Aachen Christmas Market

Sunday November 30, 2014

We drove an hour away to Aachen, Germany this afternoon for Brooklyn’s first trip out of the country. We parked at a garage near the center. We walked over to a German restaurant, Zum wehrhaften Schmied, for an early dinner and to have somewhere warm to nurse the baby. The saucy meat and potatoes were delicious.

Aachen was the favored residence of Charlemagne and Germany’s westernmost city.

We bundled up Brooklyn in her carseat on the stroller and hit the streets. 

Aaachen City Hall dates from 1330. 

It lies between two places with markets, the Markt (market place) and Katschhof which lies between City Hall and the Cathedral. 

We first walked the Markt. 

Soon Brooklyn was asleep as we moved the stroller along the cobblestone pavers through the crowd. 

Even though we just ate, we had to get a bratwurst 

Aachen Christmas Market from the City Hall entrance stoop 

Giant gingerbread man by City Hall in Katschhof 

The Aachen Christmas Market boasts around 1.5 million visitors every year from the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and the UK.

We had a great time here even though it was crowded. 

We bought 2 Christmas ornaments to commemorate Brooklyn's first trip another country. We got a lasercut image of the Aachen Cathedral and a nutcracker.

Brooklyn woke back up again but was still very content. 

Aachen Cathedral was constructed on orders from Charlemagne in AD 796. It was the largest cathedral north of the Alps. It was modeled after the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy. Charlemagne’s remains can be seen here to this day. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

Lastly we walked through the Christmas market at Munsterplatz. Jackie took one last photo of the Aachen Cathedral from the roof deck of the parking garage. 

Another trip to Germany means another day laughing at the German word Ausfahrt and looking for a good sign to take a photograph next to. This blur as we exited the parking garage was the best we could get this time. 

GLOW

Wednesday-Thursday November 12-13, 2014

GLOW is a huge light art festival in Eindhoven, the city of light (home of Philips). We went on a good English tour of half of GLOW Eindhoven 2014 festival on Wednesday night led by our Dutch teacher. The walking tour was for a good cause for the Soroptimistclub Eindhoven. The festival is free and open to everyone, but it was great to pay to have Yvonne give us and some others a 2 hour tour highlighting about half of the ~50 artists installations, sculptures, projections and performances. It was great to get an English explanation of some of the pieces, especially the not as big ones that weren’t getting much press.

GLOW Eindhoven

Zero Hidrografico by Brazilian artists Gisela Motta and Leandro Lima
The concept represents waves & the tides of the sea with each point moving up and down

Ancora una Volta by Valerio Berutti on Dommelstraat

Gieters (watering cans)
'Guardian Angels' by French designers Maro Avrabou and Dimitri Xenakis to illustrate human involvement in being part of the solution to environmental crisis
This is in front of Dommelhoef, one of the nicest nursing homes I've ever seen

Parklaan Flashback by Les Orpailleurs de Lumiere

This one was a really cool light show set to music. Sadly photos don't do it justice with the moving lights and with the dancers. It was the same show illuminating onto 2 similar ones on Parklaan.

Here is a 7.5 minute youtube video clip of the Parklaan light show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNMva3ZT9OI

The music it is set to is “That Epidemic Rag!” by Paragon Ragtime Orchestra.

Large Pendulum Wave by Ivo Schoofs, an Eindhoven native

Here is a 6 minute youtube video of the 2014 Large Pendulum Wave:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-SxwIcuZf0

The next exhibit we took no photos of because it involves naked ladies with lights behind a translucent screen wall. It is called Figures That Wander by United-Ci. There is a link to video if you happen to be interested….we didn’t stay long to watch the whole show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUfglHy7yvU

L’Envol by Pitaya: It looks like origami paper cranes in the trees above the Dommel

The Greenhouse effect by Maro Avrabou & Dimitri Xenakis
6 parked BMW cars filled with plants & flowers like a greenhouse commentating on global warming

Parklaan light show was the highlight of this evening, but we expect to see some other great exhibits on 2 of the old churches in the center tomorrow night.

Thursday night we saw the rest of the GLOW 2014 exhibits. The light & music shows on the church facades were definitely the highlights. Last year the event attracted 650,000 visitors. We made sure to see it all on weeknights to avoid the weekend crowds.

The Enchanting Cathedral

St Catherinakerk clock tower 

Here is a 6 minute youtube video of the full light show animation because photographs just don’t do it justice:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpz4ygI4oC8

Inside the Van Abbe Museum theater

Here is the loud 8min youtube video of the moving lights on the cooperatie Dela building:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5X7HDfkzlU

'Stereo' by The Macula on Augustijnenkerk

Here is a 7.5 minute youtube video of the light show because these photos are meaningless without seeing them with the audio:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2Tkxz5hG90

on our walk back home Joe took a good photograph of De Blob at night

The GLOW festival is definitely something that we loved a great deal. It was a great mix of design, architecture and lighting engineering behind it all. Jackie hopes to get involved in some fashion with next years show. She wished she could have this year but knew with Brooklyn due only a month before the festival, that she would have to experience it as a spectator the first year we were in Eindhoven.