Life as I know it.: Oh to be a Roman - A Visit to Germany's Oldest City

This weekend we visited the oldest city in Germany - dating back to the Roman empire. I've learned throughout the last month on our history adventures that the Romans not only occupied Italy and "Rome", but their empire spread throughout much of present-day Europe. I'm sure this sounds dumb to any history buff reading this, but I have definitely gained a new interest in the Roman history and methodology. Anyway, we went to Trier, Germany on Saturday morning. Only a two hour drive through the scenic hills, we arrived around noon and checked into our B&B. We stayed at Hotel Astoria, a quaint, welcoming and warm place that I found on Booking.com but is also recommended in Rick Steve's Germany Book. When we arrived, the owner gave us detailed directions to the parking garage and a map to guide us around Trier. We then received three keys and were able to visit three different rooms and decided which suited us the best. It was quite nice - I'm not sure many places care enough to actually let you pick out which room you'd like to stay in. That's what I love about B&B's - the owners work the front desk, serve the breakfast, and take a moment to get to know their guests. We had a very pleasant stay and I will certainly write a great review on TripAdvisor.

After checking into the B&B and drinking a nice welcome glass of champagne provided by the owners, we headed out to explore the city. We walked through the Hauptmarkt - a lovely market area with flower stands and pastries. Of course, pastries were the first thing on our list that had to be checked off. So we scurried around until Derek found the perfect pastry for his lunch-snack. Then we headed to the Porta Nigra, a large Roman gate (the only one left in Trier) dating from 186 to 200 Ad. It is the largest Roman gate North of the Alps and lasted through the Middle Ages. Today it is a World Heritage Site. This gate is definitely Trier's trademark and is a site that you can't miss. It's a wonderfully drastic mix of very old architecture in a new age.

After the Porta we wondered the streets, only to buy another pastry and stumble upon the Kaiserthermen - a large Roman structure that was supposed to be a thermal bathe, but was never completed. Romans sure knew how to live the good life - baths and chariot races and wine. It was pretty interesting to stand among the ruins and try to imagine what the bathes would have looked like or could have been. I think we decided that we'll definitely make a trip to Baden-Baden and experience the thermal bathes for ourselves. After the Kaiserthermen we visited the Trier Dom - the oldest church in Germany. It was another beautiful church and is said to house the robe that Jesus wore.

Trier is surrounded by vineyards of the Mosel Valley - like many, many towns in Germany- and so of course we wanted to go wine tasting! We walked around and couldn't decide where to go. We finally decided to go back to the first Weinstube that we had found - Oechsle Wein & Fischhaus - and see what their tasting would be like. We were pleasantly surprised. For 15 euros, we were able to taste 120 wines - yes, 120 WINES. We were given a glass and a short tour of the stube. Each wine had its own description and photo of its maker. The wine that we could sample was in a cooler nearby. It was all self-serve for as long as you wanted. I liked most wines - but the Mosel region is definitely a white wine specialty (Rieslings for sure). I'm a fan of most reds, but some were pretty painful. Needless to say, it was an evening well spent. Including the Pizza Hut supreme pizza that we ate for dinner later on.

After a wonderfully German and fresh breakfast on Sunday, the owner of the hotel ( I think her name is Paula) suggested we visit Saarburg for the afternoon. We had one more stop until we left Trier- we visited the Roman Ampitheater - dated to the first century- it was used for gladiator and animal fights. We then headed to Saarburg - a cute little town in the Mosel Valley. There was even a waterfall and stream going through the town. It's quaint little towns like Saarburg that make me want to visit every small town in Germany. The Altstadt was alive with accordion players, Easter decorations and plentiful Eiscafes- so we of course indulged. All in all, in was a great weekend. But Simba was excited to see us on Sunday evening and he had, of course, managed to eat all of his food and spill all of his water on the floor for us to clean when we got home.

Here's some photos of our trip: