Day 21: Trier

We were up and out of our apartment pretty early to catch our train from Köln to Trier. As it turned out, our train was delayed about 20 minutes - that was okay, because it gave us a chance to get some breakfast at the train station. We had a transfer in Koblenz; the train station there felt very familiar from our many visits there with the German Exchange program. From Koblenz to Trier, most of the train ride was along the Mosel River, through the Mosel valley past the many vineyards. It was a beautiful ride.
We arrived in Trier and were treated to a look at the Porta Nigra on the walk from the Hauptbahnhof to our hotel. This ancient Roman gate has an amazing presence, especially as you try to imagine all of the history that its stones have witnessed.

After checking into our hotel, we walked back into the Altstadt, through the Porta Nigra. We took a city tour on the 'Römer Express' - it took us past the main sites of the downtown area, including the remains of a Roman bath house and the medieval city wall, that basically forms a square around the city.

Among the sites on the tour were the Konstantin Basilica- the only intact Roman structure outside of Rome,

and the Karl-Marx-Haus (his birthplace). It seems that the people of Trier still appreciate Marx's fashion sense.

We visited the Dom (cathedral) separately so that we were able to go inside as well. This is the oldest Christian church in Germany. Once again, we were blown away by the architecture and the resilience of these buildings.

Trier is the oldest city in Germany. It was a Celtic city long before the Romans occupied it just prior to the birth of Christ. In the 300s the cathedral was commissioned at the same time as it's namesake, St. Peter's, in Rome. The first arch bishops to arrive smashed the Roman idols. This statue of Venus was saved from being smashed so that it could be posted in the square on the way to the church. Passersby were encouraged to stone the statue. The inscription next to it is from Venus asking the good citizens to punish her for her sins.









 Trier, of course, also has a Weihnachtsmarkt in the main square. We walked around and enjoyed the Holiday spirit, as well as some of the specialty food items. A block over, there was a small skating rink set up - nothing compared to the track in Cologne yesterday - the boys opted to pass on this one.