Schnitzel & Spaetzle : Trier

This past weekend was our first four day weekend. Since we're still in a housing war with on-post housing, we decided to do only day trips. It was actually nice because Friday felt like one of the first normal days since Sam's return from deployment...except we were in Germany instead of Clarksvegas. We woke up leisurely, did a few errands on post, and then went to the gym (It was a GTL kinda day without the T because let's be honest, Sam does NOT tan). We ended the night at wine fest in Wiesbaden and met a few of Sam's new co-workers. That was a TON of fun, and I will post more on wine fest later, since it's currently still going on...10 whole days, can you believe it!?!?! And it just so happens to be my birthday week. I think they knew I was coming, don't you?

Anyhow, we decided to take a trip to Trier. We met up with friends from C-bus that are stationed in K-town. It was nice to see faces we knew from America. Actually, the connection is unreal how we know them. ROTC--> OBC--> Germany! It was also nice because she is a great planner and we just showed up, score!

Trier is the oldest city in Germany. It was quaint and cute. We enjoyed looking at the architecture of the Romans and visiting the oldest cathedral in Germany.

Here is Trierer Dom. Constantine tore down the Palace of Helen in AD 330 and built a church. It burned down in 336, and an even larger church was built. It is beautiful, and we both agree it is nicer than Notre Dame. I know what you're thinking, no, we didn't happen to make it on time for mass at this cathedral.

The tour guide spent a lot of time explaining the detail here. All I can remember is that Abraham is on the far bottom right and the angel is to his left.

I'm not sure if the pictures below will do the cathedral any justice, but here are a few.

[This pic will be referred to later in the post]

Trierer Dom is known for having the Holy Robe relic. You can find more information about the genuineness of the Holy Robe on the cathedral's website here, but in any case it was a beautiful moment to be involved in prayer in front of the wooden shrine that holds it. A priest read prayers, while a woman sang beautifully next to him. Unfortunately, I didn't feel comfortable taking pictures during prayer, so here is what the seamless Robe and shrine look like.

The Robe lies in an area behind the wall that is lit up (check out the light from afar in the first picture inside the chapel earlier in the post). You can see inside at the top through a hole that is surrounded by angels in the clouds and looks like you're entering heaven.

Sam's grandmother passed away this past week, so we lit a candle in her name and prayed. We were sad to not be home with family but happy to know she is living all the things we have seen in the form of sculptures and paintings in the past few weeks. We miss you O'ma.

Next, we visited what remains of the Roman bath that Constantine built. Here is the foot of a statue of Constantine..it must have been gigantic, right?

This is what is left of the bath. In the middle ages they left this part standing, so it could be used as a wall, and the rest of the bath was covered by a factory. After the WWII bombings, it was one of the only structure standing.

Look how detailed they were with laying the bricks.

This is the wall built in the middle ages. There is no detail or pattern as to what bricks were laid compared to the Romans' masonry.

We are inside what would have been the bath. Where we are standing was the hot bath, and behind us would have been the cooler baths of varying temperatures.