Trier, Capital of The Western Roman Empire
So the final day of my stay in Germany, I wanted to go to Trier. I had heard from a number of people here in England that Trier is an old city, and they were not kidding. So we woke up a little after six in the morning, and we went down the train station. Trier was over three hours on a train, and we took the slow train so I could check out the Rhine rivervalley. I am glad we did. I cannot say how awesome it was to see the Rhine rivervalley. They should call it the Vine rivervalley because it is one long hilly vineyard. It was unbelievable. I was on a train with dirty windows, so I didn't even try to take pictures. The sights were unbelievable though. The train hugged the river, while boats and barges cruised up and down the river with thier nation flags attatched. The river literally runs down this winding, hilly region. Hamlets dot the riverside, and almost on every freaken hill their was a castle! It was sooooo cool! I really wished I had spent some time going from one hamlet to another because this was right up my alley. Literally, within five minutes you see as many castles. It was just really picturesque and beautiful. If I ever go back to Germany- I know where I am going! So anyway, we show up in Trier, and we were meeting with one of the ladies from my class there. Hazel, my classmate, lives in Luxemburg which is right next to Trier. Trier is actually not far from France or Luxemburg and is to the south west of Frankfurt.
This is the porta nigra (black gate), which is the biggest draw in Trier. Trier is a Roman City- as if you haven't figured that out by now. It was made a Capital in the late 3rd Century by Diocletian, and it is known (I am not sure how accurately) as the oldest city in Germany. The porta nigra was built in the 2nd century AD, and it was everything from a rally for defence early on to part of a church at one point. One of the govenors of Trier ordered everything medieval destroyed in the city, and he only wanted Roman structures, so everything here is a little before my study period. It is also out of my realm of geography for study as well- I study Anglo-Saxon England 4-11c, with emphasis on the 10c. I had never seen a Roman city before, so it was really cool wandering around. Hazel's husband, Simon, told me I should go to Italy to see the real deal, but I am more a medieval guy, so I was happy with this. We actually bought a day pass which allowed us to get in free at the porta nigra and almost all the other things we saw. You can climb all the way up to the third story of the gate, and here is a picture I took of the city from the top.
From the Black Gate, we went over the church that is to the left in this picture. It is the city Cathedral, which was ordered built by Constatine in 326AD. It is in a Romaneque model, but it has boroque statues inside. It is really pretty inside, but again- it is outside of my knowledge base really.
They allowed you to approach the alter area to a point, but I couldn't really get good pictures of it. This is only part of it. Below this is a gate which allows you entrance into the alter area. They have a shrine there with some holy robe or something or another- some relic. These carvings were beautiful though. Flanking the gate are statues as well, again couldn't get good pictures of them. Obviously, you can see inside the alter area are more carvings in a similar boroque style.
I snuck behind the baptismal font to take this one- I am not sure if I was allowed to go back there- but HEY reap the benefits! We of course got Mary, Christ, and John, and then above them in the ceiling- those are all sculptures in the ceiling!- is the heavenly gathering with angels, saints, the holy spirit... They are all hanging out in heaven. It was really impressive! I couldn't really get a better picture than this because the carvings were too high up and my flash just wasn't reaching them.
After this church we went to the one next door, which really wasn't all that impressive so I didn't take any pictures. After that though, we headed a few blocks away to the Roman Amphitheater! Oh yeah, cue in the Gladiator Soundtrack Baby!
This is from the highest point in the amphitheater. When we first showed up, I strut through the gates humming the soundtrack to Gladiator- I felt like screaming from the center of the snowy floor- Are you not entertained! We also went underneath, which wasn't all that impressive to tell you the truth. We walked around the amphitheater for a while, then Hazel and her husband had to go back to Luxemburg. So we parted ways, and me and Taramin went to the ruins of the Roman Baths.
It doesn't look like much but a bunch of broken down stones, but it was actually pretty cool. You can walk underneath the ground here, and it was like a labyrinth. It was really cool. It was much more than I thought it would be that is for sure. I couldn't believe all the different hallways and whatnot. They had these little chambers in odd places too- pretty neat.
After this I decided to graffiti in Trier just for posterity. Hey, why not?
