Aachen, Reunion and the Cornerstone of three Countries

We departed Cologne via A4 Autobahn heading straight to Aachen.  In terms of tourist attraction, Aachen, is not one of Germany’s main attraction. Our reason for visiting Aachen is to meet my old collegemate, Amizon Azizan (Mijon), who is furthering her study (PhD) here in Germany. 

 We have been in constant communication via Facebook and shared our experienced living in Europe with its rigid life and regulation and how the education system here differs greatly from those in Malaysia.  One distinct characteristics of Germany’s education is to segregate children from early stage based on their academic performance.  The above-average performers will continue to study in a normal school while the below-average performers are channeled to technical and vocational schools event in the primary schools.

Aachen is located at the westernmost city of Germany, on its borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, 61 km.  The main university known as RWTH Aachen University is located in the city.  RWTH Aachen University, established as Polytechnicum in 1870, is one of Germany's Universities of Excellence with strong emphasis on technological research, especially for electrical and mechanical engineering, computer sciences, physics, and chemistry.

We stayed overnight in Aachen before continuing our journey to Luxembourg.  Mijon recommended us to visit a unique place in Aachen where it’s the cornerstone of three countries mainly Germany, the Netherland and Belgium.  The place was called The Drielandenpunt (Three country point, Dreiländereck), the point where the boundaries of Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium converge, near the city of Aachen (Germany) and Vaals (Netherlands).  We took so many turns to find this place. It seemed our GPS was unable to locate the place.  We almost decided to abandon the quest but alas, we managed to find the correct location.

~yatiseman~