Aachen

*Yesterday I paid my first-ever visit to Aachen and had a little time to explore after my interview. I got to see the point where Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium touch – it’s in a pretty park on a hilltop, marked by the three countries’ flags. The city itself has a charming cobblestone-street center with an old cathedral and rathaus (town hall), and it’s ringed by medieval towers. It’s also chock-full of political ads for the upcoming national elections on Sept. 18, which are a hot conversational topic everywhere I go. (Oddly, Frankfurt seems to have fewer political ads – I gather Aachen is in an area considered more of a political battleground). The company owner I interviewed in Aachen is planning to open a subsidiary in Charlotte soon, and he said he enjoys the fact that Charlotte’s downtown has street life. But it’s really so modest compared to the center city street life in any given European town, even the smallest ones. It’s a shame the American love affair with automobiles and sprawl has made that type of atmosphere so hard to come by back home.

*On the other hand, I would just about kill for a Johnny Burrito, sodas with ice in them, TV channels in English besides CNN, and stores that stay open on Sundays and past 8 p.m. on weekdays. As I reach the midpoint of this trip, there are plenty of things both large and small that I miss about home. I suppose that’s natural. Of course I’d never trade this experience for anything, but the ice thing kind of gets to me. Would it kill them to put a little scoop of it in my Coke Light?