Trier

Yay for long weekends!  On Labor day we went to Trier, which may be the oldest city in Germany, and we saw a bunch of really, really old stuff, and it was awesome ;) Trier played a major role in the Roman Empire, being one of the 5 largest cities in the known world at the time, so lots of Roman stuff.  Old. Roman. Stuff.  Cora was especially excited about this, because she loves history, and she loves anything to do with the Roman Empire.

This is the Porta Nigra (186 AD)

Porta Nigra is Latin for black gate.

In Roman times there would have been 4 gates around the city, but only this one is still standing, and is on the North side of the city.

Hi, I'm here too.

In 1986 the Porta Nigra was designated as part of the Roman Monuments, Cathedral of St. Peter and Church of Our Lady in Trier UNESCO World Heritage Site (which are what most of the pictures in this post are of)

This is the view from the other side.

 

Here is Kaiserthermen (Imperial Baths)

 It was under re-construction, but we were still able to wander around.

 In the Middle Ages a noble family took up residence in the main building and expanded it into Aldeburg Castle.

 It was quite the labyrinth underground, which was Cora's favorite part.  She wanted to be down there longer and explore more. 

 

The Trier Cathedral, Dom St. Peter

 This is the oldest cathedral in Germany

 

Right next door - literally, right next to the cathedral, and I thought they were the same building at first - is Liebfrauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) - 1209 AD

The Constantine Basilica was the throne hall of the Roman Emperor Constantine at the beginning of the 4th century

 It's used as a Protestant church now.

 the ceiling (below)

 

In the 17ty century the archbishop built his palace right next to the basilica, incorporating it into the building.

There are beautiful gardens running from the palace, all the way to the Imperial Baths.

statue of Constantine

 

Everything is within walking distance of each other.  Most cities are like that, and most city tourist information centers have maps with self-walking tours.  I love it.  We get a little complaining from the kids, but mostly they're pretty good.

 

2nd century Roman bridge (oldest bridge north of the Alps that's still in use for traffic)

 

Last, but not least, was the St. Matthias Abbey (we did have to drive to this one)

I'm not certain when it was built, but monks have been living there since before the Middle Ages.

 

This abbey is a renowned place of pilgrimage because of the supposed tomb of the apostle Matthias (the apostle that was called to replace Judas Iscariot).

 

The apostle's remains were said to have been brought here in the 12th century, supposedly by Constantine's mother, Helena.

 

There is a beautiful cemetery on the grounds, immaculately kept.

 

 

 

One more picture I have to show you.

Potato wedges/French fries with mayonnaise.  This is VERY German.  Like, as German as bratwurst, it seems like.  Madelyn has been dipping her French fries in mayo for years, and we all thought she was gross.  Then we move here, and apparently she's ahead of the game ;) Anyway, on this day I decided I was going to give it a go, and guess what? I liked it!  You can't knock it 'till you've tried it, right? ;)

 

Anyway, it was a really fun day, and the only thing we skipped, which I regret, was the Roman amphitheater.  Oh well, you know what they say - Once you've seen the ruins of one amphitheater, you've seen them all ;)

Barefoot Park

This past weekend the Primary in our ward had an activity for the 8-11 year olds (for activity days).  They went to a Barfusspfad (a barefoot park) in Bad Sobernheim.  Our family decided to tag along, as did a few others, and it was a lot of fun.   

During the past couple of decades, hundreds of these parks have opened up around Europe (mostly in Germany and Austria), with the idea that there are many benefits associated with walking barefoot. We pretty much go barefoot all the time in this family (except for Joe), so this was right up our alley.

The Bad Sobernheim park is about 2 miles long, and with a wide variety of walking surfaces (river stones, bark mulch, mud, logs, sand, etc.), your feet get a very long and stimulating massage....kind of ;)  There are also several kinds of balancing challenges, and we even forded through a river.  Lot of pictures.

Now, some of us have more tender feet than others, and this was fodder for an endless amount of comical comments.

"Oh, the things that people can get away with charging money for"

"What would you do for a Klondike Bar?  Not this."

"Different sizes of different kinds of rocks give you different kinds of pain. Who knew?"

"Which way is the short-cut?"

But really, we ALL had a good time! :)

You know, I can not see this kind of thing ever happening in America.  There are just too many regulations to ever get away with it.  Think of the injuries!  Think of the parasites!  Think of the lawsuit-happy patrons!