Day 5--Trier and Underway

Day 5--Trier and Underway

Up at 6:30, breakfasted and on the bus for a 9 km drive to Trier at 8:30.

Trier is a premier tourist destination as it has significant Roman history in the surroundings and city itself. It was conquered and occupied by the Romans hundreds of years before Christ. There are three main periods of the city as described in excruciating detail by our guide, a lifelong resident of Trier who was an absolute hoot:

• Roman (the guide loved these guys)
• Middle Ages (she hated these guys)
• Modern (not too keen about this period either.)

A 'must see' for the town of Trier is the Porta Negri, the 'Black Gate'. It is one of the original four gates or entrances to the walled city of Trier and the only one left standing. All the other gates as well as the walls of the town were torn down and used by the locals to build their residences and shops over the years.

We had a great bus tour to the mountain overlooks and a walking tour that hit some of the high spots, including the 'Basillica", a very large building put up by the Romans and mostly still standing.

There are painted elephants all over the city, fibre glass statues painted by local artists. There will be an auction to sell these things and the proceeds go to a fund devised to save the Asian Elephant. 

We returned to the ship at 12:45, had a safety drill, and got underway at 1:00.  The motion of the ship is so smooth it is impossible to tell we are moving.  The grape vinyards are spread along very steep hillsides and stretch for miles. It is hard to believe anyone can move up and down between the rows to tend the grapevines.

We stopped at Bernkastel, another German tourist town. Very narrow streets with very unusual houses right up tight to the road. Wandered the streets and went back to the ship.

The internet is very slow aboard ship due to satellite connectivity and 187 folks all trying to use it when I want it.  I will do another blog entry when the signals are better.