The Daniels here and now: January 2016

Drielandpunt

The Monday after Christmas we decided to go for a day trip to Aachen. We knew all the Christmas market things would be taken down. But we just wanted to go somewhere new. We left around 10 am and reached "drielandpunt" . This in in the Vaalserberg area with the location of the tripoint between Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands and its summit is therefore referred to as Drielandenpunt ("Three-Country Point") in Dutch. This is the highest point in the Netherlands. Not so high compared to mountains in Belgium and Germany but high enough for the flat country.

The kids had a nice morning enjoying the play area, going through the labyrinth and enjoying the scenery. We went into the restaurant and the kids had their free hot chocolate that came with the labyrinth. It was cool for them to put there feet on three countries at the same time.

Dutch winner for managing 3 boys

Enjoying German sausages

We had our sandwiches in the car while I fed David. Aachen was just 20 minutes from here.

We went around the small town and found the cathedral which Aachen was famous for. This cathedral built in AD 796 and completed two years later was the largest cathedral North of the Alps. It was very boring for Elijah, which he made sure to let us know multiple times before disappearing multiple times. Benjamin tried to keep an excited face and not get it from us. There were parts that he enjoyed too. For Elijah it wasn't "cool" enough.

After being for for 30 minutes we came out and walked the streets. We had a typical German sausage which was the high point for the boys. A little bit more walking around the centre area the kids were happy to be seeing things. We spotted a typical Aachen cookie shop called the Aachen Printen (There were many in this small city).

The Elisenbrunnen is one of the most famous sights of Aachen. It is a neo-classical hall covering one of the city's famous fountains. To commemorate Aachen's long tradition of spas and baths, in 1827 the town erected the Elisenbrunnen, an elaborate structure with a drinking fountain and a colonnade in Friedrich-Wilhelm-Platz. A series of plaques highlight the names of some of the many famous people who traveled here to sample its curative waters. It is just a minute away from the cathedral. It used to be a Roman bath. Which was hilarious to the boys. They just couldn't believe that the water was used as a healing drink. And because of the water from the fountain being high on sulphur ,it stank like rotten eggs. A few toilet jokes later the boys were in good spirit. It doesn't take much to get them jolly.

We headed back to the car park around 17:30. I fed David while we drove back to Eindhoven. A nice day out with the family and back home to sleep in our own beds.