Go Back  FlyerTalk Forums > Community > Trip Reports
Reload this Page >

Germany 2013: Roman things, Churches, & the World in Miniature (LH&OS C)

Germany 2013: Roman things, Churches, & the World in Miniature (LH&OS C)

Old Sep 19, 2013, 2:46 pm
  #1  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: DCA/IAD
Programs: most of them
Posts: 3,283
Germany 2013: Roman things, Churches, & the World in Miniature (LH&OS C)

Intro

I devised this trip mainly to visit some of the Roman Empire sites located in Germany. I had seen a documentary several years ago about Xanten which was a Roman outpost in Northern Germany that has been somewhat restored (rather controversially) to what it was like during Roman times. It is a big archaeological park. So I knew about that but very little otherwise. I knew there was a Roman museum in Cologne that was closed the day I planned to visit several years ago on a trip there. So Cologne was added to my itinerary. After doing a bit of research I discovered that Trier was once a huge Roman city and is the oldest city in Germany as a result. Ultimately the itinerary became: Hamburg, Cologne (day trip to Xanten), Trier, Koblenz, Mainz and Frankfurt (day trip to Saalburg).

Checking United there was plenty of availability to Germany for the summer time. I planned the trip in January/February. Originally I booked IAD-GVA-HAM on UA (767) connecting to LH. But a couple of months later the GVA-HAM leg became GVA-MUC-HAM which was a lot of extra flying so ultimately I changed the outbound due to that schedule change to IAD-FRA (747-8)-HAM all on LH. The return I booked to try out OSs new business class. So I would fly FRA-VIE-IAD. Obviously the return was a little round about as there were plenty of FRA-IAD seats on UA but I try to avoid UA when I can, especially the 777 C class with its 2-4-2 seating.

For last several years I have traveled with a DSLR and handful of lenses. It was a lot of kit and heavy to boot. So earlier this year I made the decision to lighten my travel load. After doing a good bit of research I settled on Micro Four-Thirds and the Olympus OM-D E-M5. I had seen it last year on my trip to Asia and found it intriguing. For this trip I only had the OM-D and four lenses. The whole kit including several little accessories fit into a small space. Most of the photos in this report were shot using the kit 12-50mm lens which I believe is underrated. The camera was attached to my right hand pretty much everywhere I went unless it was clipped to my belt or I was on a train. I used a LowePro Flipside Sport http://store.lowepro.com/backpacks/f...e-sport-10l-aw One of the nice features of this bag is that the whole inside divider structure is removable. So I could just keep everything in that section, remove it from the bag and put it in my carryon. It was incredibly convenient. This camera isnt cheap but it takes beautiful pictures and once you understand it, the menus and operation become second nature very quickly.


LH 419
IAD-FRA
4 Jul 2013
Sched dep 18:10 Actual 18:10
Sched Arr 08:15 +1 Actual 07:35 +1
747-8I
Business class 87C (87A) Upper Deck
My friend has a limo service called Bavarian Limo so I had him pick me up and drive me out to Dulles in his 7-series. Since the plane tickets cost next to nothing I decided to splurge a little and it helps out his business which is still pretty new.

Arrived at IAD at about 16:00. No lines at LH C class check in and I was quickly helped. I had checked in online but was unable to print a boarding pass. I think it had something to do with my browser blocking popups. BP in hand and bag checked through to HAM it was down to security. It was surprisingly busy. I had figured anyone who was traveling would have gone on Wednesday night instead. Priority doc check line was a bit slow and then the scanner lines were very long. But ultimately I was through and down to the B gates LH lounge by 16:30 or so.

The LH business class lounge is a bit of a dump. Its located downstairs. Its a small space that I would imagine gets pretty crowded with a full flight. They did have some nice little sandwiches and cheese though.

At around 17:30 I headed over to the gate. I guess they do board via the lounge if you choose to do that and then you walk down a corridor that takes you to the gate. About the time I arrived at the gate business and first class boarding was starting. I stopped first to shoot a couple of pictures of the giant bird taking us over the Atlantic.



When I checked in the upper deck was almost empty but we ended up being about 15 out of 28 including a family with two young kids (maybe 8 and 10) who were in the row ahead of me. The boy was full of energy but settled down before long. I had selected 87C on the aisle but the lumbar support was stuck in the fully-deployed position which would have made it impossible to sit in the seat for very long. But since 87A was empty I just sat there instead. Kind of disappointing that a brand new plane would have a broken seat. The flight attendants tried resetting it a couple of times but it didnt work. It still had the new plane smell and everything looked quite clean so I assume this a/c was recently delivered.

