The Land of Beers and more Beers

What is the difference between Summer and Winter in Aachen? The rain is warmer in Summer!

I got off the British Airway flight on the 15/1/2000 morning after a long 30 hours journey from Melbourne. I was staggering throught the German Custom in the Dusseldorf Airport liked a zombie totally not of this world. Suddenly I was brutally brought back to reality by a blast of icy cold wind. Why did I leave sunny and warm Melbourne to come to this miserablely wet and cold place? Was it the right decision to take up the short-term contract to work in Ericsson Eurolab in Germany? Well I was here and it was pointless complaining about it. So I decided to make my stay as productive and enjoyable as possible.

Taking the airport express bus it took approximately 1 hour to travel from Dusseldorf Airport to Aachen. Unfortunately it was winter here and the weather was wet and cold. I stayed in the hotel for the first few days then I moved into an apartment which Ericsson had pre-arranged for me. It was a beautiful apartment situated in the middle of town over looking the city square and a very old town hall (early 1000). The apartment was large enough for my needs. It has separate lounge room, bedroom, bathroom and kitchen. It was very comfortable and warm. It was also a serviced apartment. That meant the landlady came once a week to clean the apartment and change the sheets and towels. This was luxury! Even though my apartment was in the middle of town it was still very quiet because there was no through traffic around the city square areas except an occasional bus. Being so central it was extremely easy with access to transportation, shopping and restaurants. I caught a bus to work and the journey took about 20 minutes each way.

Once I got a bit settled in my apartment it was time to stock up the fridge and cupboard. So I ventured to the local supermarket which happened to be just a few doors away from my apartment. I went in, grabbed a trolley and started loading it up, no different to shopping in Melbourne. At the check-out as the lady was checking my items through I noticed that she was not putting them into any plastic bags. I tried to ask her but she couldn't speak a word of English. So I loaded the items back into the trolley and hoped there were bags at the packing bay. At the packing bay my deepest fear was realised. I didn't know I had to buy the shopping bags at the counter. So I waited and hoping for a miracle. I remembered reading somewhere that if you really want something, all the Universe conspires in helping you to achieve it! Well, at that point of time I really wanted something to carry my shopping home. Sure enough a man came out with a cardboard box full of shopping and after he loaded all his shopping into his shopping bag he left the empty box on the packing bay!

The local German food didn't taste so nice especially after spending 6 weeks in Malaysia. The German food basically consisted of meat, sausages, potato and pickled vegetables. Luckily there were many other types of food available here. I have tried Italian, Turkish, Chinese, Vetnamese and Thai so far and they were not bad. But the beer was definitely the best. There were so many varieties and I have tried some of them and they tasted great. My favourite so far was the dunkel (dark) Weizenbier. This particular beer was from the Bayern (Bavaria) region of Germany. I haven't tried them all yet. But give me time! Beer, singing and dancing were all true and very much part of the local culture.

Aachen is a border town situated quite close to the Holland and Belgium. It is one of the wettest place in Europe, I found out, because it is situated on the western side of the Alps where the moisture from the ocean is trapped, condensed and magically turned into rain or snow depending on the temperature. It snowed couple of weekends ago. But the snow melted as soon as it hit the ground. Soon Winter was a thing of the past and the day was getting longer. I no longer had to go to work and come home in the dark.

The work was very interesting and challenging. I had also established a good social network through badminton. Check out my Badminton Adventure in Germany.

On Monday 12/6/2000 it was a local Bank Holiday. The weather was perfect, sunny, a cool breeze and temperature in the low 20's. So Guido and I decided to explore the Aachen Wald (Aachen Wilderness) by bike. Guido was kind eonugh to lend me his spare mountain bike. The Aachen Wald is less than 30 minutes by bike from The Markt (The Market Place in the centre of Town). Once we arrived it was like entering a different world. It was cool, quiet and very tranquil. The sun ray was having great difficulties trying to penetrate the thick canopy. Yet the ray that managed to sip through created a scene of Angelic beauty. The beautiful forest area was ideally suited for mountain biking, jogging or just walking. We came across a lot of walkers both young and old, enjoying this manificent wilderness. Our short journey took us across three countries, Germany, Belgium and Holland. For an Oz that was really amazing. On our way back we stopped at a local beer garden, the Waldschenke (Wilderness Pub) for a well earned refreshing Alsterwasser (beer mixed with lemonade). Then it was all the way down hill back to The Markt for an ice cream. We parted company after the delicious ice cream and I went back to my apartment nursing my tender bum!

I returned to Melbourne early July after completing my half year contract, hoping to participate in the Kakadu Hike. Unfortunately it was cancelled again. May be the trip was not meant to happen! Luckily my contract was extended for a further six months and I returned to Germany soon after.