Tuesday, June 15, 2004

Visiting Trier Finally made my way up to Trier today, a place I plan on taking my mom and Marcela to later this summer.  It is considered the oldest city in Germany, where legend has it that Trier was originally settled twenty centuries before the Romans set up camp there 2,000 year ago.  In fact the Romans managed to leave a rather impressive building behind:  the Porta Nigra, which is what is left-over from one of the gates into the city. Trier reeks of history.  Lots of old buildings and statues.  I'm not sure who this ass-kicker was, but he looked ready to climb down off his fountain and smite this heathen. Speaking of being a heathen, I found the city's cathedral, or Dom.  The main part of it was built in the 4th century, with additions made for the next thousand years or so.  Not being afraid of bursting into flames, I made my way inside to check out the interior.  Very impressive.  Not Notre Dame impressive, but still nothing to sneeze at.  I even considered lighting a candle, but rather than press my luck, I split.  Oh, by the way, the Robe of Christ is supposed to be housed there.  That's kinda cool, in a way.  I got to walk into Jesus' closet. Speaking of influential people, Karl Marx was born in Trier.  I didn't get a chance to check out his house, but there's always the next trip.  First Jesus' closet.  Next the founder of communism's whole freakin' casa.  Who knew Trier was this cool? Subway does, for one.  I made my way to the town's center and was struck not only by how German it looked, but also by how American, too.  Look at this picture closely.  Toward the bottom on the right you can see the Subway logo on the building across the square.  Beautiful building.  Not-so-beautiful franchise taking up the bottom floor.  Same with this other building in the square.  You probably can't make out the logo, but that's a McDonalds. Oh, in case you're wondering what a Sandwich Artist whips up in Germany, here's the menu.  Pretty much the same thing as you could get back in the states. Besides franchises, there were also lots of small cafes, bars, stores, and ice cream vendors.  Oh, and the ocassional street musician busting out the mad jams.  This guy was checking out the guitar player, too.  Another ass-kicker. Eventually I tired of being intimidated by statues and Christ's attire, so I hopped back on a train and headed for home.  The trains had been crowded on the way to Trier, but not so much on the way back.  The platforms in Homburg were practically deserted, for instance.  I couldn't figure out why until I actually reached home and turned on the TV.  Germany is playing Holland tonight in the Euro 2004 tournament.  Hell, I could probably run up and down my street butt-naked right now and no one would notice.  Let's see what happens tonight if they actually win.  Maybe some of my neighbors will riot.  If so, tomorrow's post will be more interesting that usual. Related links: The history of Trier The Karl Marx Museum in Trier 9:50:19 PM     |

© Copyright 2005 Alex L. Mauldin.