Aachan

A stomach full of beer, a soft pillow, dark room and peace and quiet bought about some amazing sleep. I got up at 10 for an amazing shower and just to relax in a lounge room. I whipped up fresh coffee (and tea for sarah) and breakfast and we were ready for a day in Aachan.

We arrived by bus into the city with the plan of visiting the Dom (a church) and the town hall building, while enjoying the old city itself. The church was amazing, built in 800AD with some great artworks. It was nice. There is a pilgrimage every seven year to this church as it houses some artefacts, like John the baptists robe, among three other items of equal significance.

We left to catch up with Tom and then we had a 'tour' of types to the sights. It was great fun as he showed us the best places for food and events. We tasted Lebkuchen (printen) and decided to go to the factory outlet to buy some to take home. A history lesion later and we were in the car, ready for fun. Tom showed us the ancient city walls (from 1100AD) and the old large entrance puertes, with gates with drawbridges. I've never seen this sort of thing before.

The next stop was as equally awe inspiring, the Lindt factory outlet. So much chocolate, so many types I've never seen and for only €0.90. We bought a few blocks and a couple of 'going out of date in October' bags. Huge bags for €3, just one of the balls were about $1 in Aus. This place is crazy and I think the photos illustrate how we felt about it.

After this we headed to Lambertz factory outlet to buy Lebkuchen , it was great, so many types. The best part was the smell in the air, herbs and a type of gingerbread smell. We bought a €10 pack for Sarah's family and some others for her father and left, very happy.

A trip through home and sampling the products and it was time for dinner. We were heading out for Sauerbraten in a traditional Aachan sauce made from Lebkuchen. Wash down this super tender beef in heaven sauce with a cold Kölsch, what more could you ask for. We also tried something Sarah talk to every German person we meet, red cabbage and apple Apfel-rotkohl.

The rest of the night consisted of jokes, photos from our trips, swiss chocolate and german Lebkuchen and a few german beers, what better introduction could you ask for?