Thursday, July 08, 2004

Trier, Germany You might remember that I made a visit to Trier a few weeks ago.  Well, yesterday was the second trip, this time with mother in tow. It was also my mom's very first trip on a train in Europe, so once the train pulled into the bahnhof in Landstuhl, the excitement began.  Actually, riding on a train is usually a low-key affair, though this trip was more eventful than usual.  More about that later. After the two hour ride up to Trier, we made our way from Trier's train station over to the Porta Nigra.  Didn't seem like it had changed much since my last visit.  Guess things that sit there for two thousand years tend to get set in their ways. We then took a mini-train ride around Trier.  Nice little trip, though I was by far the youngest person onboard.  Did help us to get our bearings and figure out where all the important sites are located, including the ruins of the Roman baths and ampthitheatre, and the Karl Marx house.  Still haven't gotten to go inside, though. After the mini-train, we had lunch at one of the outdoor cafes between the Porta Nigra and the central market square. Then off we went to the Dom, dodging raindrops along the way.  Once inside, we finally got to see where they hold the Jesus Robe.  They don't have it on open display, though you can get to peak through a door at the room it is stored in.  The room is easy to spot way in the back, because it's lit up with ten jillion candles.  Besides clothing, the cathedral also holds several tombs, including a spooky looking one featuring a guy reading, a baby perched at the top of a tower overhead, and a skeletal Mother Death standing guard.  I don't know who is buried there, but his friends had strange ideas about how to remember him. After the cathedral, we walked around some more in the direction of the Landesmuseum in Trier.  I wanted to check it out because it was supposed to contain the whole several thousand year history of the place and also hold a treasure of Roman gold coins that had been dig up in Trier about ten years ago.  On the way over, we passed by a pink palace with a huge garden in front of it.  Note the grafitti on the base of the statue on the right in the first picture.  Some people have no shame. On the train ride back from Trier, the real excitement began.  At one of the many stops along the way, the conductor came on the intercom, and rather than just announcing where we were at or where the next stop would be, the voice said something along these lines:  "Germangermangerman bus germangermangermangerman bus germangerman bus." At that point, everyone around us sighed, gathered up their belongings, and got off the train.  Not knowing exactly what was going on, my mom and I hustled along after them to a point just outside the train station.  Apparently, something was wrong with the tracks between that station and the next one on the route, so buses were being used to shuttle us to the next stop where we could grab another train and continue our journey.  Wonderful.  So after a ten minute wait, another bus came along with about 100 people hoping to get on.  Somehow my mother and I both managed to squeeze onboard, and away we went.  We were soon at the next station where we again sort of followed everyone else to get onto the correct train to Saarbrücken where we soon found the next train to where we started our day in Landsthul. So now it is Thursday and we're taking it easy.  No major trips planned for my mom's last day in Germany other than getting everything ready for tomorrow morning's flight to London.  Our tentative plans for the two days we'll be spending in London are to see the changing of the guard, spend a few hours in the British Museum, ride on the London Eye, shop at Harrod's, see Hamlet at the Old Vic, and just try to wrap-up mom's visit to Europe in the best, most relaxed way possible before she flies back to Texas Sunday afternoon.  I'll report back Sunday night with how it all went. Related link: The Trier photo gallery:  contains all the pictures from the two trips so far. 2:11:05 PM     |

© Copyright 2005 Alex L. Mauldin.