New Year and Trier

Sunset on Trier Cathedral

As planned, we had a nice low-key New Year's celebration. We stayed home and switched back and forth between TV coverage of Cologne and Berlin. They had some half-decent musical acts in English and German and then showed the fireworks over the Rhein River (Cologne) and the Brandenburg Gate (Berlin).

At just before midnight, fireworks began to go off all around our house. As in Britain, pretty much nothing is illegal, so all our neighbors had big rockets and noisemakers. We ran from window to window watching the displays, which were pretty impressive. From our back window we could see to the mountain ridge beyond Bornheim, where fireworks were going up all along the horizon. A good 15 minutes after midnight, our landlord wandered out to the backyard with a friend and his daughter, and they set off some rockets and M80s. Fun stuff.

On Wednesday we took our Alfa down to Trier, which is southwest of us and close to the Luxembourg border. We have been there before, during our 2005 Christmas trip, but we missed a few things and it deserved a repeat trip with better cameras. The weather forecast was clear and sunny, but it turned out more like partly sunny. And cold - barely above freezing. Still, we had a very nice time.

We started out at St. Matthias' Abbey, which is on the southern outskirts of the city beyond walking distance. It was interesting, with some nice Romanesque architecture and the reputed relics of Saint Matthias, the apostle chosen to replace Judas. There's a marble effigy of him at the front of the church, with his bare feet charmingly sticking out of his robes, and his relics are in a small stone sarcophagus in the crypt.


Exterior


Interior, with effigy of Matthias


A "roof boss" on the ceiling of the nave, showing a bishop with the churches he built


Tomb of Matthias in the crypt

Info and full photo gallery on Sacred Destinations

Then we found parking in the city center, in an underground garage by the Konstantin Basilika - a very cool Roman throne hall built in 310 AD and used by Constantine (he became emperor in 312). It is now used as a Protestant church. Sadly it was locked so we didn't get to see the inside again.


This was a secular building used by Roman rulers, but was highly influential in the design of churches (the first of which were commissioned by Constantine).


Attached to the south end of the basilica is this pink Baroque palace.


We made a stop for roasted chestnuts in the main square, and the vendor was really fun. David stepped back to take a picture of him and he immediately took off his hat, wet down his hair with licked fingers, and told another customer to get out of the way of the picture. He also sang as he stirred.


Me and the chestnut man, getting ready for his close up.

We revisited the cathedral, its treasury, and its cloisters, all of which were as interesting as we remembered. I think I enjoyed it more this time because now I appreciate Romanesque architecture a lot more. Last time I was focused entirely on the connections with Constantine.


View of the cathedral from next to the Konstantin Basilika.


View from the west. Most of this was complete by 1035, and thankfully was undamaged in the war.


View from the cloisters of a Gothic church next door. The part with the dome on the right is a Baroque chapel that houses the relic of the Holy Robe, supposedly the one worn by Christ at the Crucifixion.


For fun, here I am walking in the same cloister two years ago.


Interior, looking east to the Holy Robe chapel


Wonderful details from the Romanesque tomb of Ivo (1144), a papal envoy.


12th-century tympanum (area over a door) featuring Mary, Christ and St. Peter.


Baroque (17th/18th century) over-the-top-ness in the west end.


And here's the Holy Robe, locked inside an alarmed box in a locked chapel.

Next we searched out the Diocesan Museum back behind the cathedral. This was one of the things I was sorry I missed last time, and it was one of the highlights of our trip. We had the place entirely to ourselves AND we were allowed to take pictures!


Frankish gravestone from the 6th century or so, with Chi-Rho symbol - the first two letters of Christ in Greek.


Early Christian gravestone from Trier, also with Chi-Rho symbol (made popular by Constantine after he saw it in the sky in 312 AD).

The pride of the museum and the main attraction for us was a set of Roman frescoes that were discovered beneath the cathedral. They once adorned the ceiling of the imperial palace, where Constantine's mother lived. They had fallen onto the ground in 70,000 pieces and were painstakingly put back together like a puzzle. (Incidentally they sell a puzzle of the frescoes and we almost bought one.)





From there it was on to the Porta Nigra before it got dark. This is a huge Roman gate that was saved from destruction thanks to a monk named St. Simeon moving in and its later transformation into a church and monastery.





We checked out the Stiftsmuseum (Monastery Museum) next door, which was both more expensive and less impressive than the other museum.




But it did have an interesting newspaper rejoicing in the success of Adolf Hitler...


...and a model of Trier after World War II. Note how well the cathedral did (just left of center), losing only one spire. The church next door was not as lucky.

By that time the sun was down and it was time to find dinner. Amazingly, it was the first time we've eaten out in Germany since we've lived here, and we knew exactly what we wanted - the same restaurant we ate at last time we were in Trier. It's called Kartoffel Kiste and has a menu centered around delicious potato dishes.

We both had Kartoffelaufläufe, which is essentially potatoes au gratin but better than any we've ever had. The potatoes are cooked perfectly, the creamy sauce is divine. I had Kartoffelaufläufe "Hawaii" (pronounced "Have-eye") and David had his with chicken and broccoli. They were to die for! And also to die of, if you have them on a regular basis.


David's Kartoffelaufläufe with chicken and broccoli


We had a nice seat by the window and we were just in heaven warming up with our delicious food and people-watching.

Yesterday David took the Alfa back and traded it for what he hoped would be the little Audi, but got a Ford Focus instead. He was not a fan. The steering was squirrelly, the seat was uncomfortable, and it would hardly go 70mph (sloooww for Germany) before sounding like the engine would blow up.

So this morning David e-mailed Avis and asked for a trade and then went back to the airport to pick it up. We now have a black Audi A3 again, though it's a different version. Our only complaint is that it smells strongly of smoke. Oh, well. It's nice to have a good car, and cheaper than the Alfa.



And finally, the latest news is that we have a couple new additions to the camera family! We got the next level Canon (a 40D) and a 50mm prime lens (meaning that it doesn't zoom in or out). The big advantage of both is that they perform better in low light, which we have had trouble with lately in dark churches.

Today we took the new toys over to the Schwarzrheindorf Double Church and tried them out on the murals. They did GREAT! I'm thrilled. I'll post a few photos from today's trip later.