Rumors of the wild exploits of my youth were so notorious they reached all the way to Germany! Ha..ha..! This was really funny, and I just had to take a picture for obvious reasons. After this me and Taraminn went to a Roman Bridge, which wasn't all that cool. Then we walked through the redlight district of Trier and went to the Carl Marx House- not so interesting. I thought it was funny though that the video game, comic book, and roll playing stores were all in the red light district next to houses of ill repute. Yeah, I would like a little T&A with my superheroes and games! Ha..ha..! Anyway- so we went and got something to eat in a place called Louisiana, and they had pretty good food actually. Then when we left- I saw the woman of my dreams. She was so HOT! I asked her if I could get a picture with her- she was the hottest German chick I had seen. Where was Pimp Claus when you needed him???!?!?!
Saucy! Yeah- see that expression- that is the expression of a desperate man! Ha..ha..!

So anyway- that concludes my trip to Germany. The next day I got on a plane and stood on an over two hour train ride back up to York- fun! Some final comments- the biggest impression from my trip to Germany had to be the beautiful landscapes. There was something very rugged about Germany, but that ruggedness was actually very beautiful. The people there were very friendly, and in Frankfurt many of the people had passable English. That is one thing though- I felt like a moron not even knowing how to say hi and bye in German when I showed up. By the end of the week- I was saying these things in German. I picked up some other words- and I even picked up a couple German comic books too in order to work on learning German. I also got a small book on learning German. The place I would love to go back and see would have to be the Rhine Valley- it was just so awesome to take a train ride through- it was marvellous. One thing I was struck by in Germany was that graffiti was everywhere- this kind of shocked me considering how clean the cities and towns were. Like England, Germany allows smoking nearly everywhere you go- this is the one really bad thing about Europe which makes me long for California. I hate coming home smelling like an ash tray and knowing my lungs have just been partially corrupted because of someone elses desire to kill themselves slowly. This comes from a guy who watched his father suffocate from lung cancer at 54, so I have a grudge and very little patience with smoking. Those A-holes that run those companies should be put up on charges.
Anyway enough soap-boxing; German food was awesome! I was nearly starving from my all fish and chip diet here in England. I had schnitzel in a couple different varieties- good stuff. They love their meat there- if you are a vegy person- stay away from Germany! The Germans seem to be a very official kind of people on the whole- much more efficiant than the English here. But I have to say the Germans are much more formal than myself on the whole. The language itself is based around when you initially meet someone you are very formal, and you address them in certain ways with everything you say until they tell you that you can speak to them informally. This is not something I am really familiar with. I also had a bit of a culture shock with staying with these really well-to-do people. I felt like I was walking the dark sometimes with some of their more formal ways. I don't think that is a reflection of German society as a whole though- I think it was just because of their particular status. This really led me to not really feeling completely comfortable at their place. I just wasn't sure what I was supposed to be or not supposed to be doing- so I just tried to be myself and hoped that would be good enough and that I wouldn't offend them.
Something I have noticed though, is that at least for a lot of the people I have spoken to here in England and in Germany- a lot of them hold grudges about nationality and religion. I honestly don't know how serious these grudges really are though. Many of the English I have spoken too are really funny- they will say this group or that group of people are 'strange'- but then they laugh it off and say that they are sure that they are good people at the core though. I have two German girls in my classes and I spoke with people in Germany, and they clearly dislike the English. Meanwhile, no one likes the French. The English even have a funny saying where they go "Well, what do you expect? They are French!" There is this guy going to my school who has a French mother and English Father- the English won't have him because he is French, and the French won't have him because he is English. I told him he could just go to America and no one will give a hell and call him 'white'- the umbrella term for anyone with light skin. Of course both views have their draw backs.
But I was surprised about the religion thing. I have seen that both here and in Germany-  some people really don't like Catholics. I have not really seen it the other way around- but I have spoken with people and you'd think the Reformation happened yesterday. It just goes to show if people are not crying about race, they will freaken label some other way and bitch and moan about that. This is really a shitty trait of people in general, I think. Whatever- one thing this whole grand adventure has really enforced to me though is what I came here with- people are people. We all have the same desires, cares, fears; but we just have a different ways of doing. Anyway- I hope you enjoyed this little summary of my adventure in Germany- let me know what you thought of it- I rarely ever get feedback on these adventures. I know they are being viewed because I can see it on the counter- but outside of that...?
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