Trier on Friday

On Thursday evening we drove to Bernkassel on the Mosel River, where Steffi has friends that do a bus trip to Paris on Sat.  So we went a day early, to go to the town of Trier in Germany.  The area is German wine country with vineyards on every possible square inch of land, and up some very steep hillsides.   It was a beautiful drive along the Mosel River to Trier, which is the oldest city in Germany, occupied by the Romans since 16 BC, but actually settled by the Asserians as early as 2000BC.  There is a gigantic Roman gate called Porta Nigre, or Black Gate.  It's like a small castle with four floors, and a huge arch entrance, courtyard and galleries.  We climbed to the top floor.  More steps.  The stones are almost black because of its age and the environment discoloration.  We took the double-decker, hop on hop off, bus around the city to get a general impression and see as much as possible, which included a boat ride on the Mossel River.  We went to the amphitheater, built by the Romans for gladitator battles and the traditional Christian fights with lions, who were then eaten by the victors which were always the lions.  Under the amphitheater is a huge cavern, wooden walkways over a lot of water which seeps in.  Very spooky and great at the same time.  On the boat trip, we ate lunch, lovely. Then back into town to see the Church of the Holy Robe, a magnificent building said to contain the relics of the robe worn by Jesus before his death.  The robe is not on display and we couldn't get into the area where it's kept.  But the church is beautiful.  Back to Bernkassel for dinner with our hosts.  Their house was built in the 1700's, three stories high and narrow.  We slept in the attic, more stairs.  But it was wonderful.  The next morning we left with our hosts for Paris.  Photos of Trier in separate blog.

On the way to Paris

Today is Thursday. Steffi has tomorrow and Monday off.  We leave this evening for Trier, Germany which we'll tour tomorrow.  Trier has the most extensive Roman ruins outside of Italy.  They think the site has been inhabited since around 2000 BC.  Knowing that I love ruins, I'm excited to go and see what they have.  Then on Sat. we go on a bus tour to Paris, 5 hours there, spend the day and early evening, and return another 5 hours.  A very long day, but we know the bus tour driver and it is an easy way to see Paris.  I will be away from the computer until Tuesday, maybe Monday night.

I walked to the train station yesterday, one I've never walked to before, and missed it by five or more blocks one way (so ten or more blocks altogether), had to ask directions several times, finally found it.  Next time I can just get there much easier.  And I went to see Moonlight Kingdom in English at my neighborhood theater.  It has Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, and was entered at Cannes 2012.  Very interesting, odd and altogether wonderful movie.  If you get the chance to see it, I'd recommend it.  Then you'll know how really odd I am.  You'll be saying:  who recommeded this movie, and why again?  At least it isn't full of blood and violence and typical American movie-making stuff.

The t.v. news here is much different than in the US.  It actually covers almost all of Europe and America gets their small share, with very little of interest to be reported.  I wonder how we can have all the news we do in the US and almost none of it is international news.  I even saw an interview with Assange yesterday with a goup of Occupy'ers from around the world. Even the news from China, France, the Mid-East and England is pretty well balanced.

I'm walking four to six miles a day.  We went to water fitness a couple of days ago, and will be going two times a week, plus going to the gym at Steffi's work, and walking all over town.  I even had a map and still got lost.  It was actually fun.  Everyone is very helpful and nice.  Next report after Paris.

