Once I figured out how to get it into reverse, this car worked great.
Mustard soup, a Monschau specialty.
Monschau.
Streuselbrötchen, without or with chocolate, are an Aachen regional specialty. Which to have? One of each, of course.
Aachen-Merzbrück tower was in good hands with Walter Pastucha and Nikolas Fischer. Walter has flown across the North Atlantic three times.
June 27 — Le Touquet, France to Aachen-Merzbrück, Germany
A half a marathon is better than none; also, visit Monschau
The best airport and hotel for the half-marathon in Sourbrodt, Belgium were both in Germany. On Saturday morning, I waited for some storms to pass and then headed to the airport for a 79-minute flight, with convective activity to the north but a safe and smooth ride for me.
At a general aviation airport outside of Aachen, I picked up my Zipcar-style rental from app2drive, and got going once I figured out how to shift into reverse (you have to lift on the collar of the stick shift). The little Fiat turned out to be the perfect size for the narrow roads of Monschau, a picture postcard town nestled in a valley a few miles from the Belgium border.
I finished second in my age group in 1:54:38 in the half-marathon at the Marathon des Hautes Fagnes. It was the longest trail run I had done, and I enjoyed the scenery as I ran through the hills of Belgium’s largest nature reserve.