better living through python

On our way back from Luxembourg we stopped at Trier. I found Trier to be one of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever been to in Germany. It’s located in the Southwestern part of the country and is very close to the border to France. It’s also the oldest city in Germany, having been founded in or before 16 BC.

As one might suspect from the date, Trier was part of the Roman Empire and has the largest collection of Roman Ruins in Germany to date. We checked out most of the ruins, but were unfortunately too late to visit the museum. But as with the unofficial theme of the trip, we started out by visiting the Trier Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas Market).

It was gorgeous! We all agreed it’s definitely the most beautiful one we’ve seen yet. All the stalls were covered in evergreen branches, in a Platz (market square) that sat right in front of the Trier Dom (Cathedral of Saint Peter). The Dom was amazing, and you can check out my Germany 2012 pictures folder on Picasa. After we checked out the Dom I bought a Langos covered in nutella and powdered sugar (Hungarian Fried Bread).

Jens and I shared this while we took a walking tour of the Roman ruins of the city. We first stopped by the throne room of Constantine the Great, which is now attached to the Palace of Trier. There isn’t much to the throne room except that it’s gigantic and hollow. The impression it must have made and the intimidation visitors must have felt is indisputable.

Then we stopped by the remains of the local Roman Bath. The remains are quite extensive and you can still see the underground connections that would have been there for the water. Nearby was a collection of some other larger remains (mostly inside a smaller local exhibit), however there was a big foot.

As you can tell from the photo, the statue was huge. These remains are from a statue of Constantine the Great, and they are remains from one of the largest statues still in existence.

It was starting to get really cold, so we headed back to the city, grabbed a coffee to warm up, and then headed back out to finish the walking tour. It ended by visiting the Porta Nigra, one of the last and largest still standing Roman city gates.

We were so cold and tired after that, we finished up a little shopping and then grabbed the car and headed home. Robey and Jens had an extremely interesting conversation in the car, during which I drooled and was in general passed out in the front seat.

There are more pictures from Trier and this day trip to be found in my picasa folder Germany 2012 photos.