The crew was 3 for the upper deck. A man and woman in their 40s and a younger woman who looked to be in her 20s. They were quite friendly and attentive during the service.
The meal service started as soon as the seatbelts sign went off. I wanted to try and get as much rest as possible and had considered skipping the meal but ultimately decided to eat.
I am not able to sleep on planes, and this plane was no different. I did lay down and rest for a few hours. The seats seemed rather hard for sleeping to me. One nice thing about this seat is that there is a good amount of storage including big bins along the windows and a small compartment at foot level for little things like your wallet and passport. Theres a bottle of water in there as well when you board. The headphones are contained in a compartment by your elbow where you can also stash some small stuff. The headphone jack is located inside the compartment along with the USB input.



view from the upper deck


dinner




The flight was basically uneventful. The lights were turned on about 1.5 hours before landing which is probably protocol but seemed a little longer than necessary given the number of passengers. As we all woke up breakfast was offered.

breakfast


Arrival in FRA was about 40 minutes early. The flight attendants downstairs held the masses back so we could get off first which was nice. FRA is one of my least favorite airports. Its too big and spread out. I worked up a good sweat transferring from B to A. Passport control was perfunctory. It was a looooong walk to get to the A gates. Up and down and up again. Once there I found the business class lounge which was mobbed. I dont think I have ever been in a more crowded lounge. I decided to grab a quick shower. I had to wait a couple of minutes at the desk there for the attendant to show up and she quickly opened a room for me. The room was fairly big. Rain shower head. After freshening up I grabbed something to drink and found a seat at one of the tables that looks out over the ramp. Shortly before 9:30 I made my way over to A17 for the flight to HAM.

LH 012
FRA-HAM
5 Jul 2013
Sched Dep 10:00 Actual 10:15
Sched Arr Actual 11:15
A319 Business class 4D
This is basically a shuttle service. The flight was quite full. Business class was about 18/20. Flight time of about 50 minutes and they still manage to squeeze in a little breakfast service. Not much to say about this flight. We left a little late because the captain said we had 2 no shows whose bags needed to be offloaded. But then 2 people got on very late and sat up front. So I dont know if they were standbys or if they were the missing pax.

Arrival in HAM was easy. Its a fairly small airport quite near to the center. My bag was among the first ones off and from there I exited and found an ATM. Then the S-bahn. The train station is in the airport. Ticket machines are in a small lobby and also on the platform. It was deserted when I got there so I followed the easy directions on the screen and got my ticket. There was a train on the platform which left shortly after I boarded. I think they are every 10 minutes most of the day.
glennaa11 is offline  
Old Sep 19, 2013, 2:47 pm
  #2  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: DCA/IAD
Programs: most of them
Posts: 3,283
Hamburg
Sofitel am Alter Wall
I booked my stay through the Hamburg city tourism office http://www.hamburg-travel.com/. They have lots of special offers. I got 3 nights for the price of two plus a room upgrade, breakfast and a 3 day Hamburg card which is good for 3 days of unlimited use of the public transport system and discounts at a variety of attractions. It ended up saving me several Euros but given how little I used the public transport it would not have made sense for to buy it outright. But since it was included in the package it was a nice perk. I ended up spending about US$145 per night since one night was free. I think that was a good bargain for the Sofitel which is a higher end place.
The folks at the tourism office told me to take the train to Jungfernsteig station which is one past the Hbf. If I had studied the map more closely I would have seen that the Stadtbruecke station is literally right around the corner from the Sofitel where I was staying. So instead of a two minutes walk I took the 10 minutes walk.

front of the Sofitel


The location is pretty unbeatable. The interesting sights of the old town are easy walking distance. If you need to ride the train the U3 is just around the corner at Roedingsmarkt station, and as I noted the S-bahn (S1,S2,S3) is also right nearby. The inner Alster lake is nearby so that is handy if you want to take a boat ride.

There was a giant Lions Club convention in town the weekend I was there so they were all over the place. They had tents set up along the edge of the lake selling food and some other stuff that was related to the Lions. And they had flags all over town welcoming them. I think the convention bureau is well financed.