Saalburg and Hessenpark

Monday was both an US holiday and a German holiday so Steffi and two of her friends and I went on a short road trip to Saalburg and Bad Hamburg.  The 'bad' is pronounced bod, and means baths.  It is an area first developed by the Romans when they conquered Germany, as baths, as well as a stone fort at Saalburg.  There was a great museum there, showing coins and tools and shoes and a great layout of the fortress.  The Romans had built a 340 mile long wall along their western front to keep from being attacked and Saalburg was a supply station with its towers and baths.  Very impressive.  The interior courtyard is huge with gigantic trees and lush wild grass, all surrounded by the fortress' stone wall.  It was cool and peaceful, and we left as the kids were all arriving, running and shouting.  Perfect timing.  The friends have a red convertible, which I got to ride in along the autobahn. There's lots of misconceptions about the autobahn.  I had an image of four lanes of traffic all going 130 miles an hour.  Not so.  There are trucks and travel trailers and slower cars in the right lane and the left lane if for passing at a pretty fast clip, probably 90 mph or so.  Sort of like the LA freeway or even I 25 from Colorado Springs to Denver.  Because the day was so beautiful, there were lots of convertibles out. Great fun.  From Saalburg, we went to the Hessenpark which is a recreated old town with buildings open showing how they lived then, in the late 1800's, which was the same as they lived in the 1700's and even early 1900's.  Lots of folks were in costume, enacting daily life.  It was very interesting and very well done.  Lunch in Bad Hamburg under the umbrellas.  We came home early enough to miss the holiday traffic.  Today I'm having coffee and then taking a walk along the Main River.  It should be warm again today, so I walk to leave early, and beautiful.
Tonight we are going to the pool for water fitness, our first time.  I hope it's like the Y in Colorado Springs.  But of course, everything is different here.  I'll take the tram and train to Steffi's work, and we go from there.  Photos of me in the red convertible later.

Sunday walk

Today, Sunday, I walked several miles, let's say four, to the Romer Platz, so named because they discovered ruins from the Romans when they started to rebuild after the war.  The Town Hall is in the plaza and the buildings are built in the old style, however they are all built since 1945 because Frankfurt was pretty much leveled with the bombing. From there I walked to the Eschenheimer Tor or tower, one of the original towers in the wall built around old Frankfurt.  When Napoleon came here, he tore down the walls, but left several towers standing.  My guess is that most or some of it had to be rebuilt as well.  On the way back, I came upon Peruvian whistle musicians playing in a square so I sat and listened to them for awhile.  The last time I heard that kind of music live, it was in Colorado.  Probably not the very same guys, but maybe.  They get around.  It was nice to sit and rest before crossing the bridge with the locks and coming home.  It's lovely here, mild and oh yes, it is still light at 10PM, they have a long twilight.

Heidelberg Castle 2

Heidelberg Castle May 2012

Yesterday, Saturday, Steffi and I drove 1.5 hours to Heidelberg to see the castle.  It is the most beautiful castle of all I've seen.  We toured in interior rooms, the courtyard, passage ways, towers.  The castle has a moat, now dry of course, houses the world's largest wine vat or cask which is several stories high (round).  We ate lunch at the outdoor restaurant overlooking the courtyard, sitting in the sun.  Other castles I've seen have very stark looking buildings, this one is baroque and the most important Renaissance structure north of the Alps, ornate, and decorated.  First built in 1214, it was occupied until the 1700's. Over time the buildings decayed ( thanks in part to two lightning strikes and subsequent fires) and to me the most spectacular sites are the walls with empty windows, with the sky showing from behind, maybe four stories high or more.  There's a huge round tower which a chunk fell off of.  The artist, Turner, painted numerous paintings of the ruins and Twain wrote about it. Once it was uninhabited, the residents of Heidelberg began taking the stones away, as if it was a quarry, until a poet- artist came to the castle, named Wolfgang Muller von Konigswinter, who argued for the restoration of the castle. Later a French count, de Grainberg, oversaw the beginning of the preservation. The citizens in the town below stopped taking away the stones, and slowly it was put back together.  The castle is 260´ above the town on a hilltop, and for us to get there, we climbed a staircase of 303 steps ( fifteen or so stories) , and then more steps once inside.  So today, Sunday, it a real day of rest for me.  I'll probably take a walk along the river later today, but it's overcast and may rain.  No shops are open on Sundays, nor tomorrow which is a religious holiday. No shopping until Tuesday.  I have everything I need.  I've attached photos on the next couple of pages.