I cruise on out of Den Bosch and head back towards Germany. My goal for the day is to finish visiting all the cities between Cologne and Aachen. It's a good thing I got off to an early start, because I spent about an hour and a half getting lost in and out of Duren. May that city never cross my path again!!! I don't know what the problem was, but I just couldn't get straightened out there! I finally got on the right path and started stringing little towns together between Aachen and Cologne. I wound up on the outskirts of the city so famous for its Dom. From the hills to the west, one can see the cathedral. I wonder what it must have been for Grandpa, to have come this way from Aachen, to see this hulking Gothic building, looming above the rubble on the horizon, the great Rhine river in between.

I get onto the Autobahn and make a move towards Aachen. My plan is to see the city and stay the night, then get a good start the next day to the place east of Cologne. I get to Aachen, and for some reason I am dead tired. Let me tell you, being dead tired on the Autobahn is no fun! I drive through the city, looking for a decent place to stay. It's only about three in the afternoon, but I am crashing and burning big time. I circle through the city and back to the highway. I decided to stay at a Holiday Inn just off the freeway. I'm tired, and sick of driving around all these confusing roads and places.

I get into the room and drop dead for about three hours. I still am feeling a little sluggish, but really need something to eat so I head down to the restaurant in the hotel. Nothing great, just very average Wiener Schnitzles with potato salad. Beggars cannot be choosers, I guess.

Getting some energy back after dinner, I managed to get caught up a little bit on the web site, and do a little writing for myself. Not everything I think winds up on these pages!!!

Saturday 26 June 1999 this morning I went into Aachen and saw the Dom. It does not have the same magnificence of exterior as the Cologne Dom, but inside it is tremendous. When I arrived there was a service going on. The pipe organ, my God, how amazing. Its tones running through my head and against the walls. The low octaves surrounding me, clinging to me from every side. The short pipes ringing out like bells.

The ceilings, such intricate mosaics in gold and deep blue, a little faded with the years. It's a small place, small for a Dom. But the movement of the building, thrusting into the nave and opening up into a long tall hall, a hall of holiness. From what genius of mind comes such places, places exhalted not just in their form, but in perfect expression of function. Of drawing together, of lifting up. Can this come from man alone?

From here I get on the Autobahn and head for the other side of the Rhine. From the Remagen bridgehead, grandpa's division crossed over into towns like Honnef and Altenkirchen. I follow them on the back roads through rolling hills rising up above the plains of the northern Rhineland.

I finish the day in Marburg, the home of the oldest Gothic cathedral in Germany. It had been built to house the body and relics of St. Elizabeth, who had been married to the Landgraves. After her husband died of the plague she took to a life of quiet charity. Four years after her death she was cannonized.

I drive around through town looking for a hotel to stay at. A great old city, with the Dom and the castle of the Landgraves. I don't find a hotel, and am getting a little tired, so I head out of town to find a gasthof (guest house) to spend the night at.

I come upon the Hotel-Restaurant Orthwein, and get a nice little room for the night. After a little nap, I head down to the dining room for some dinner. The chef owns the place, and runs it with his family. I have a wonderful roast venison in mushroom sauce, with some spectacular spaetzles (a German egg noodle). I ask the chef how he makes them so long, and we get into a discussion on the finer points and different styles of making spaetzles. A nice end to a good day.