Neunzehnten Jahrestag

Sometimes as an expat, life is as glamorous as it sounds, and looks, in the highlight reel. 

And ...

Sometimes you spend your wedding anniversary like this :: 

Nine time zones apart. 

The deal was I got a chance to travel to Southern California and see my brother and his family while my parents were also visiting. This was high on the girls' bucket list of summer things to do, and I was thrilled with the prospect. 

Herr Johnson hadn't scheduled vacay during this time, plus somebody had to wait for Millie to get back from her biological conservation service trip in Greece, and feed Kate the Great (now probably the world's most expensive rabbit.) 

It worked out. We had a great week in Cali and met up with Sean and Mills in Chicago the next week. 

And we knew we'd get a chance to get away sometime, if not on the actual date. 

So this weekend, on our 19th year and one month anniversary we got away for 28 hours ... Top down on the autobahn ... Squeezing in three countries, two churches and one British restaurant we will remember forever. We also stayed in a really hip apartment that had a sleeping loft ... (It might have felt more like we were 19, than 19 years married — The approach to the second story felt almost identical to clambering up the vertical approach of a corn crib.) 

Featuring the sleeping loft ...

I can't Instagram (or blog) everything, but this posset with my posse of one was amazing. There was a large table near us that got notably quiet when each course of their food came out. When they finished their dessert you could hear spoons scraping the bottoms of their Wekk canning jars (Europe's cousin of the ubiquitos hipster Mason jar). I fully admitted to the chef when he came out of the kitchen and chatted that I had just literally googled "posset" (I later visited Pintrest for ways to concoct it at home.) I took a chance on it and was not disappointed ... Not for a moment. It was curdled with lemon and gin. We had a tutorial earlier in the meal on gins ... And they had special tonic, brewed by a friend of the chef. I felt like we got a foods class as part of the experience. It's hard to go wrong with a "farm to table" concept restaurant in The Netherlands, the produce capital of Europe. Check out The Dutchess (http://theduchess.restaurant/) if you're ever in the greater Aachen/Limburg area.

 (We did.)

We also visited this historic Baroque church on the Markt square. 

As we were leaving, this woman approached us ... First in Dutch, then German and finally English. She wanted us to catch the exterior detail of a lion. 

According to this tri-lingual, passionate Ambassador of Limburg history, a circus once set up in the Markt Square (where we had just enjoyed a pair of cappuccinos and people watching.) In an unfortunate incident, the circus' lion escaped and made its way into Sint-Michielskerk. The church was full of people. The lion sashayed to the front of the church, laid down by the alter, and simply looked at the congregants. The lion trainer arrived at the church and was amazed by the sight. 

(Of course I googled this too ... And found the lion story is an iconic part of local history! http://www.netherlands-tourism.com/saint-michaels-church-sittard/)

We had a beautiful day for driving. 

We drove through the Dutch hills (which is a rarity ... The Netherlands is known for being both flat and largely below sea level!) to the meeting point of Belgium, The Netherland and Deutschland. The convergence of these three lands is marked with a plain cement point and the three flags are furled. The Dreiländerpunkt (three country point) is a perfect example of how one European country seamlessly flows into the next. 

From the Dreiländerpunkt we made our way back into Germany, stopping in Aachen to tour the Aachner Dom and grab a late lunch before heading home.