germany is a nice place, parts 10-27

And so we arrived in Trier, ready to finish the last days of our Germany vacation admiring the two-thousand-year-old detritus of an extinct empire.

You see, Trier (founded as early as 16 BC) was a pretty important Roman city back in the day -- important enough that, in the hundred years leading up to the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Trier served as the empire's administrative capital.  That means the emperor lived there a lot of the time!  Constantine himself had a big ol' imperial palace and throne room there.  It's pretty significant, and in fact holds the records for a lot of "oldest [thing] in Europe north of the Alps."

Trier wasn't originally on our itinerary -- we didn't actually bother planning the last two days of our trip, deciding to wait and see what we felt like doing after the wedding.  We thought about going into France, and in fact several people suggested Strasbourg and Metz, but we decided that we didn't feel like figuring out the French rail system after spending so much time getting comfortable with the German one.  And Trier was right there, and right awesome.

However, since we hadn't planned it ahead, we didn't actually have a place to stay in Trier once we rolled up.  We tried booking a room through the hostel agency, but their official hostel was closed down.  Luckily, we were able to look up another quite nice hostel in the center of town that worked out really well.  Plus, we got BUNK BEDS!

I called the top.

Then we hit up Trier proper.  Trier isn't that big, but because of its historical significance, it sees tons of tourism.  There's a lot to see and do!

The main square in the center of town.  Tons of fresh fruit!

A church seen through some two-thousand-year-old windows.

I think you can see a road that goes to Cologne in this picture.  Trier is pretty proud of that, for some reason.

The engravings aren't original to the Romans -- they were added later.

I love the contrast between millenia-old architecture and the modern urban accoutrements.

My Roman Empress.

We also ate some döner kebab!  Yum yum yum.  Then we started exploring even more Roman stuff...like the hot baths!

Twenty centuries ago, servants scampered about down here, seeing to the whims of the Imperial Elite.

And a real Roman Amphitheater!

There'd been a concert the night before.  These guys were breaking it down hilariously slowly.

And what lies beneath the amphitheater??

Imagine the gladiators resting in the cool dark, waiting the chance to fight...and to live!

We also went to a church (surprise), but not just any church; this church claimed to hold the Holy Shroud, the robe you might recognize from Station X.

Way in the back there.  Can you see it?

Here, look closer.  That big gold thing?  That's not it.  It's shut in a box under that.  They take it out every fifty years.

SKULLS, YOU SEE?

This is what the church looks like from the other side.

Then we went to a pleasure palace!  ROCOCO!!!!

These statues represented German virtues, or something.  Standing very still is a big one, apparently.

The Secret Garden?!  Nah, it was pretty easy to find.

We also saw the Trier Toy Museum...which was just nuts.

EVERY ONE OF THESE THINGS WAS MOVING.  IT WAS SCARY.

I can't explain this.  Good luck.

The sign says his mouth is open, but it didn't stay that way.

Then we walked all over the city, exploring its every nook and cranny.  We bought some bread and ate it by the riverside!  We looked at a bridge the Romans built!  We took a bus!  We looked at some other Roman ruins that were closed down!  And we just chilled out and enjoyed our last day in Germany.

Then, we had Chinese food for dinner.

Finally, it was time to go to bed.  We had to slip out really early, and we knew we wouldn't get to take any more cool pictures.  I made sure that my last touristy picture of Germany would be a special one.

Trier, you were awesome.

So we bid Germany a fond farewell, somehow negotiated the trains, and made it onto our plane home.

Goodbye, Germany.  You were great.

Thanks for reading.