TUESDAY--WE'RE ON THE MOVE

It was an early morning for us--our alarms woke us up at 5 a.m.  We have an early train to catch, and I'm pretty sure I have tickets to the right city this time!

We had another short ride from Boppard to Koblenz, then about an hours wait before our train to Trier. We had a cup of coffee and a pastry at a small station cafe, and then made our way to our departure platform.  The announcements of trace changes are made only in German, so of course, we don't understand a word!  We did ask a helpful gentleman standing near us for a translation, and he helps us make sure we got on the right train.  So far, trains in Germany have been most often late arriving, and different train numbers than on our tickets were common.  A little confusing!

We were in Trier by 10:30, and took a cab to our hotel.  I'd booked a room at a Mercure Grand (OK--but definitely not grand!), and asked for a room with a view of the Porta Nigra ("black gate").  This is the only remaining entrance gate to the Roman city of Trier--dating to 200 AD.  Trier was the largest Roman city north of the Alps.

We were lucky and our room was ready--and we had a great view of the Porta--right in front of our window!

The pretty street to the left of the Porta Nigra:

We quickly unpacked and set out to explore the city, here's a view from the other side of the gate:

The Hauptmarket--main square in town:

St. Peter's Fountain (1595) in the main square:

Much to our surprise, we saw a Woolworths!

At another small square we came across this neat fountain--it was very detailed cast bronze. As near as I could tell by the plaque, it honors manual workers.

Of course, this was my favorite--a brick mason:

A cobbler:

A photograher:

We found a restaurant near the fountain and sat down for some lunch.  We each ordered a local Trier specialty, various meat served with mashed potatoes mixed with sauerkraut.  Good stuff!

Smoked pork steak with potatoes and sauerkraut:

Sausages with potatoes and sauerkraut:

We wandered down a side alley to The Trier Cathedral, founded about 380 AD.  The cathedral has been added to and remodeled for the past 1500 years.  It is the biggest church in Germany.

Looking into the the Baroque chapel behind the main altar, which houses the Holy Robe, said to be worn by Jesus during the crucifixion.  The Chapel is closed to visits, but the Holy Robe is publicly displayed every few years,the last being in 2012.

View from the main alter:

We went out a small unmarked side door and found ourselves in the cloisters:

Right next door to Trier Cathedral is The Church of Our Lady, dating to the 1200's.  It's the oldest Gothic church in Germany.

The main entrance:

It has beautiful stained glass windows:

After we visited both churches we found a nice little cafe with a view, and enjoyed a couple glasses of wine.  Doesn't get much better than this!

After our relaxing wine stop, we wandered around the town a bit more, then decided to head back to our hotel for a rest and possibly a nap!  No nap for us, but we did relax, I posted some pictures and we read for a while.

We ventured back out about 7 for dinner.  We decided to go back to the little cafe by the cathedral.  I ordered another lamb dish, and David tried their choucroute.  It was just OK--the view was definitely the best part of dinner.  We did have some good wine, though!

We enjoyed our first day in Trier, and feel like we've seen most of what we want to see, other than the Roman Ruins that we plan on visiting tomorrow.  We're thinking of cutting our stay short by a day, and moving on to a different location.

Good night from Trier!

The Porta Nigra at night: