On our second day with our friends in Germany, we drove the 30 or so minutes to Aachen, the legendary seat of Charlemagne and where over 30 German kings have had their coronations. Again, it was a place we had studied in our homeschool and we were excited to share this adventure as a family.
The streets were still decorated for the holidays. Strings of Christmas lights connecting all the street light posts.
Our first glimpse of the Aachen Cathedral as we came up the path.
This is our friend's excited face.
Another view of the Aachen Cathedral as we came around the side of it to enter.
The octagonal center of the cathedral.
Some of the stained glass windows with famous Bible stories and people depicted.
Every part of the ceiling was painted, decorated by hand, and different in pattern.
The legendary throne of Charlemagne.
Another section of ceiling that I found lovely.
And yet another. I love the blue and gold together, so very beautiful and Byzantine in it's look.
A look up at the organ.
Looking toward the ceiling and all the hand painted details.
The candles.
Walking into the choir area....
...you see these lovely windows and paintings on the walls.
Like the Cologne/Koln Cathedral is known for it's Gothic architecture and having the remains of the Three Wisemen in a shrine, the Aachen cathedral claims to have the remains of Charlemagne in a shrine and also a shrine to Mary, containing some of her personal items and also the swaddling clothes of baby Jesus. The picture above is the shrine of Mary and it is opened every 7 years to be inspected and shown to the public.
The paintings on the wall are original. During WWII an explosion took place that broke all of the glass and left the choir area exposed for some time before new glass could be made and restored. The area filled with water and the paintings were severely faded. Due to it being a historic site, by law they cannot restore anything, only keep it in it's current condition, so the paintings stay as they are, faded, as a reminder of the war and what happened to the cathedral.
I really like this music/book stand.
Sissi makes friends wherever she goes...including our tour guide who really took to her.
The floor tile work was just as incredible as the ceilings.
Saying their goodbyes after our tour!
Then, we went into a local gift shop and I did a double take....a Kyrgyz Nativity set? In Germany? Wow! The store literally had Nativity sets from all over the world, in every place that their organization works with local and improverished children. I think I owe a Kyrgyz Nativity to my friends now, she liked it.
Friends, together by the Aachen Cathedral.
...and more friends, 28 years and going strong. I pray our children will continue our legacy and continue to make efforts to get together through the years!
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