The CHIO mascot, Karli, danced with a visitor to the catchy song of "YMCA" and the presenter, Volker Raulf, talked about "Aachen enjoying the sunshine ": The inhabitants of Aachen loudly applauded this year's partner country of the CHIO Aachen (June 26th-July 5th) at the market square amid summer temperatures. Flanders gave the crowds a foretaste of the official CHIO Opening Ceremony on Tuesday (5 p.m.) with several groups of people on foot and plenty of horses.

Whereby the shrimpers from East Dunkirk on the North Sea had the most difficult part of all: Dressed in their usual working attire, they rode through the market square on Monday wearing long, yellow, rain coats in spite of the heat. The stilt-walkers also broke out in a sweat after displaying their traditional Flemish stilt fighting, they all landed on the floor one after the other.

Otherwise, the atmosphere among the welcome party of the delegation comprising of 350 people and many cart horses was extremely friendly. The Lord Mayor, Dr. Jürgen Linden, emphasised, "every Öcher (Aachener) has been to Flanders, a really proud region." Klaus Pavel, President of the Aachen-Laurensberger Rennverein, organisers of the CHIO, promised the crowds "a fantastic event with the support of our Flemish friends" and the honorary guest, Kris Peeters, the Flemish Prime Minister, claimed that "Aachen is the centre of the horse world. Anyone who talks about Aachen, also talks about horses. We are very proud to be the partner country of the CHIO." This wasn't the only thing to trigger off a huge cheer from the audience: The group of six Flemish acrobats who built a pyramid on cart horses in front of the historic setting of the Aachen Town Hall also received avid applause.