Aachen, City of Water
Aachen, known as the city of water (without being on a river, lake, or sea), was a town that was founded by the Romans, much like Trier. But Aachen's claim to fame (in addition to being 2000 years old and its famous gingerbread) is that it had deep zinc pits and natural hot spring. As you may know about the Romans, they were good metal workers and favored hot spring, which they turned into public baths. We went around Aachen with a tour guide. The first stop was the central town fountain. The fountain is fed from a natural hot spring. The water has over 19 mineral, including sulfur, so it smells like eggs. We all had a taste--it tasted like deviled eggs.
We primarily saw the impressive Aachen Cathedral that was erected on the orders of Charlemagne in 786 AD. It was an interesting church because it has been added on so many times. You can clearly see 5 distinct facade styles: Roman, Baroque, Middle Ages, Gothic, and Renaissance. We also saw the cathedral's treasury. It was full of interesting relics. One interesting relic was "Persephone sarcophagus." A beautifully handcrafted solid marble sarcophagus depicting a story of Persephone and Pluto from Greek mythology. I am sorry I could not get a photo; "no camera" rule.
Lunch was around 3pm, which we then had the rest of the day to ourselves. Now, going back to the Roman baths. Pam and I decided to check out an operational bath; Carolus Thermen. This place was absolutely amazing. Even though we only had an hour, because we need to catch our train at 6pm, it was worth it. Sadly, I did not bring a bathing suit, so we could not go swimming in the main outdoor pool which is fed by the same natural hot spring as the town center fountain. 
So we had to opt for the spa/sauna part of the complex. It was an amazing place. It was two levels, each level had 7 different style rooms. Hot-dry saunas, wet saunas, warm stone room, ice room, cold pools, hot pools, showers, massage rooms, tanning rooms, and more. Each room had a style too: Roman, Turkish, Greek, so on. My favorite room was the Turkish wet sauna that smelled like lemon grass. They also had an outside Japanese garden that had even more dry/wet saunas; all connected by Japanese raised wooden walkways meandering through the garden.
I will tell you the most interesting part was the cultural differences in spas between Germany and USA. The first thing is that the looker-rooms/changing rooms are Co-Ed, everything is. The second is that they find bathing suits unhygienic in saunas; so, this part of the complex was "clothing prohibited." Yes, all 17ish rooms (including the outside Japanese garden area) you are required to be naked/no bathing suit. Let me tell you, that was a big shock for Pam and I. Luckily, in our favor, we found out that towels are permitted. We rented giant luxury cherry cloth towels and wrapped ourselves in them. People kinda' looked at us strangely when they noticed we did not take the towels off; just being there was enough experience and we did not mind if they gave us a strange look now and then. It was a very interesting, relaxing, and cultural experience. Very good prelude to our next stop-- Amsterdam, Netherlands--for the weekend.
My class calendar is starting to include a lot of trips. Last week was Trier, today was Aachen. Next week is Bruehl and more Cologne (which is have not talked about yet, but will soon). The following week is the long class trip to Berlin and Prague, then my 10 day break. Like looks like I will be traveling with Briana for the 10 day break. We are planing on traveling along the north coast of Western Europe (Netherlands, Belgium, and France). Afterwords, that will bring us to the halfway mark of the semester. But, we still have a lot of trips after that, like: Dusseldorf, Munich, Heidelberg, and more small German towns. So more on the way!