Yesterday, we travelled a little further away from our friends' home & went to Trier, Germany. To be honest, I didn't know much about Trier before we went to this city & knew probably the same amount when we left (due to the fact that I STILL can't read or speak German)! It is a beautiful city, and I've learned more by looking on the internet. However, since I've been there, I at least have certain landmarks that I recognize & can relate to. So, first things first (if anyone else is as geographically-challenged as I am), where are we? From my understanding, Trier is only 6 miles from the Luxembourg border & sits on the Moselle River...although I don't remember seeing a river!So, now that we've been to Trier & I've looked on the internet, I've found out that Trier is the oldest city in Germany, was founded in 16 B.C. by Emperor Augustus, & became the favored residences of several Roman emperors. The city still has some ancient Roman ruins in the middle of the city...sometimes right next to a "modern" building or a new one under-construction. That's something that I found kind of ironic, seeing a "vintage" building right next to some "modern" ones. But then, this little observation made me think about what this country has been through over the centuries, in particularly this past century. I wonder what this country looked like prior to the 2 World Wars? What would this country look like if it wasn't at the center of World War II? Kind of makes me sad to realize the devastation & destruction this country has been through. And I'm also just now realizing that we have not seen any mention of war related history (or at least maybe we just can't read it). So, far though, looking back through the internet, I haven't read much mention of war either. Hmmm!
Back to our adventure which, again, begins with a parking hunt! (Makes me wonder how difficult this adventure is during Germany's "busy" season!) We ended up kind of circling around to get our bearings, even with our friends' GPS! Greg finally found a parking garage, but it ended up being a good hike away from anything interesting. We weren't sure of where we were going, but we saw a beautiful church on the horizon & just started walking to it.
The church turned out to be the Trier Cathedral (Trier Dom). 
History lesson time! "The present cathedral in Trier stands on the site of a former palace of Emperor Constantine the Great (the 1st Christian Roman Emperor) and still contains part of the Roman original structures. Its art and architecture covers a time span of more than 1,650 years. It is the oldest church in Germany. The Cathedral of Trier houses great works of art and a holy relic that draws many pilgrims: the Holy Robe, the garment said to be worn by Jesus when he was crucified. Directly adjacent stands the earliest Gothic church in Germany, the Church of Our Lady, built in the 13th century." We didn't get to go in the Church of Our Lady (Liebfrauenkirche) because it was closed for some restoration & renovations. However, from the internet pictures, it looks like a beautiful church with some great architecture! The Trier Cathedral is quite impressive, and I can't imagine that the architecture of Liebfrauenkirche is more beautiful than the Trier Cathedral, but that's all the websites mention is the other church! Personally, I think that the Trier Cathedral is one of the more beautiful churches that we saw.
Next, we had to shamefully ask in English where to go for a tour "train" of the city...since we couldn't find it on our own! (I really wish that I had tried to learn some German words before going there!) Our friends recommended taking this train for the kids & to figure out if there was any place that we wanted to see. Good thing the tour was in both German & English...we at least understood what we were seeing!
View of the former Roman Bath Houses...from our tour train!
After our city tour, we went into the Porta Nigra, the last standing Roman "gate" to the city.
When I first saw this structure, I really thought that maybe there had once been a fire. However, it's called the Porta NIGRA (Black Gate) because the stone has weathered & turned black over time. Of course, can't go any further without a history lesson! "The oldest defensive structure in Germany, the Porta Nigra was erected in about 180 AD when the Roman city was surrounded by walls. Trier was a Roman colony from the 1st century AD and then a great trading centre beginning in the second century. It became one of the imperial capitals under the Tetrarchy at the end of the 3rd century, and became known as the "second Rome."The Porta Nigra is the only one of four Roman gates that still stands in Trier; the others were gradually pillaged for their stone and iron. The Porta Nigra survived because it was used as the humble residence of a hermit monk named Simeon for seven years (1028-35). After his death he was buried in the gate and the structure was transformed into the two-story Church of St. Simeon (lay church on the bottom, monastery church on top). Napoleon destroyed the church in 1803, but the 12th-century Romanesque apse survived and the entire structure has been restored to its medieval appearance.
1,700 years after its construction, the Porta Nigra is still impressive at 118 feet long, 70.5 feet wide and 90 feet high. The entire structure is made without mortar - the sandstone blocks are connected only by iron rods. The stone blocks weigh as much as six metric tons each.
Two gateways lead into a small inner courtyard, where unfortunate intruders would be trapped and covered in tar. Above are two tiers of defense galleries with large open windows. It is flanked by two towers, a four-story western tower and the three-story unfinished eastern tower. Inside, an empty apse at the east end and carvings of church fathers like Irenaeus, Ambrose and Jerome recall the Porta Nigra's use as a church."
Sorry! That was long winded, but I found it so intriguing that I couldn't trim it down! I really thought the part about intruders being trapped & tarred & can imagine the very spot where this took place. But I had nothing to fear because we had our own Roman guards to protect us:
After the Porta Nigra, we ventured to a local bakery (bäckerei) for a local snack. These bäckereis are everywhere in Germany & bread & pastries seem to be a staple in the German diet & at every meal! It was fun to try something that we weren't sure what it was, but we couldn't figure out how to ask either. We knew that apfel is apple, so Colin & I each got something with apfel in it, but not the same thing! Sheridan had to get a baguette, but it was soft, fresh & very tasty. I can't remember what Greg had.
Then, we had to walk around & try to find a church we heard about on our tour, Kirche St. Gangolf. Apparently, the only way to access this church is to take a private alleyway, which is why I think Greg wanted to see it! If you didn't know it was back there, you would probably keep walking past it! We walked up just as the noon mass was letting out, but there were still people praying & such.
This church isn't as old as the other churches we've visited, but it was still beautiful inside.
Here's the slideshow of our visit to Trier.
By the time we had visited the Kirche St. Gangolf, we were SPENT! While I wanted to go see the Roman Bath houses (Kaiserthermen) since I saw the ones in Bath, England, I didn't want to drag our children or myself across town. When we drove by the bath houses on our tour, there wasn't much of an interior structure to see & the springs to the bath houses are all dried up.
So, it was time to move on to the next stop in our adventure...Luxembourg!
We also saw what we think was a "primitive" tractor & hay bailer...but it's just a guess since we couldn't read the signs! I managed to get a video of it in motion, but it was loud & looked interesting & dangerous with pitch forks attached to the back of it!
At first the kids didn't want to go down the slide, so Greg went down first by himself. The kids & I took the "old-fashioned" exit & went down about 91 stairs!
Like I said, there were 91 steps to get up to the entrance of the 747, so therefore, 91 steps to get to the slide too! Wouldn't you know it?!?! Colin had absolutely NO PROBLEM climbing these stairs & proceeded to continue to do so about 6-7 more times, with the last 4-5 times carrying the mat that he had to sit on to slide down! Remember the video from yesterday & the screaming "My legs are tired!" Lesson learned...
Sheridan took a little longer to warm up to the idea of going down the slide...she's my timid & cautious one! However, either Greg talked her into it or she saw Colin do it, she went down at first with Greg, then me, then probably could've kept going & going & going! She too loved the ride! 
