Trier to Aachen and Back

Today was the drive to Aachen to see the Dom where Charlemagne's remains are kept. Construction on the cathedral was completed in the early 800s. Aachen is old. This is where 30 some odd kings have been crowned.
Note the gargoyles in profile.



The first gold object is the altar. The second gold box farther back is the box with relics. The box is opened every 7 years and the contents displayed for the pilgrims. The next opening is in June 2014. There are more pictures but the force of the internet is weak and I've given up on loading them.

See the lumps out there in the cow pasture? Those are called Dragon's Teeth. The Germans put them out there to stop the tanks during WWII. It was part of the Seigfried line, just inside the German border. It was a defensive line put in place to try to stop the Allies as they came across Germany. It worked about as well as the Maginot Line worked for France.

Oy. Long day in the car. It's 96 miles, but it took 3 hours up and 4 hours back. Today we discovered that the Renault GPS only has maps for Germany, which is just incredibly stupid and annoying given that Germany is surrounded by 9 countries and has very irregular borders. We came back through Belgium today and the screen looked like we'd fallen off the edge of the world. We still want to go to Luxembourg, but will probably have to get a map with more detail since we'll be doing nav the old fashioned way.