Trier Walkabout

When you think of Germany, drinking beer probably comes to mind first. An interesting tidbit we learned today – Germans choose which beer to drink with their meal depending on what food they are eating – similar to what experts recommend about wine. Tom, however, continues to choose his beer in one of three ways – Coors, Cheap or Free.

He went out early this morning (Saturday) to get us some breakfast…he came back with a bottle of OJ, a large bottle of Diet Coke, and a six pack of German beer, and announced, “Beer is cheap here!” – around 30 cents a beer. It tastes pretty good, too.  At 8 am not much is open here, just the bakeries filled with yummy-looking pastries and a few Walgreens/CVS type stores.  We are staying in a central shopping/market area but noticed Friday night that by 8 pm pretty much everything was closed. It doesn’t get dark until 9:30 so that seemed strange, but was also nice because we could take pictures without all the crowds getting in the way.  The streets are deserted in the mornings too, until about 10 am. Then this place really becomes alive – filled with fruit and flower vendors, sidewalk and plaza cafes and wine bars, mimes, street musicians, and tourists.  The rest of our breakfast was a delicious cinnamon roll shared at one of the small bakeries near the Market Square (Hauptmarkt),

I need to make a correction to my previous post. Our train trip took us along the Rhine River for about an hour, then we went down the Mosel for about an hour and a half. Trier, Germany’s oldest city, is at the head of the Mosel Valley, near the border of Luxembourg.

Trier brags that is was inhabited by Celts for 1300 years before Rome even existed.  But even though there are very old buildings and structures here, the old city has a young feel. Much of it has been restored and refurbished, including Germany’s oldest Christian church, which we saw a little bit of yesterday and are formally touring today, and Germany’s best Roman ruins, which we explored on our own yesterday.  In Turkey, we became accustomed to the 5-times-daily Call to Prayer. Here, we hear church bells all day long, some often ringing for 15 minutes at a time. I feel like I’m in London for a royal wedding, as that is what they remind me of – such a beautiful sound.

After breakfast we went for a 3 hour walk, starting with a trek through the old city to Porta Nigra, the only gate left of a four mile town wall built by the Romans. Then we headed over to the Mosel River and walked along it for a while before heading back to the old city – and a nap. We met up with our group at 4:30. After introductions and a tour of an enormous basilica (the only Protestant church in town) built by the Romans we had dinner in the basement of local restaurant.  And that was it for Day Two. YOLO!!