Part 5: Aachen
Jeff and German tour manager Andrea go to see the tomb of King Charlemagne.
Don't forget to make that choking hairball sound when you see a "ch" in German!
Random Euro-moment: On the train from Stuttgart, an obviously non-German guy got on and sat in his reserved seat next to us. When we all got up to change trains we suddenly realized that he was a member of Naturally7, our friends from America that had performed with us in Germany and America twice before. We hadn't recognized each other until the last minute. He was heading to meet the rest of his group, at which point they were off to tour around the world as the opening act for the infamous Michael Buble. Nice gig...
Our Aachen show was in a sort of high-ceilinged 18th century parlor room. Pretty much the opposite of Stuttgart's venue. The crowd was stiffer, but totally loved the show in the end, giving us a quick standing ovation - which can be harder to come by in Europe than in America I've always heard. A good sign for us.
Aachen, Germany gig. Quite a space...
The next day, before our afternoon departure, some of us headed into town to see the tomb of the one and only Charlemagne, hugely powerful 8th century king who is credited as being the father of France and Germany...even the Father of Europe. He was the first ruler of a Western European empire since the fall of Rome (remember high school history class? See Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlemagne - good stuff!). His badass tomb is located right in Aachen and looks like a cathedral, but with a bit more personal spin to the decor. Though very Christian, the focus is on the notorious emperor himself in there. He's referred to in Germany as "Karl der Grosse " or Karl The Great. His dad was Pippin, that character from the Broadway show. No, really!
Exterior detail of the tomb of Charlemagne
Around the corner they had a special little museum where you could go see his reliquary highlights - for those of you not up on European church history, a reliquary is a thing where they put pieces of your body inside body-shaped objects like hollow gold hands, or painted heads so they can be worshipped or just revered. Yummy. Really beautiful windows and designs in the tomb/church though! Wow those people were so short back then...I could rest my coffee mug on the head of the big tough emperor.
The Tomb of Charlemagne: altar, leading toward windows and reliquary.
Wanna see more pictures from the European tour? Click here
Wanna read more about Jeff and the band's tour through Europe and Asia? Check out Jeff's other journal entries:
Part I: Dancing Babies, Korean BBQ sauce, and Eating fiestas!
Part II: Singapore Sunburn and Epic Flying
Part III: Zie German Phase
Part IV: Stuttgart
Part VI: Snowy Munich
Part VII: The Best for Last
