Aachen and Monschau

We had a great weekend in Germany, leaving Holland early Saturday morning and returning Sunday evening. Aachen was where Charlemagne came and built a church and castle and decided to make it the Holy Roman Empire's capital for a little while. It's a neat town full of fountains, thermal spas, cool statues and good German food! There was a festival going on and it sounded like the beer-drinkers were having a great time! We did find an Italian restaurant that was very authentic. We got better service than the Germans just by speaking Italian.
Sunday morning we drove down to Monschau, which is a little town nestled in a valley surrounded by high hills. Fred enjoyed another warm appletart, and I bought a beautiful yellow leather purse for only 10 Euros. (sale shopping...different country...same passtime)
Monschau reminded us of the little Swiss town we would travel to when living there. The stream runs through the entire town, and some of the buildings look as if they've spend too much time in the biergarten! Luered by the "Appletart" sign, Fred was compelled to try another in his search for the perfect one. This one passed the test as you can see!

Sunday in Delft

We took a short drive to Delft today (okay...to go to IKEA but it was closed!) and had a great time walking around. We went to the old church and saw William of Orange's statue and mausoleum in the huge Nieuwe Kerk. We sat in the market area between two churches and enjoyed the rare Dutch sunshine and some cappuccino. Just strolled the shops and canals and found a back garden where we stopped for lunch. Fred HAD to have an apple tart. You can see from the picture that it wasn't bad. Fred also found what he's been asking for...anchovie olives for his martinis... (Except they don't put the anchovies inside the olives, they put the olives inside the anchovies. Okay. Not a bad way to spend the day!

Settling in at last!

Our shipment was delivered last Wednesday, and we're finally starting to feel at home here. Also, my classroom is starting to look the way I like it too. After this weekend hopefully we can start getting away and not spend the entire time working on the apartment or school. Fred is flying to Naples to visit his sister Mary on the 22nd. We're headed to Malta over October break.