Man, that stuff must have been pretty good. I can only imagine the gelato that will be eaten when we finally get to Italy! 
Saturday, October 29, 2005
One last compulsory ice cream
Man, that stuff must have been pretty good. I can only imagine the gelato that will be eaten when we finally get to Italy!
Peace Sign Jesus
We must have been in a surreal-comicy mood. Because we found a postcard of this scene in the Dom information center, and it looked so funny, like a Family Circus peacenik Jesus that we set out to find it for real. Nobody else seemed to find it amusing so maybe we were crazy......
Bobblehead Jesus
Wandering around, we noticed that the Jesus on the Top of the Liebfrauenkirche is oddly out of proportion and looks sort of like a cartoon character.
Imperial Baths
Touring the Imperial Baths the next morning, which were built for emperor Constantine, who left before they were finished so they were never used. The grounds were used as military barracks later on as well. It was really neat wandering the underground corridors; felt like you were in real-life DOOM game or something.
Compulsory ice cream
While we wandered around that evening, we saw soooooooo many people walking around with ice cream that we decided it must be either extremely good or there was a road block forcing everyone who passed to get ice cream. So naturally we had to stop, and Mike tried it. Dirt cheap and good, apparently.
Hotel FrankenTurm
This was where we stayed in Trier, the Hotel FrankenTurm (a Rick Steve's Reccomendatio.) Not all that exciting to look at but a FANTASTIC bargain if you're willing to share a bathroom. Double room was 50 Euros if you shared a toilet and shower, 80 Euros for a private bath (but they were all booked the night we were there). But the shared bath is shared between only 3 rooms, and we didn't have a problem with it at all. The walls are thin, though, which can be a problem if you have, *ahem* lively neighbors....... But downstairs is a great restaurant and bar with great atmosphere, a nice free breakfast, and free use of the parking garage with a 20 euro deposit, returned as soon as you bring the key back. And the hotel is less than a block off the Hauptmarkt. Great location.
The Electoral Palace
(You can see the Basilika in the background). I have no idea why this building is pink. It's an administrative office and so not open to the public, but this wing was built in the 1700s and is Rococco style, so they say. There is a really pretty garden in the front though, that we could wander around.
The Basilika
The Basilika is the largest surviving single-room structure from Roman Times in the world. Oddly, while it is a church today, it was not a church before. It was the throne room of Emperor Constantine. It is 90 ft wide, 220 feet long, and 108 feet tall. The squares on the ceiling are 10X10 feet each. It's really big. So it used to just be filled with a big throne in the frong, busts of roman emperors etc in the niches, and everyone would come honor the emperor and ask for favors etc.
Liebfrauenkirche
This is the "Church of our Lady" next door to the Dom cathedral. It dates from the 13th century and is the oldest Gothic church in Germany.
The other travesty
And don't even ask me which one is the alpha and which is the omega. I don't even care. They're so retarded.
*gasp*!
And then, as you are walking out of this 1700 year old church, you see these horrific pictures painted ON THE WALL of the church above the doors. These were painted in the 1970s and are supposed to represent the Alpha and the Omega (I'll post the other one after this one) But they look like some stupid kindergarden project and whoever came up with this idea should be ashamed.
The Holy Robe
Behind the altar is this enormous room and reliquary for a "Holy Robe" supposedly belonging to Jesus. It was discovered by St. Helena (she was the mother of Roman Emperor Constantine) in the 300's. These relics are really odd, but strangely interesting. The treasury of the church also includes a "Holy Nail" supposedly used in the crucifixion. But I didn't see it because 1. you had to pay extra to see the treasury and 2. I think it was in a box anyway.
Dom Interior, Trier
The Cathedral's interior was quite elaborate and ornate, as you can see from this section of the ceiling. What is odd is that the bulk of the decorations/statues are not in fact glorifying Christ, Mary, etc, but are built "honoring"certain bishops, etc. It's all about money, baby.....
The Dom Cathedral
This place is HUGE. And it's only 1/4 the size that it was when it was built, around 330. At that time it was the largest church in the world. It was really interesting to learn about the huge rift between the catholic community (the bishops, etc) and the rest of the town.
Bad Monkeys!
You may have to take my word for it, but over the shoulder of the woman on the left you can see the butt of a monkey, who is bent over looking at his own butt in a mirror. And on the other side of the big face-thing, is another monkey who is looking at himself in the mirror and touching his private parts. It really cracked me up.
Hauptmarkt, Market Fountain
This fountain dates from 1595 and I thought it was fabulous. The top figure is Saint Peter, the patron saint of the city and the large nearby cathedral. the women around the bottom represent different virtues (temperance, justice, strength, wisdom). But around the post behind the virtuous women are all of these little monkeys doing mischevious and obscene things! There are monkeys pulling each other's tails, picking their noses, etc. etc.
Trier, Porta Nigra
This is Trier's Porta Nigra (or "Black Gate") It dates back to 160 AD and is a remnant of the large Roman wall that encircled the city. Most of the wall was torn down and its elements used to build other things, but the Porta Nigra survived because a monk named Simeon walled himself into one of the towers from 1028 until he died about 6-7 years later. And they sainted him, although whether it was for walling himself up in a brick tower I'm not sure.
Goodbye to Mosel
The next day we shopped a bit in Bernkastel and then decided to head to our next destination. As we drove further south on the Mosel, the river became less windy and the hills less steep. But I still thought it was pretty in its own way. Within a couple of hours we were out of the romantic Mosel and heading into historic Roman Trier
Bernkastel-Kues
As much as I loved the charm of this area, I do have to concede that at a point all of the quaint little villages start looking alike :) Another bonus of sticking to 1 home base I suppose. Anyway after our trip to the castle we headed to Bernkastel-Kues for our last night on the Mosel. It was a cute, decent-sized town, not a bad 2nd to Cochem as far as evening activities goes. And it wasn't nearly as crowded. But its much further south, which makes a bigger difference on the Mosel because the river is so windy it can take a LONG time to get just a bit further south. Anyway, we enjoyed this town. Nice shopping, good restaurants, still plenty of Federweiser....we stayed in a hotel called the Hotel Doctor Weinstuben. It had a lot of character in the lobby etc, but 1. we stayed in an annex across the street which was newer and not as charming (but perfectly adequate, fairly roomy room), and 2. it was more expensive than I felt it was worth. Maybe in a lower season it would have seemed like more of a bargain. But I dn't really have a lot to complain about re: the hotel. Nice location, really cool interior, nice outdoor terrace, but too expensive. (they were I think 102 euros for the night) They have some nice deal prices for wintertime though.
The Vine-train
the steeper vineyards had these "vine trains" that had tracks that went up and through all the vines and allowed you to tend them and pick the grapes in places you wouldn't ordinarily be able to.
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