Traveling to Trier

Trier is the oldest city in Germany, started by the Celts.  It's the largest Roman city north of the Alps and already had this claim to fame in 400 AD when it had 50,000 inhabitants.

This 25,000 seat Ampitheater, like most of the ancient walls and buildings was used as a quarry to build churches and  houses in the Middle Ages.

But underneath one can still see where the entertainers and their props stayed before they popped up.  They even used counter-weighted hoists to quickly appear and disappear.

Now there is a lot of accumulated ground water here.

In the surrounding walls one can imagine where they sold food and trinkets.

Eventually all the stone seats were removed and the hillsides became vinyards!

The Porta Nigra is the symbol of the city, one of the four huge gates that led into this walled Roman city.  The wall was 4 miles long, and like all Roman buildings used no mortar - only iron pegs to hold the huge sandstone blocks together!

The archeological museum is a treasure!  Literally....

In 1993 a construction worker broke this ancient container and saw gold Roman coins pour out!

 This very busy bridge across the Mosel river still stands on Roman stone columns!

The cathedral is impressive and has undergone many additions and changes through the centuries.

The relics in these European cathedrals are always interesting, if unbelievable.  Here lies the garment Christ wore.  It is kept in a bejeweled golden container, which is opened once a year, but serves as the center focus behind the altar every day.

We can't count how many churches we've visited in these 6 months.  Everyone has been different and offered a moment of reflection.

Beside the Dom (cathedral) is the Basilica, a huge building, which was the imperial throne room for Constantin and today a Lutheran church.

 The wooden ceiling blocks are 10ft square and are the exact relicas since the original ceiling and roof burned in WWII.  Now the ceiling is supported by steel girders, but the original Roman ceiling was made of only wood!  

Behind this archbishop's residence you see the Basilica.  In the 12th C he attached his palace to it using the nave as a courtyard and the asp as a 5 story palace.  All that was destroyed in WWII and what was left were the original Roman walls!

 It seemed like wherever we walked in Trier we encountered more Roman ruins.

We accidently got off at a wrong bus stop and discovered the Barbara Baths, a huge complex of Roman bathing, which one can view by walking on a boardwalk above the ruins.  Immense!

Trier is not only known as a Roman city, but also as the birthplace of Karl Marx.  He lived here until he was finished with high school.  

The Chinese gave the city a Karl Marx statue this year in honor of the 200 year celebration.

Ask us to see more fascinating pictures of Trier.  Here we are at our Airbnb having a picnic outside.  Wonderful trip!

Across the bridge to Mannheim

"The loveliest thing about Ludwigshafen is the view across the river of Mannheim!" We heard this on the first day in LU and many times thereafter.  LU and MA are separated by the Rhein and there is a lot of traffic between them, even though they are in different states.

We usually have a 10 minute streetcar ride, but we've also walked it numerous times.

The Watertower is a key landmark of Mannheim.

Mannheim has lots of lovely places and the university is in the most beautiful old castle, which was actually built to house a university so long ago,  as well as the usual royal rooms.

The Jesuit church was destroyed in the last days of the bombing of Mannheim.  It took decades to rebuild - this amazing example of Baroque architecture.  The story goes that when the elector built his great residence in Mannheim, the pope said that he then had to build a church at least as glorious or he'd feel the wrath of Rome. So he built this. 

 People seem to have a sense of humor.  Can you see what was added to the sign?

The Mannheim Modern Art Museum is a fun place.  Instead of following art chronologically from room to room and century to century, they've decided to display art in a very artsy way, but not by year.

In a number of art museums like in this one, there is a section of reclaimed artwork with careful notations on the provenance of the pieces.  Nazis confiscated and in some cases destroyed "degenerate art".  

 Three Animals, Franz Marc 1912.  Bought by this museum 1919. Confiscated 1937. Restituted 1948.

Fastnacht, Max Beckman 1925.  Purchased 1927.  Confiscated 1937.  Repurchased 1950.

There is a variety of art outside museums.  Above a dock worker.

The peace angel memorial to all the people who suffered under National Socialism and WWII.

A statue to a small man whom everyone knew.

Also have amazing spray painting art on buildings.

Each building is unique and the artists came from around the world.

A huge statue which traveled around in the 1800's and no one would buy it, so Mannheim was stuck with it.  They kept it underground during the bombing of WWII.

Lots of modern stores where you can find anything.

I'll end with a quirky place like this Hexenhaus, a veritable witch's house which serves yummy Schnitzel!

Traveling to Munich

Even though we'd visited Munich before, our 4.5 days were barely long enough.  Here are the highlights -

 The Assam Brothers' church is now used for worship, but they built it beside their house as a showroom for all the ways they could decorate your church baroque-style.  Over the top!

 I have not shown enough bakeries considering how many we've frequented :) !!

At the Hofbräuhaus a sign:  Thirst is worse than homesickness

The Wittelsbach dynasty left behind this residence in the center of Munich, today museums and treasury:

The careful restoration seems to be never ending and sometimes reveals surprising finds under many layers of centuries of grime.

 This theater is a part of the palace residence!  We attended a lovely concert in a smaller Hofkapelle.

How should a city commemorate the beginning of the Nazi movement?  In the street where the Beer Hall Putsch of  Nov. 1923 left 16 Nazis and 4 police dead you have to look carefully to see "it".  The shiny cobblestones actually also mark this alley as the road used later by Germans, who wanted to avoid crossing the Odeonplatz.  There the monument to the "martyrs of the Beer Putsch" required everyone to salute with "Heil Hitler".

The Deutsches Museum is the German equivalent to our Smithsonian.  In the basement one walks through the history of salt mining.  Above Jack showing a quick way to descend into the mine.

We spent a long time going through tunnels and seeing scenes like this.

Lots of original boats and planes...

Old computers, which Jack still remembers well!

The next day we toured the BMW museum.

  Jack loved it!  And it ended in an area with electric and hydrogen powered vehicles of now and of the future.  We actually saw quite a few of these car-sharing "Drive Now" electric BMS throughout Munich. This is a car-sharing program run by BMW itself.

The Neue Pinakothek was a fun art museum:

Another day found us at the Nazi Documentation Center.  I hope it doesn't seem like I'm focusing on this sad part of Germany's history too much.  In the 1960's and 70's nothing was taught about this time, nor did museums or literature really grapple with it.  Now there is concerted effort in many forms.

This history is presented in chronological order from the trenches of WWI to the destruction of Germany and freeing of millions in concentration camps. And then a sobering look at neo-nazism of today.  And everything is from Munich!

The audio-guide includes many first-hand stories by survivors.  Above the daughter remembers her father, a Bavarian Jewish lawyer in 1933.  He had attempted to get the release of a client from the police and the SS beat him and forced him to walk barefoot with this sign - I will no longer bother the police.

Many pictures like this showed how Nazis gained easy access to all of Munich.

 On the last day in a city we often stored our bag and backpack in lockers so that we can still walk and see the sights before our train.  The Munich city museum also made this available for no cost.

 Among lots and lots of interesting historical artifacts we happened across the actual sign that had hung at the Odeonplatz, telling people to give the Hitler salut.

One of the cheerier items were the famous and very old marionettes.

Practially every street in the historic downtown is a picturesque sight.

The stores sell the traditional Lederhosen and Dirndl (dresses).

Our last glance was at the Marienplatz to the Glockenspiel in the town hall.

Then we headed down to the subway to get to the train station to go on to Salzburg, Austria.