On the road again. I had only just gotten back from my stay in Rotterdam when it was time to set off for yet another reception weekend, this time in Aachen. Aachen is in the very western part of Germany, right at the borders of the Netherlands and Belgium, it was also the seat of the Holy Roman Empire for generations, and home of Charlemagne, AKA Karl der Grosse, (Karl the Great) But for me, Aachen was host to a Wild West Weekend. Germans have a really strange fascination with a fictional Wild West in the United States, grounded in the writings of one Karl May. Mr. May managed to churn out more than 60 novels about the Wild West in the latter half of the 19th century without once visiting it. Still, he has sold more than 100 million copies of his writings the world over, and has been translated into 30 languages. Versions of his stories still appear as movies and comics today, in fact I pass posters for a new movie spoofing his characters on the way to work every morning. So this weekend we camped just outside of the city, ate chilli from giant pots and, best of all, rode a mechanical bull. This thing was amazing, it had a huge air cushion spilling out around it, and a sunburned man in his late 20s operating the bull from a console several metres away. The bull was nearly life size, and span and bucked in a frenzy at it's owners command. The best of us could only make it to level seven on the difficulty scale, and only if one was willing to take some significant bruising. However, the owner soon stepped out from his console to show us a thing or two, taking the bull up to level nine where it essentially spins in circles at a ridiculous speed. He had his legs wrapped around the bull's head and was lying horizontal on it's back, being whipped about like a discuss shortly before launch before he finally let go.
Our activities weren't limited to bull riding though. The organizers had also worked out a walking tour to the drei lander punt (three country point) where the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany converge. You can actually walk from Aachen, up a hill and be in the Netherlands, it's pretty crazy. And of course there's a park and tourist area set up around the actual three country point, so that you can take pictures of yourself standing in two and possibly three (twister style) countries at once. You don't see that every day.
On our final day there, we also go the chance to go into the city which was the main reason I had gone. Michelle had also come to the weekend, and we went to visit Charlemagne's cathedral which is really something amazing. The interior is really different from anywhere else I've been in Germany, it has a Byzantine style which Charlemagne was apparently fond of, and thus is covered with ornate mosaics and a curvaceous interior. It also has a gorgeous stained glass collection.
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