We start our tour with a special feature. Three "school generations" are gathered together in a very small space near the parking lot. The two older buildings hardly seem to have changed their appearance. This is not least thanks to the people of Mützenich and the clubs, who worked hard on a voluntary basis in 1998 to redesign the center of their village. The first school building from the 19th century, built in half-timbered construction on a quarrystone foundation, with its old lattice windows and slate-clad gable, is a real gem. Today it is home to the village museum run by the local history association and aptly named "Uraalt Scholl". The exhibition can be visited by appointment. The successor building, the "Aalt Scholl", stands to the left. It is used as a clubhouse. To the right is today's elementary school.

After the Second World War, the people of Mützenich had two reasons to dedicate the chapel at the corner of "Schiffenborn" and "Im Bruch" to St. Brigida. She not only plays a special role in agriculture as the patron saint of cattle, but is also invoked against misfortune and persecution. Thanksgiving for the salvation of the village and its inhabitants from the hardships of war was one of the reasons why a new chapel was built in 1951 in place of one erected in 1896.

The road "In den Stecken" leads to the geographical highlight of our hike. Until then, we experience the full diversity of the townscape. After passing a farm, we cross the Mützenich hedgerow landscape. The further we get away from the village and the higher we climb, the more sparse the areas become. At the edge of the forest, we find ourselves on the Steling, at 659 meters the highest elevation in the StädteRegion Aachen. The "summit cross" stands next to a private weather station. It is the "Cross of Watching" erected by the village youth in 1995. Every year on Maundy Thursday, girls and boys from the village come together here to keep vigil in accordance with an old Christian tradition. The special attraction of the Steling is the magnificent view. Nowhere else in the Monschau region can you see so far!

Via the "Waaneschlachswäächs" we reach the "Eifel-Blick" with its unique 180 degree panorama. A sign informs us about everything there is to see from here. With good visibility, you can even make out the Siebengebirge mountains 75 kilometers away and the Hohe Acht, the highest mountain in the Eifel near the Nürburgring.

Our next destination is "Kaiser Karls Bettstatt", one of the mightiest quartzite blocks in the High Fens. The rock it is made of was formed around 500 million years ago and belongs to the geologically oldest period of the Palaeozoic era, the Cambrian. In ancient times, the block served as a boundary marker for the Reichenstein monastery near Kalterherberg. Today, a modern stone just a few steps away marks the course of the German-Belgian border. According to an old legend, the emperor and his entourage got deeper and deeper into the Reichswald while hunting a magnificent stag. As dusk began to fall, the hunting party realized that they had lost their way. The landscape was too vast with thickets and marshy areas. A return to the Konzener Hof was out of the question. Then one of the emperor's men discovered a mighty boulder that seemed suitable as a bed for the ruler. So they decided to camp here for the night. It is not known whether Charlemagne had a comfortable stay. According to popular legend, one of the servants is said to have offered him his cap because of the cold at night. However, the emperor rejected the offer with the curt remark "No cap!". What could be more obvious than to make the princely word the name of the place?

We follow the "Eifel-Steig", a premium hiking trail leading from Aachen to Trier, for a short distance. Around 650 meters south of "Kaiser-Karls-Bettstatt", a very special natural experience awaits us. At the beginning of the 1990s, the renaturation of a fen area with two Palsen, as the ponds formed during the Ice Age are called, began. Today, it is part of the German-Belgian "Moor Route" cycle and hiking trail and is home to unique flora and fauna. A wooden footbridge leads to the larger of the two ponds, allowing wheelchair users to reach the attraction. Especially in summer, when the heather is in bloom, the air is filled with the characteristic scent of the moorland.

After climbing the observation tower and quenching our thirst for knowledge with the help of the numerous information boards, we reach the edge of the pastureland. We turn left and enter a romantic path that runs alongside the nature reserve. In wet weather or with a baby carriage, it is advisable to walk to the road and follow the footpath towards the center of the village. Passing new and old houses, some of which are surrounded by mighty hedges, we reach the Josefskapelle chapel via the parking lot on Pfarrer-Scheidt-Straße, Vennweg and Reichensteiner Straße. As early as 1815, Theoderich Heinen, who had taken part in Napoleon's Russian campaign, erected an octagonal "holy house" with a small statue of the Virgin Mary on this spot as thanks for his happy return home. It was consecrated to St. Joseph in 1942. Due to its poor condition, it was decided to rebuild it in 1967. The special feature of the chapel is the oak winged altar with scenes from the life of the Holy Family. In addition to a detailed description of the chapel and its history, a booklet with meditative texts provides information about the pictorial program. Stone slabs with words of thanksgiving on the side walls show that people still make pilgrimages here to beg Jesus' foster father for help.

The narrow chapel path has a special atmosphere. It leads us away from the roads past old hedges and mighty beech trees towards the center of the village. The "Liechejass", which we pass, is a reminder of the time when the people of Mützenich and Kalterherberg still had to bring their dead to the cemetery in Konzen. It was not until 1856 that the Archbishop of Cologne, to whose diocese the Monschau region belonged at the time, elevated the parish to a parish. The foundation stone for the construction of the first church was laid in 1847 and the consecration took place in 1850. In 1954, the building, which had become too small in the meantime, was extended. Anyone entering the church from the street side will be amazed. Contrary to the initial impression, you are standing in a modern interior. But there are not only works of art from the 1950s to admire here, such as the copper engravings on the pulpit or the Stations of the Cross with their life-size figures, which are worked in the rare "sgraffito technique". A special gem is the statue of St. Bartholomew, created around 1350, to whom the church in Mützenich is dedicated. The martyr, who was stripped of his skin alive by his tormentors before being beheaded, is not only mentioned in numerous country legends. Probably because of the nature of his martyrdom, he is also regarded as the patron saint of taxpayers.