Trier is the oldest city in Germany. It is located in the NW corner close to the border of Luxumboerg. The area had some Assyrian settlement 2000BC, but most significantly was a city where Romans ruled the Western European Empire since 16BC. The Porta Nigra is what remains of the gate into the old city. You still enter into the pedestrian old city here.
We arrived in late afternoon and found a hotel near the Moselle River. It had been raining for a week causing havoc and flooding in some northern European countries. Here the Moselle was at "hochwasser" mark--brimming and spilling over. It was moving fast and stranding entrances to the river boats near the old Roman bridge. We were still able to eat at an outdoor restaurant near the river. I believe this is usually a more tranquil river, not like the Rhein.
The next morning it was still misty with occasional light showers. We started the day in the old city by taking the trolley tour. That kept us dry and gave us an overview. We saw Karl Marx house from the outside and other sites which we came back to later when it was drier. The Dom, or Cathedral of St. Peter is 2000 yr. old and claims to have the seamless robe of Christ on display. For a small sum we also heard an organ concert in a place where you should hear organ concerts. Impressive.
By late morning the sun chased the rain away and we enjoyed the outdoor markets and sidewalk cafes. It was a Saturday and the markets were crowded. I found a shop that sold German porcelein face dolls and purchased several. We toured several churches and one impressive abbey with beautiful courtyard gardens. We also stopped at a T-Mobile or T-Punkt as it is called here in the first of many stops trying to find out why our phone did not work. We had it activated for Europe before we left the US but had no signal. T-Mobile was no help with our access problem but sold Jon a 10 euro phone card that did not work either. Hmmmph.
The end result would be using intranet cafes to communicate with family at home.
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