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Aachen is the westernmost major city of Germany, located near the Dutch and Belgian borders, about 150 miles northwest of Frankfurt's International Airport. It is also one of Germany's most historic and interesting cities. Unfortunately, though, visitors to Germany often limit their time to Berlin and areas in southern Germany without allowing time to travel further north to Aachen, a marvelous, modern, and vibrant city yet rich in its ancient history. Fortunately, my friends and I broke away from the south and discovered this great city and enjoyed several visits, finding something new and different each time.

Aachen's history is a long one, even by European standards! Celts had already established settlements around the hot springs in the valley basin of Aachen before Roman legions arrived around 3BC to build barracks, temples, and baths at the far reaches of the Roman Empire. Aachen was a spa resort by the end of the 2nd Century with Roman roads to the Maas River to the west and the Rhine River to the east and Charlemagne's father is said to have bathed in the waters around 765AD. Charlemagne chose Aachen as the site of his rule as Holy Roman Emperor, building at the end of the 8th Century a great palace of Roman, Byzantine, and Germanic architectural styles. In this era, Aachen was often called the "second Rome" and Charlemagne spent most of the last years of this life in his great city, ruling an empire encompassing what is today Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, and Switzerland! Much, much more recently, Aachen was the first German city seized by the Allies in World War II in the fall of 1944 after desperate and terrible street fighting which severely damaged many of the city's fine buildings.

The first stop in any visit to Aachen should be the city hall (Rathaus) in the old city center. Charlemagne's palace had fallen into disrepair by the 14th Century when Aachen's citizens began a Gothic town hall over the palace's foundations. Charles IV was the first emperor to hold a coronation in the city hall but a great fire in 1656 destroyed much of the city, damaging the city hall's roofs and towers. The building was renovated in the 17th and 18th Centuries and early in the 20th Century after another fire. Finally, it was heavily damaged in World War II but restoration began soon after the war. This is a building which clearly refuses to die! Today the city hall is filled with medieval art, tapestries, jewels, and the

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