Aachen, Germany and Charlemagne's throne

Aachen is only 50 minutes by train from Maastricht. Why not spend a day in Germany? It's another treaty town (War of Austrian Succession) but it's most famous for being the Royal seat of Charlemagne, the great King of the Franks and then about seven centuries of leaders of the Holy Roman Empire. They were all crowned here from the 700s until the 1500s.

A lot of Aachen was destroyed in World War II, but the Rathaus and Cathedral were spared. You can always tell when a city in Europe was bombed in either of the great wars. The streets and sidewalks are wider and there are lots of newer buildings.

We had just enough time to take a tour of the cathedral and the city hall, called the Rathaus. The must-see here is Charlemagne's throne, on the second story of the Aachen Cathedral. It's a simple throne made of reused Roman marble. There's even etchings on the side that Roman soldiers used to play a board game when it was part of a floor in a church in Jerusalem.

The Rathaus was also spectacular. The great room on the second floor is actually where latter kings of the holy Roman empire were crowned.

We had a wonderful German meal of sauerbraten and wienerschnitzel at a cafe nearl the church. It was warm and lots of people were out and about on a sunny Saturday in May.

Aachen is a university town. We walked through the student district on the way back to the West train station. I just love the feel of these mid-size University towns. After about 5 hours of sightseeing, we were back in Maastricht.

More photos and videos are here.
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