The main reason for my time in Hamburg was to visit the Miniatur Wunderland. http://www.miniatur-wunderland.com/ It is the worlds largest model train display. They also have a model airport which is astounding and a section devoted to Scandinavia which has working boats. Everything is computer controlled. They also have moving road vehicles as well in some of the sections. I think those are the newer parts. The level of detail is really amazing. The trains are HO scale. The airport must be the equivalent. Seeing how they make the planes take off and land is quite ingenious. I spent 4 hours there. I went in the evening which I believe is less crowded. On Saturdays they are open until 23:00 in the summer. You can also pre-book a time slot via their website which I recommend. Even if there isnt a line (like when I was there) it gets you a 10% discount. Photos barely do it justice. The videos are much better. You can find lots of them on YouTube. Their official videos are great because they mount the cameras on the trains. Just watch this video http://youtu.be/ACkmg3Y64_s





































glennaa11 is offline  
Old Sep 19, 2013, 2:47 pm
  #3  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: DCA/IAD
Programs: most of them
Posts: 3,283
Around Hamburg
In addition to the Wunderland I spent a lot of time just walking around. The weather was gorgeous, sunny, 70s, no humidity. And since the city is so far north the sun didnt set until nearly 10PM and it was still twilight at 11. There are several large churches whose spires you can see from far away. St. Michaels has a nice observation deck with views over the city. You can walk all the way up or take the fast elevator. The ruins of St. Nikolai are preserved as a memorial to the War. It was bombed and destroyed during WWII and was not rebuilt like most other buildings in the city. They also have an elevator up the tower but the view isnt as good as St. Michaels because theres a big scaffolding covering one side of the tower.

The Hamburg city museum is quite worthwhile. It does a good job explaining the history of the city. Most exhibits are explained in German and English. They also have audio tours. The location is right near the St. Pauli U-bahn and the big botanical garden park.

Remains of St. Nikolai Church


St. Michaels Church


view over the city from St. Michaels Church tower


Interiors St. Michaels









I took the tour of the Rathaus (City Hall) on Sunday morning. They have tours in English every hour at :15 past. The tour lasts about an hour and shows you all of the grand ceremonial rooms. The city hall was built in the 1880s and 1890s after much of the city was destroyed by a big fire in 1842. So the city hall is quite modern. It was built with electric light and steam heating for example. And it is full of allegorical symbols. Our guide did a nice job explaining everything. Well worth the 2 euros to me (half price thanks to the Hamburg card). The outside of the building is very impressive as well with its giant clock tower. Theres a nice fountain in the courtyard at the rear.























glennaa11 is offline  
Old Sep 19, 2013, 2:48 pm
  #4  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: DCA/IAD
Programs: most of them
Posts: 3,283
I also did a 2 hour boat ride through the canals on Sunday. Pretty pricey at 20 euros. Commentary and stand up comedy in German only. My highschool German has been enough for me to get along. And I understood quite a bit of the commentary on the boat. The old Germans were rolling in the aisles so I guess the captain must have been pretty funny. There is a series of locks that you have to go through in order to get from the lake out to the rest of the canals. So that takes up a good chunk of the trip. If I had it to do again I think I would take one of the trips that goes around the inner and outer Alster instead. But everything was already full by the time I went to get a ticket.










I really enjoyed Hamburg. I am sure the great weather helped. But everyone was pretty laid back. Lots of very attractive people. I would happily return. It was a nice re-introduction to Europe. They do so much better over there than we do in the USA. They really seem to know how to live.

Germans love their scale models




St. Peter’s Church tower








enormous bus!


view from my teeny little balcony






I had never heard of this lock bridge tradition before. But these things are all over the place. I guess it was started in Paris. Two lovers get a lock engraved, attach it to the bridge and throw the key into the water so their love will last forever or something like that.


They are very colorful










Bidding auf wiedersehen to Hamburg it was off to Cologne to start my Roman adventure. I took the ICE from Hamburg Hbf. It takes about 4 hours. I booked first class in a cabin so it was nice and quiet. There was a family with a small boy in the cabin when boarded. I guess kids are the same everywhere as he had a hard time sitting still for long. They got off about half way through the trip and after that I had the cabin to myself.

