Making History in Trier

It just has so much history, this place Europe.  It's one thing to read about the origins of Western Civilization in a textbook, but it is really quite different to walk through its doors, climb its towers, and walk through its tunnels.  I don't know what says more, that the footprint of mankind from 4000 years ago still exists enough to see it in person today, or that hundreds of generations have come and gone since they were constructed.  Either way, I find it all fascinating.

Take Porta Nigra, in Trier for example.  Trier is the oldest city in Germany, founded by an Assyrian prince over 4000 years ago, and then crowned as a remote capital of Rome almost two thousand years later in 16 AD.  With Trier located near the northern edge of the roman empire, the "Black Gate" would at times mark the boundary between Pax Romanus and maurauding Barbarians.  Originally one of 4 city gates built in red sandstone, it earned its black hue - and its name - as it darkened over time.  It survived through the ages because it was turned into a church and monastery in 1035.  If its walls could talk, it could tell you about visits of Roman emperors, sanctified monks, and Napolean Bonaparte.  That's history.

THEN WANDER from Porta Nigra down through the streets of Trier, through the Hauptmarkt (where shop keepers have been peddling wares since around the birth of Christ; where a monument to king Henry I is set) to the oldest Christian church in Germany - St. Peters Cathedral - or the Cathedral of Trier. Commissioned by Emperor Constantine as an array of cathedrals in the new Holy Roman Empire, it was set originally in Roman stone.  Walk to the front of the Apse, and there in the Ambulatory, locked in a chest, is said to be a seamless and untorn tunic worn by Jesus Christ himself.  Lady Helena - wife of Constantine - claimed to have found it on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.  She brought it back to the church for which she had donated her own palace grounds to be built.

A part of history but not relegated to it, a plaque in the lower level crypts names all of the bishops and archbishops of the church in a continuous line, starting from AD 250 until today.  The plaque still has room for 50 or so names, another 500 years, give or take.  The choir was practicing for evening services as we toured the building.  History isn't just an event in the past, it's an unfinished story.  Indeed, on the clock tower is the inscription NESCITIS QVA HORA DOMINVS VENIET - You do not know what time the Lord is coming.

Seated directly to the right of this singularly phenomenal structure is  the oldest Gothic church in Germany, the Liebfrau Kirche (Church of our Lady).  It was built in 1235.  It, too, is still home to a practicing community of faithful.




WHERE A ROMAN EMPEROR RESIDES,  then one might also find Roman Imperial Baths.  I find the under-floor heating in our own home a mechanical marvel (built: 1945), but the Romans had it almost two thousand years earlier.  In a credit to their ingenuity and industriousness, the imperial baths siphoned off part of the Mosel river into a complex of subterranean tunnels, where brick furnaces and slaves were to keep the water at a constant 120°F for Roman patrons two stories above their heads.  What is the bigger marvel, that it was such a an amazing operation, or that it still stands for children to run through today?

One one hand, Trier is just another historic European city.  On the other hand, it is still a living and breathing text book of the all of the epics of Western Civilization.  Four thousand years of human achievement, collapsed down into a single afternoon's stroll.  

History is amazing. 

The Hauptmarkt under evening lights. 

Ancient marble Roman foot? 

Ornate Electoral Palace

Trier from above - view from Porta Nigra. 

Icons of Holland

First up...wooden shoes...

Then the dikes, and dike houses....

Then there's the tulips....

And last but not least, the windmills....

Bikes, Dikes, Wooden Shoes and Windmills

A tribute to my roots! We definitely think Holland is worth a return trip.   Amsterdam is nice, but we left a lot of stuff in rural Holland un-seen, including the homeland of my mother's side in the far North...




First, there are a lot of bikes in Amsterdam. A lot of bikes.

Travelling with kids tip: If going to Amsterdam, find the Pancake Boat tour.  When the boat launches, an unlimited buffet of pancakes and a wide variety of fixin' opens. Great thing for a cold rainy day, which it was.   Oh and added bonus: Pancakes cooked with strips of bacon in them. Mind. Blown.

The Anne Frank house tour - no pictures allowed inside, unfortunately.   A commemorative statue outside Westerkerk, just down the corner from the Anne Frank House.

The house blends in to the neighborhood. In fact, we were just lounging by a street level door waiting for the tour and saw the placard.

Waiting outside of the Anne Frank House for the tour.

The Rijksmuseum, home of Rembrandt and his contemporaries.  Another travelling with kids tip: Make museums a scavenger hunt, give them postcards or pictures of the famous works and and have them find them all.  The Rijksmuseum does it even better, they hand out a scavenger hunt with a page for every room in the museum. Great way to keep the kids engaged.  Here, they respond to some questions about Delft Blue in the background....a common sight in my house growing up ;).

The Grand Finale, Rembrandt's Night Watch. I'm the last person to give a critical review of art, but as a layman Rembrandt s use of salient light is incredible - it almost looks as if stage lights from around the room are lighting up portions of the painting like a stage.

Outside Amsterdam is where real Holland is....here in the seaside town of Marken, for example, some of the locals are seen in traditional dutch clothing replete with wooden shoes.

On a dike!  The island town of Marken is a bowl, a dike rings the entire island holding back the seawater.   A strange feeling for sure.

Volendam....sometimes the dikes are well disguised. Here, the dike makes up the boardwalk for a shopping area.

Chase finds an appropriate souvenir.

But what about the windmills, you ask?  Zaanse Schans for sure delivered on some spectacular windmill sights....to be continued.

Wachtenburg

The Spring weather is in full tilt, and after a long, cold gray weather it feels nice to be in the warm sun again. Today we day tripped over to Wachenheim an der Weinstraße, just a few minutes up the road.  They bost the region's most well know Sekt (sparkling wine) and also a castle ruins that sits in the hills above the town.  Great way to spend a warm spring day.

Above Wachenheim at Wachtenburg

Jazzy wanted a family picture too ;)

There's a tower above Wachtenburg, and when there's a tower we climb it....

...even when there are a lot of stairs. 

The ruins and local grape vines. 

The grape vines stretch as far as the eye can see. 

Wachentburg from above. 

The castle was hosting a fundraiser: Buy a balloon, sign a postcard with a return address, tie it on and let'er fly.  The one the comes back from the farthest distance wins. 

Even with the prospect of winning a prize, Jazzy had a hard time letting go. 

Goodbye balloon! 

Wait! Come back! 

Hiking back to the car. Dad always walks, but Jazz prefers to fly.