12 euros per night. The other stellplatz’s up to this point had 80L of water for 1 euro (we only need about 10L so we couldn’t fill up), a place to dump your toilet and electrical hookups. This stellplatz was very convenient. It’s about a 2km walk to the town center; electricity was included in the price, as well as water and a dump station. Hot showers were extra. We spent the morning getting our stuff together and reading about our next destinations. While we were getting ready to head into town, two RV’s from GB pulled up trying to find side by side spots and were thinking of squeezing between our van and the hedge, I walked up to one of the guys and told him that we were leaving later that day, so it wouldn’t be a problem for them to park so close to us. They took our offer happily. The town of Aachen is known for its thermal spa’s. Charlemagne lived here because of it. It was 9.50/person to use the spa for 2.5 hrs, and we decided that money could be spent better elsewhere. They also love their fountains. The first fountain you see is called Elisenbrunnen and smells of rotting eggs (sulfur actually and they say you can drink from it but not the other non-smelling fountains they have). The next fountain we saw is the Geldbrunnen, which represents the circulation of money, and the center drain is jokingly referred to as “the tax man”. After that we strolled along the street next to the mall to come across another fountain, this one called Bahkauv, our personal favorite. The story behind this one is fun too; it’s a monstrous looking mythical creature that apparently jumps on you when you’re stumbling home from the bar late at night demanding a piggy back ride home. The next fountain is located in the Huhnermarkt where you can start to see the town’s dom. The fountain is called Huhnerdiebbrunnen and is a Chicken thief about to be unmasked by a rooster. The second to last fountain we came to visit was Charlemagne. We then walked through the market, stumbled across a wine market, and finally reached our last fountain which consisted of bronze figurines that you could move around. This one is popular with the kids, they managed to make one of the figures pick her nose, and it was pretty funny. Still traveling south on the pedestrian street, we proceeded towards the Dom to see (or touch) the devil’s thumb. It is said that when the Dom was being constructed, money was tight; Lucifer came disguised and offered the town’s people money to help finish the Dom. The town’s people were smart though, and saw through the Devil’s disguise (his hooves gave him away). When the Dom was finished, Lucifer asked for the first soul that entered it. The towns’ people agreed and sent in a wolf, Lucifer in his frustration slammed the door shut, catching his thumb in the door where it still is today. Inside the Dom, you can see a statue of the wolf with a hole in its chest where its soul was ripped out. Behind the altar, in the Dom, you can see where Charlemagne lies (gold casket). There was really nothing else to see here so we made our way back to our van and had a conversation with the two English men from earlier. They gave us plenty of information on camping for cheap around France and England; they also told us to attend a meeting of one of the caravanning clubs in England (once we get there) because we could significantly reduce fees for camp grounds. It was too bad we were leaving, as we would have stayed and had some drinks with them.