Last edited by glennaa11; Sep 19, 2013 at 3:20 pm
glennaa11 is offline  
Old Sep 19, 2013, 2:49 pm
  #5  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: DCA/IAD
Programs: most of them
Posts: 3,283
Koln Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium

In Koln I stayed that the Hyatt Regency which is just across the river from the Dom (Cathedral) and the main train station. I booked my stay using Hyatt stay certificates. Thanks to reading Luckys blog back at the beginning of the year I knew about these certificates. The Hyatt Cologne was a choice category hotel so the certificates cost about $150 per night. That was a decent saving over regular rates. As a Hyatt platinum I got complimentary internet and that was about it. I may have been upgraded as my room did sort of have a river view. They wanted an insane 25 euros for breakfast so I did not eat at the hotel. There are plenty of bakerei nearby. I had a very hard time figuring out how to get onto the walkway that runs on the Hohenzollern bridge to get across the river to the hotel. Basically you have to go up the stairs towards the Dom and then go left and keep going left. I was pretty soaked by the time I got to the hotel. There is also a big set of stairs on the other end that you have to go down. If you have a lot of luggage you might be better off taking a taxi. It is definitely an easier walk from the Koeln Messe-Deutz station.
The room was nothing special. You are paying for the view and the location here. The design seemed a bit dated, not the dcor so much as the overall design. The TV remote also barely worked. May have needed new batteries. I noticed that the little battery door was missing off the back. Little details seem to not be this hotels strong suit. The internet worked well though which was definitely a good thing.
Unfortunately I just read the other day that most Hyatt properties have raised their minimum certificate level which makes this trick a lot less usable now. Its shame but Im glad I got in on the deal on this trip.

After freshening up I went back across the bridge to see the Dom. I had been here once before over a decade ago in the pre-digital days. The church has beautiful stained glass windows. It was dark and cool inside. Entry was free but they had priests stationed near the entrance asking for donations.



















The bishops of Cologne go back a long way!





Sunset is late this time of year, about 21:45 when I was there and so it is twilight, blue hour for a good hour after that. At about 23:00 they turned on the exterior lights that shine on the Dom which makes for some good photo opportunities. I noticed several other photographers with their tripods.












The next morning I went first to the train station to get my ticket to Xanten for the next day. The connection takes about 2 hours going through Duisburg. There are a couple of different options. I chose the less expensive ticket which is essentially a day pass for the region which cost about 30 euros. If I had wanted a slightly quicker trip using ICE trains it would have been about 50-60 euros. There is only 1 train per hour from Duisburg to Xanten so if you miss it, you wait a while. I found that out the hard way. But more on that later

glennaa11 is offline  
Old Sep 19, 2013, 2:49 pm
  #6  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: DCA/IAD
Programs: most of them
Posts: 3,283
Romano-Germanic Musuem Cologne http://www.museenkoeln.de/roemisch-germanisches-museum/

Ticket in hand I grabbed a muffin for breakfast and went to the Romano-Germanic Musuem which is on the other side of the Dom from the train station. One nice thing about Germany is that almost none of the museums prohibit photos, just no flash which is fine since I never use flash anyway.

The Romans built their first settlements here in the 1st Century CE. Wikipedia has great info on everything if you want to know more about the history. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonia...Agrippinensium

The museum seems rather small, but has a big collection, mainly of items found in Cologne or nearby. There are a few big mosaics including one that was found under the museum called the Dionysus Mosaic. Lots of glass. It’s amazing that so much glassware has survived close to 2000 years. Apparently the Rhine region was a big glass producer. In addition to the Roman artifacts that have a collection of prehistoric items, mainly things like spearheads. And they have a nice collection of Frankish items. The Franks came after the Romans in this part of the world. Overall the museum has a great collection and is one of the “musts” for this type of trip.





Dionysus Mosaic








old Roman keys










The Romans used to erect these monuments to themselves while they were still alive. This guy was some sort of former officer in the Roman legions who basically retired in this area.


Belt buckles




“Philosophers’ Mosaic”


Not sure if these were supposed to be some sort of fertility rite objects or symbols or what their purpose was.



Last edited by glennaa11; Sep 19, 2013 at 3:27 pm
glennaa11 is offline  
Old Sep 19, 2013, 2:50 pm
  #7  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: DCA/IAD
Programs: most of them
Posts: 3,283
The Praetorium
From there I wanted to visit the Praetorium which was the Roman governor’s palace. It was discovered only relatively recently. It is near the old Rathaus. I had a hard time finding it though as it is down a sidestreet not exactly where I was looking. The foundations and some parts of the walls exist and have been excavated. You can walk around it on a raised walkway. There are also models and drawings or computer animations of what it looked like. They also have a small collection of other items including a few nice models of other buildings. I got the combination ticket when I visited the Roman museum for 8 euros. It was supposed to be more like 9,50. The guy at the entrance to the Praetorium looked puzzled by the ticket and called the other museum but let me in. You can also walk through the old Roman sewer from here. There’s not a whole lot to it and it dead ends so you have to go back through the tunnel to the museum to get out.









