Aus und um in Deutchland
Well, I will admit that most of my travels around Germany have so far been for visiting people rather than famous places, so I've racked up some cities, but few sites. Last weekend was my first true German sight-seeing adventure, and I went to Trier. Trier is the oldest city in Germany, and a pretty good sized one at the moment. It is close to Luxembourg and smack in the Mosel wine valley.
I went on this adventure with my friends, the Davis family, which made for some more exciting pics than the stone and nature ones I usually take. We started at an old amphitheater where they actually held gladiator matches. We were able to explore under the arena in what I guess would be a holding area. You could see all the little rooms off the arena on the surface level where who know what type of combatant was held waiting. The whole thing was really eerie, but we did figure out how they did the announcing without microphones. The accoustics in that round space, even without the seating and finished walls, were incredible. We learned at the amphitheater, that Trier plundered it's own old Roman structures over the years to build the next age's new structures. I suppose that's not uncommon in a place that is over 2,000 years old. :)
Our next stop was the most picturesque of the Roman baths. When I think of a bath, I think of something small, or maybe pool-sized like at the Korean bath houses, but no. Roman baths were larger than football fields and heated! We were able to go underneath again to see the maze the water and heating created underground. The scale was truly unbelievable. Actually, reading about Trier is fun because you can take some superlative like "the oldest" or "the best preserved" insert a blank, and then add north of the Alps, and you have the sights of Trier! Sort of like madlibs.
After the baths, we headed for the center of town to see the Cathedral of Trier, which I thought was neat because it is a super old structure with a sort of old addition tacked on to it, both of which were beautiful. The marble and the pipe organ were just gorgeous. The tour book says it's cool because it is the home of the Holy Tunic, the robe that Christ is said to have worn when he died. This is goose-bump inducing until you go in and only get to see a very elaborate box in a super elaborate alcove. More Monty Python and Holy hand grenade than sacred garment of our Savior. Oh well. There were apparently some more super cool churches with unique architecture, but we didn't have time for all of them. We needed food! and shopping! Besides, I'm yet to have an adventure where I actually got to do and see everything. I think it's more fun to be left wanting to go back.
One of the fun things about Germany is that you are almost always guaranteed good local food if you go eat in a skellar. Yes, that translates as cellar, and the best ones are in the Rauthaus, or town hall. We went to a great little skellar restaurant in the shopping district for some German food, and then we hit the Christmas market. Christmas markets are held in cities all over Germany, and they are famous for their nice crafts, delicious snack food, and gluwein. You can get this warm mulled wine in a mug and wander through the market with it. It warms you up and makes the crowds more tolerable. After filling our bellies and our shopping bags, we headed home. My first true German sight-seeing adventure was a pretty great start! Next, Dan and I will be exploring Munich and Salzburg. :)
Here are some pics from the Trier adventure:
I went on this adventure with my friends, the Davis family, which made for some more exciting pics than the stone and nature ones I usually take. We started at an old amphitheater where they actually held gladiator matches. We were able to explore under the arena in what I guess would be a holding area. You could see all the little rooms off the arena on the surface level where who know what type of combatant was held waiting. The whole thing was really eerie, but we did figure out how they did the announcing without microphones. The accoustics in that round space, even without the seating and finished walls, were incredible. We learned at the amphitheater, that Trier plundered it's own old Roman structures over the years to build the next age's new structures. I suppose that's not uncommon in a place that is over 2,000 years old. :)
Our next stop was the most picturesque of the Roman baths. When I think of a bath, I think of something small, or maybe pool-sized like at the Korean bath houses, but no. Roman baths were larger than football fields and heated! We were able to go underneath again to see the maze the water and heating created underground. The scale was truly unbelievable. Actually, reading about Trier is fun because you can take some superlative like "the oldest" or "the best preserved" insert a blank, and then add north of the Alps, and you have the sights of Trier! Sort of like madlibs.
After the baths, we headed for the center of town to see the Cathedral of Trier, which I thought was neat because it is a super old structure with a sort of old addition tacked on to it, both of which were beautiful. The marble and the pipe organ were just gorgeous. The tour book says it's cool because it is the home of the Holy Tunic, the robe that Christ is said to have worn when he died. This is goose-bump inducing until you go in and only get to see a very elaborate box in a super elaborate alcove. More Monty Python and Holy hand grenade than sacred garment of our Savior. Oh well. There were apparently some more super cool churches with unique architecture, but we didn't have time for all of them. We needed food! and shopping! Besides, I'm yet to have an adventure where I actually got to do and see everything. I think it's more fun to be left wanting to go back.
One of the fun things about Germany is that you are almost always guaranteed good local food if you go eat in a skellar. Yes, that translates as cellar, and the best ones are in the Rauthaus, or town hall. We went to a great little skellar restaurant in the shopping district for some German food, and then we hit the Christmas market. Christmas markets are held in cities all over Germany, and they are famous for their nice crafts, delicious snack food, and gluwein. You can get this warm mulled wine in a mug and wander through the market with it. It warms you up and makes the crowds more tolerable. After filling our bellies and our shopping bags, we headed home. My first true German sight-seeing adventure was a pretty great start! Next, Dan and I will be exploring Munich and Salzburg. :)
Here are some pics from the Trier adventure:
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| Trier |
posted by Claire | 4:52 AM
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