Day Trip to Aachen - Part 2

After our little adventure with the Nuns, we headed back over to the square where the Market was.


It's such a cute town!

 

We ate dinner right on the square....the same place we ate lunch last time.... a 'Brat' place that makes me think it's the Moe's of Brats.  They were ubber friendly to us.  Awesome service.  Loved on our girls to death!! It was a great end to a nice, productive and surprising day in Germany!

Here are some other pictures from Aachen:  Aachen Square

Day Trip to Aachen - Part 1

Saturday we took a day trip to Aachen.  Remember Aachen from our Christmas Market experience?  Here's that post....  Aachen Christmas Market.

We wandered over because they have a Toys R Us.  And somebody has a BIG birthday coming up.....  but things in general are a lot cheaper in Germany, so we also found a great shoe store and bought the girls some shoes, and diapers!!!  The Costco supply only got us through 8ish months!!

After our shopping adventure, we decided to head back to the main square area where the market was because the Mother House of Sister Marilyn's (Matt's Aunt) order was near by.  We literally drove by it TWICE going to the market!!  We couldn't believe we had been so close....

As we were standing outside the door debating about whether or not we should introduce ourselves, the door opened and a Nun greeted us.  With his 30ish words of German, Matt was able to convey that his Aunt was a sister in the US, and that we were just visiting.  They invited us in and gave us the royal treatment!  They took us upstairs and made us coffee and set out a plate of cookies.  Grace had about 5!  Between their 10 words of English and Matt's 30 words of German, we spent almost an hour.  They loved our girls!

 I am having NUN of this!

This is NUN-SENSE!

They gave us a tour of the grounds. 

The inner courtyard area

Francis Schervier's Room

The Chapel (and her remains)

 

It really was quite a beautiful, and updated/modern place!

For more on Francis Schervier, here is the Wikipedia entry:  Mary Frances Schervier

For more pictures from the Mother House:  Mother House Pictures

We're so glad we sought this place out.  I think we made the Nun's day with our little girls!  And we are happy to have visited a very special place to Aunt Marilyn.  I hope she was smiling down on us during our adventure!

Aachen Christmas Market

While my parents were in town, we went to the Christmas Market in Aachen, Germany.  It's only about an hour and a half drive from here.

It was pretty magical.  I turned to Matt at one point and said....'this is why we moved to Europe'.
The church in the background is the Aachen Cathedral.  It was absolutely gorgeous inside.  Covered in mosaics.  AND, we didn't know it while we were there, but after reading up on it when we got home, it is the final resting place of Charlemagne.  Check out this listing in Wikipedia for more info, and some pictures of the interior:  Aachen Cathedral.

Our treasures from the market:

A Santa Claus 'smoker' - you put incense inside, and he puffs it out his mouth.

Wooden trees.  My parents bought me the 3 small ones in front.  I had the two larger ones from German fest in Milwaukee.  And the tall tree with the candles, I picked up in France on our Normandy trip when they were first putting out Christmas stuff earlier this fall.

2 Glass mushroom ornaments.

Advent candle and stand.

Can't wait to go back next year, and hopefully to the market in Cologne, Germany and Leuven, Belgium......and any other Christmas market we stumble upon.  Amazing!

These boots were made for walking....

Audrey's pressie at the Aachen Christmas Market was a pair of boots!!  I've been trying to find some Robeez type shoes for awhile now.  It's chilly now, and just socks isn't cutting it.

These little beauties are fur lined.  And in our fire place this evening awaiting the arrival of St. Nicholas......stay tuned for that surprise tomorrow!