The Germans love their scale models




Roman sewer


Cologne City Museum
During the afternoon I stopped in at the Cologne City Museum. I am a big fan of these city museums as they usually give you a great intro to the city and have interesting artifacts. This particular city museum was a bit disappointing though. There are some good items from the turn of the 20th century that are rather impressive silver and gold objets d’ arte designed for various World’s Fair type exhibitions. They don’t deal with anything earlier than the late middle ages. To their credit there is a decent amount of stuff on WWII.





The Germans love their scale models





Last edited by glennaa11; Sep 19, 2013 at 3:28 pm
glennaa11 is offline  
Old Sep 19, 2013, 2:50 pm
  #8  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: DCA/IAD
Programs: most of them
Posts: 3,283
Xanten - Colonia Ulpia Traiana
As noted above, the trip from Cologne to Xanten takes about 2 hours. I arrived at the Koeln Hbf plenty early for my train only to find out once it was supposed to arrive that it was 35 minutes late. So much for German efficiency. I went down to the information desk to see if there were any other workable options and the guy just showed me the train leaving in an hour. So I went back up and waited for my late train to come. So once we got to Duisburg I had missed my train to Xanten by about 10 minutes. So it was a long wait until the next one. Eventually I got to town around 13:00. Since I knew the archaeological park closed at 17:00 I felt like it was going to be a rush to see it.

It takes about 15 minutes to walk from the train station to the park. Along the way you pass the edge of the town which is adorable. Theres a medieval wall, a working old windmill and you can see the cathedrals twin towers that dominate over the town.

I wasnt sure what to expect from the Park. I had heard that some people thought it was too Disney-fied. Basically they have reconstructed several Roman buildings including several guard towers. Rather than building the wall they planted hedges between the towers which are now very tall. And they planted trees in avenues to show the street layout. There is the amphitheater, one of the baths, and one of the main gates. There is a partial reconstruction of one of the temples. If you go around the back of the temple there are stairs down underneath it with a gallery of pictures showing the excavations and what the temple would have looked like complete.

There are also some very un-Roman things like a big childrens playground. There were several school groups in the park at the time I was there. They mostly looked like middle schoolers.
The real jewel of the park is the museum. It has a nice collection of objects discovered in Xanten during the excavations. And they have a very large pavilion in the back covering the excavation of another, larger bath. Here you see mainly just foundations and some walls. The complex was massive though. Signage throughout the park is available in English which is nice. I ended up taking pictures of a lot of the signs to read later as I was rushing through the park.

Colonia Ulpia Triana was established around 110 CE. Once again Wiki tells you some of the history. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xanten











interior of rebuilt Roman bath










portcullis winches inside main entry gate




Objects in the museum














glennaa11 is offline  
Old Sep 19, 2013, 2:51 pm
  #9  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: DCA/IAD
Programs: most of them
Posts: 3,283
Large bath excavation





Once I had seen enough I ran back into town to see the cathedral before it closed. I think it closed at 17:00. As I said the town is very cute. The cathedral is fairly austere on the inside. But there is a nice collection of very detailed altarpieces which were pretty impressive. You can also walk by the main altar which is quite colorful.

Xanten Cathedral



































From the cathedral is a very short walk to the main square which is surrounded by restaurants. I decided to stop here and have dinner.

Overall I think Xanten was worth the visit. It was nice to see the reconstructed buildings to get a better idea what it was like during those times. They are currently building some homes which will help set the scene. But most of the park is open green space. The town itself is quite charming.
glennaa11 is offline  
Old Sep 19, 2013, 2:51 pm
  #10  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: DCA/IAD
Programs: most of them
Posts: 3,283
My final day in Cologne I decided to venture a bit farther afield since most of my time had been spent in the little area around the Dom and the hotel. So I bought a day pass for the public transport which cost about 8 euros. I ended up spending some time visiting a church called Grosse St. Martins. The church was largely destroyed during WWII and the rebuilding wasnt completed until the 1980s. What I didnt know before I got there is that in the basement of the church you can visit the Roman foundations and excavations. The site where church stands was first a Roman sports ground and then a warehouse. You can see some of the foundations from the warehouse as well as the foundations that are holding up the church. It costs something like .50 euro to go down into the basement.

