Monday, in the morning, the 8th, we were to meet at our pre-determined spot on the 7th floor next to the entrance to the casino. I had gotten up around 8am, and spent a half hour wandering around by myself. Some guy, who I swear must have been a cast-away, with maybe 5 teeth in his head, asked me for a cigarette, and then somehow found me again later on, and offered to share is brown-paper-bag-wrapped bottle of something that smelled like root beer schnapps. I respectfully declined. Of course, he couldn't understand a word, and I couldn't understand a word of his either, but body language works universally. Once Vee and I found each other, we went to the little cafe on board, and had some breakfast, and then got our bags and headed out to explore Helsinki. It was a brisk, but clear morning, and the cool clean air was invigorating. The Eurohostel was a short walk from the boat terminal, and once there and checked in, we were really excited about our minimalist, yet well-equipped accomodations. We asked about extending our stay a night, but they were fully booked. We dropped off our bags and headed out to explore the city. We walked to the pretty brick cathedral, the stark white cathedral, and all over downtown, including a hotel tower for a particularly good view. We found a cafe to rest our feet and legs, and have a bit to eat and some coffees, then kept walking, and found a small market where we got some goodies for later on. For the first time in a while, we were able to secure a good Internet connection with our laptop computer, and so for the rest of the night, I took care of bills, some emails, etc.
Tuesday, Vee spent the day working on new videos, and I hit the town alone. My first stop was an automobile museum on the other side of the city, but once I got there, they still hadn't opened for the day, even though it was well after their posted opening time. I peeked in the windows, and it was probably a good thing that it was closed, as it looked pretty silly, mostly just little model cars and other car toys. From there, I walked towards the contemporary art museum, and along the way, stopped in for a pizza and salad buffet lunch. The contemporary art museum was excellent, and actually quite disturbing. I spent the rest of the afternoon there, and then met up with Vee around 3:30 back in our room. Rather than taking a boat ride over to Suomenlinna, as we had planned, we decided to stay in so that Vee could finish up the videos. I continued reading my book, "Fatherland" by Robert Harris. We stayed up late, and it turned out to be a very productive day for Vee. We felt that we had seen alot of Helsinki the day before, so we didn't feel too guilty about staying in. And, we didn't find the city to be all that interesting anyway, and so we thought it would be better to take advantage of the cheap, fast Internet connection and get as much done as possible.
Wednesday, I got up around 6am, and uploaded Vee's videos, photos, and blogs to the website while Vee caught up on some sleep, got ready and packed her bag. I finished uploading around 11:30, cleaned up, packed, and we checked out at precisely 12 noon. As soon as we got to the train station, we found and boarded the #615 bus to the airport, and were at our terminal within about 20 minutes. We checked in and got through security, minus another wine bottle opener. We had a bite to eat in the terminal at Robert's Cafe, and after an unnecessarilly long standing wait at the gate for our German Wings flight to Koln, finally boarded, and were thankful to have been able to find seats next to each other as it looked to be a full plane. With our complimentary newspapers to keep us busy, and the laptop, the flight blew by and in not time, we were back on the ground in Germany. The airport was quite impressive with a sleek, industrial look to it. We tried the buy S-Bahn tickets with another one of those darned complicated ticket kiosks but gave up, and decided to rely on the hope that our Eurail pass will keep us from being fined on board. It was a short ride to the Koln central train station where we then changed to a train heading into Aachen. It was a full train, but eventually a few seats opened up so we could sit. I asked Vee how she felt about being in Aachen, her childhood home, and she was obviously feeling overwhelmed, not quite able to express what she was feeling. Once off the train, a lady in the bookstore gave us a free map, and offered to help us find accomodations. We already had a hotel room reserved, but it was very nice of her to offer, and the free map was a super-nice bonus. The hotel was just a few blocks away, so we checked in, dropped off our bags and headed out to explore Aachen. By this time, it was 8pm or so, and time for dinner. The location of our hotel is fantastic, and it was a short walk to the center, where we found lots of places to choose from. Vee recognized a special water fountain, and the domo, and some other special places too. I loved being there with her to share this very special moment. Aachen is beautiful!! So charming! We found a place with good prices and a decent menu and outdoor seating. Vee had a delicious garden salad and grilled chicken breasts. I had a schnitzel in a green-peppercorn brown sauce with fries and a garden salad. And, a weisbier, a pilsner, an alt, and some other kind of weisse that I can't remember. All absolutely delicious. My dinner was so good, that I ordered another one. And finished it, every last bite. I haven't done that in years. It was that good!! After it got a bit chilly, and we were both finished, we found a little ice cream shop to share a cone, and walked back to the hotel for the night. We are both so happy to be here, in Aachen, and wish so much that we could share this with our families. It is so beautiful here, and so meaningful. So VERY livable. We are both very much looking forward to tomorrow.
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