Our trip to Trier was one of our first real adventures in “Das Deutschland.” After a few stressful minutes of scouring a map in one of our handy Germany travel guides, we located an interesting looking city within driving distance, Trier. As it turns out, Trier was a very influential city during the era of the Roman Empire. It is the oldest city in Germany and with that, promised a chance to see some of the oldest architecture that this country has to offer. Trier was a mainstay during the Roman Empire, it even served as a residence of Emperor Constantine for a few years. We set out on our drive to Trier along the autobahn through the German country side. The view was second to none, with towering windmills affixed in a background of lush rolling green hills. Driving along the autobahn was generally uneventful, with the exception of a few moments of tempted american road rage. Once we arrived in Trier, it was apparent that we were not the only tourist with the idea to make our way to this historic city. Within a few moments of arriving in Trier, Casey carefully fought her way through the crowd to a Crepe stand, where she quickly communicated in mixture of English/German/French to order up two nutella and banana crepes. After we ate we headed to the Porta Nigra, which is the last standing Roman gate. After a few minutes of trying to capture a decent picture, deterred by the groups of tourists walking in front of my camera, we moved on to the Cathedral in the town center. The Cathedral is the oldest christian church in Germany. This is by far the most impressive building I have ever been in. Not only is it the oldest, but it is by far the most ornate. The shear size of the structure was enough to leave an unprepared tourist (like myself) breathless, not to mention the level of detail in the architecture and fine craftsmanship. To say I was speechless and in awe would be an understatement of mass proportions. I could have walked around the sanctuary for hours, but luckily I had Casey pushing me along. We headed out to the Roman baths and the Archaeological museum. The museum was great (except the fact that it was all in German and the audio tour we rented only explained about 30% of the displays). After a long day or walking around and taking in the sights, we were ready to return to our car and make our way home. In the end, Trier was a very historic city and a great short day trip for us. We look forward to our next adventure, and cannot not wait to share it. –Greg
Outside Our Southern Comfort Zone 