Roman foundations under Grosse St. Martin Church


Cologne city gate





I walked around the area of Rudolfplatz and then took the tram up to the zoo station. I dont like zoos so I skipped that to visit the botanic garden which is next to the zoo. It was a cloudy grey day and rather cool compared to the warm sunny weather I had most of the time on the trip. Lots of pretty flowers and tons of bees. I was getting pretty tired so I head back to the hotel to get some rest.















glennaa11 is offline  
Old Sep 19, 2013, 2:52 pm
  #11  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: DCA/IAD
Programs: most of them
Posts: 3,283
Trier - Augusta Treverorum
Friday morning I took the almost 3 hour train ride from Cologne to Trier. In Trier I stayed at the Mercure Porta Negra which is literally right across the street from the old Roman gate, the Porta Negra. The hotel calls itself 4 stars. That’s probably 1 star too generous. But the rate was reasonable enough, about 104 euros per night including breakfast and internet on a prepaid rate. The check in was very smooth. The room was a good size and had a great view of the gate and the old town. I liked that the window opened which made for some good photos. There was a bit of a bad smell in the room which I think came from the drains in the bathroom. I think I saw this mentioned on TripAdvisor. It was not overpowering though and opening the window helped air out the room. Breakfast was pretty basic. I think they charge about 5 euros if you are buying it on your own which seems reasonable. The TV got like 100 channels.

Trier is fantastic. I totally fell in love with it from the first moment. It oozes history. I understand quite a bit of the city was destroyed in 1945 but was rebuilt. Here’s the wiki about the city’s history http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Trier

The Dom here is quite impressive. The site was a palace during Roman times and then several churches were built on the site over the years. Extensive excavations in the last 50 years or so have unearthed plaster ceiling paintings from the Roman palace. The plaster was in little pieces so it had to be reassembled like a jigsaw puzzle. The reassembled paintings are in the Cathedral museum which is around the corner from the cathedral itself (no photos allowed).

The Dom itself is quite nice inside and you can see a lot. It is nice and bright. If you go in the late afternoon you get very good sun. There is a small treasury museum inside the Dom that costs 1,50 euros. It is mainly monstrances and chalices but also some bishop’s rings and some reliquaries. I thought it was worth seeing.













They trace the bishops back to 250 CE




Cathedral Treasury Museum

















Last edited by glennaa11; Sep 19, 2013 at 3:30 pm
glennaa11 is offline  
Old Sep 19, 2013, 2:52 pm
  #12  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: DCA/IAD
Programs: most of them
Posts: 3,283
Next door to the Dom and attached to it is the small Liebfrauenkirche. The stained glass here is incredible. And in the late afternoon sun the place was full of color.



















From there I walked over to the Imperial Throne Room which is now a church. The building has survived from Roman times. It has been turned into several churches over the years in varying degrees of ornateness. Currently the interior is very austere. They have nice boards on the wall explaining how the building was used over the years. It even survived the WWII bombing. I guess the Romans knew what they were doing.













Porta Negra from my hotel room




wine bar in the central square




glennaa11 is offline  
Old Sep 19, 2013, 2:53 pm
  #13  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: DCA/IAD
Programs: most of them
Posts: 3,283
Saturday I went to the Rheinisches Landesmuseum which has a big collection of Roman objects from Trier. It does a nice job explaining Triers history, primarily its Roman history but there is also some stuff from the Middle Ages. There is an English audio tour but it is very limited. I dont know why they cant translate more of the interpretative explanations. It seems like that would be easy enough to do with the audio devices even if they didnt want to add more signs to the walls. There is a great model of the city during Roman times in the museum as well. http://www.landesmuseum-trier.de/en/home.html

On the walk to the museum


















The Germans love their scale models









After the museum I walked to the amphitheater which is still used from time to time for performances. There was some sort of opera happening at the end of the month I was there (July). You can also go down underneath the floor of the amphitheater which was kind of neat.



Amphitheater basement






glennaa11 is offline  
Old Sep 19, 2013, 2:54 pm
  #14  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: DCA/IAD
Programs: most of them
Posts: 3,283
From there it was a walk back to town stopping at the Imperial Baths (Kaiserthermen). They also hold concerts here from time to time.



It was nice and cool in the underground part of the baths














Then I walked back through the town to the Porta Negra in order to go see the inside.













---------------
glennaa11 is offline  
Old Sep 19, 2013, 2:54 pm
  #15  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: DCA/IAD
Programs: most of them
Posts: 3,283
Trier

Frankish Tower dates from about 1100 and was not built by the Franks


Completely by dumb luck I happened to schedule my visit here at a time that coincided with a big celebration called Moselfest. Essentially its a big carnival/fair along the Mosel River. ANd on Saturday night of the festival theres a big fireworks display at 23:00.























glennaa11 is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.