Did you know that prostitution is legal in Germany? We knew it was here in the Netherlands, you know with the red light district in Amsterdam and everything. But outside of that, we never saw much evidence of it anywhere else.

Until Sunday, that is. We go to Aachen every weekend to hang out at Starbucks for a little while. We drink coffee and tea, read books, and then head out and wander around Aachen for a bit, just window shopping and enjoying the city. We've walked around Aachen enough that we are pretty familiar with the area, and generally know where we are going.

This past Sunday, we wanted to find an outdoor café to sit at and people watch after going to Starbucks. We walked a bit and then decided to go back to a café we had seen earlier. We decided to cut down a sidestreet as a shortcut back to the little square we were looking for. The street we chose to cut down, however, was apparently Aachen's very own "red light district". At first we glanced in a window and thought, Uhhh, okay., and the as we were walking, we realized that all the windows had scantily clad women sitting in windows. Watching us. Because we were the only people walking down the street. Ever been on a silent, empty street full of hookers in the middle of a Sunday afternoon? Hello, awkward!

We were sufficiently uncomfortable by the time we were halfway down the street, and trying hard to continue the conversation we had been having about Ben's triathlons. But it was hard because all we could really think was, Keep walking, no eye contact, keep walking. Once we got past the woman standing on the sidewalk in underwear and high heels, though, we were in the clear. And apparently one block over from the shortcut we should have taken.

I guess you learn something new every day.