Our Trip to Trier

On May 18th and 19th we decided to take a very short trip up to Trier, Germany - Thursday was a holiday in Germany, and Friday was a bridge day, so no one goes to work. About a 2.5 hour drive.

For all those non-historically educated people, Trier is the oldest city in Germany, dating back to 68 B.C. Most of it was built by the Romans, and many structures around the city are still standing from when it was built (bridge, old wall, gates, baths, buildings).

And boy does it have alot of shopping!

Here is the large Roman wall, Porta Nigra. It stands to the North portion of the city, and you can walk all through the structure.



While we were there, a big museum exhibition was there concerning Constantine - the Roman emperor when Trier was founded. Here is one of the feet (replicas) from that statue.



We did try out the local fare: Restaurant Louisiana. Nothing to write about - ok at best!



Just off the center is the Constantine Basilica. It is now used as a Protestant church. Walking through the back portion, there are beautiful gardens, and ponds, and an occasional playground.



In the center are two side-by-side churches. One Protestant (on the left) and the other Catholic. They actually share a common wall! Also, as you can tell, they were built in completely different styles.

Walking in the middle, there were various interesting fountains. This fountain represents the craftsmen.



Lastly the view of the old Roman Bridge on the Moselle. This is said to be the third ever Roman bridge.



Next up:

Jun 3-10, Italy, Toscana Region

Jun 21-24, Copenhagen Denmark

Day-Trip to Schloss Auerbach

The 3rd weekend of April, we decided to go one Sunday afternoon about 50 minutes east of us to Schloss Auerbach, a castle near the city of Bensheim (North of Mannheim, south of Frankfurt). Several people at Scott's work recommended both Bensheim and the castle, and while the city looks very nice, the castle was very impressive!

To get to the top, you can drive nearly the entire way there, and then you have a very short hike to the castle. In the castle, there is a cafe and restaurant along with many stairs up to the top of the castle.



The castle itself had many nice views of the Baden-Wuttemburg area.

Unfortunately, we didnt take advantage of the restuarant, which is on a terrace overlooking the valley. We will when our guests come!



For anyone coming to Germany, and looking to do some mild walking, but wanting to see a castle, this will be the castle we go to. The other option is Castle Trifils, but that has a much steeper decent.

Our trip to Antwerp, Belgium

During March, we made it to Antwerp - in part due to Scott's work. We drove up Friday night, and came back on Tuesday Evening. Scott had to work on Monday and Tuesday, so Ellen and the boys had the day to themselves. It was nice to get the "upgrade" to the business suite!

We stayed at the ParkPlaza - a hotel next to the main train station (which you could see from our window), and also the Zoo.

On saturday(a bit chilly) we made it to the zoo. Now you would figure a zoo in the middle of the city couldn't be that nice, but for the amount of land that was there, it was great! We went 2 of the 4 days...

We then went walking around the main shopping areas near the church. Antwerp is the main European headquarters for MANY Global shops (much like Manhatten), so there were MANY different shops to look at. This is the main church in the center of Antwerp.

This is a statue near the church. The legend is that there was a giant whom collected taxes or hands from sailors coming into port. This brave sailor thus cut the hand of the giant off and cast it to sea. The hand is what he is throwing in the picture. The city is also named after him.

On Sunday, we went to the Netherlands (about a 30 min drive North of Antwerp). There, we went to dinner at a city named Bergen op Zoom. Belgium and the Netherlands are the only two countries where the beer is claimed to be better. Scott's beer of choice was Palms and Ellen has a "Snow White" half beer, half sprite.

Scott worked the next two days while Ellen and the boys made it to the Zoo again, and just shopped around the city. Antwerp, while large with lots of things to do, it is also quite dirty, with much of the infrastructure falling apart (or so it seems). Coming in to the city at 11:00 pm on Friday night, driving right through the "ghetto" wasn't a pleasing experience. And it was strange to see Ice Cream Trucks driving through the ghetto at after 11:00 pm as well. While we had a fun time, it was a check mark off our list of things to do, and thats it!

This trip also marked another first - Joshua gets to face forwards!

Joshua Taking Steps...

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