Saturday, October 6, 2012, was our last day to spend in Germany. We had spent the bulk of the trip on the road, but the night before we had arrived back in Trippstadt the night before and had stayed at Bryan and Erine’s house again. It was fitting that our last day was a bit more leisurely paced as we were all pretty exhausted from the fast-paced traveling that had taken us to a good portion of Germany’s corners. The rest of our tour would continue not too terribly far from our home base. We began at a respectable hour and stopped for a quick breakfast at the Barbarossa Cafe in Kaiserslautern. I had a cheese and ham pastry, PLUS I finally found the puddingbrezel that I had been looking for all trip-long. It had been the first food I had eaten in Germany when I arrived at the airport in 2008.
The elders sleepily enjoy breakfast
Finally finding my puddingbrezel…and loving it
It was about a 90-minute drive to Trier – the oldest city in Germany – which would be the first of two cities we’d visit that day. I had been to Trier before (in fact it was on the same day I had my first puddingbrezel), but it had been in the evening and I hadn’t seen a whole lot of it. I had stayed in a hotel across from the Porta Nigra last time, but hadn’t been able to go up into it. This trip would promise to rectify that.
After our arrival, we started out with browsing a few of the churches. The first one was largely unimpressive to the eye, but had an interesting history. It was the Konstantinbasilika (Basilica of Constantine), a Roman palace basilica that had been built at the beginning of the 4th century by Emperor Constantine (the first Roman emperor to be converted to Christianity).
The Konstantinbasilika
Inside the Basilika. Big but bland.
We walked through the city, coming upon Cathedral Square, which included the Liebfrauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) and Trier Cathedral (aka Cathedral of Saint Peter), the latter being the oldest cathedral in Germany. We only only went into the Liebfrauenkirche, and even that was only briefly.
Approaching Cathedral Square – with the Liebfrauenkirche directly behind my hand
Ornate entry at the Liebfrauenkirche
Inside the Liebfrauenkirche
Trier Cathedral on the left, Liebfrauenkirche on the right, me in the middle
In order to try to get more of a flavor for Trier, we all agreed to take one of the trolley tours that drove around town and played a piped-in narrative in about five languages. We walked to the Porta Nigra (passing Theo, the first European restaurant in which I ever dined back in 2008), and caught the noon tram, which was run by the Stadtrunfahrten tour group. It took us through the city, pointing out the churches that we already saw, the Karl Marx birthplace (which I immediately decided that we’d have to walk to in order to get a proper photo), and the outskirts of town, where we could see the remnants of the city walls and Roman baths.
All aboard the Stadtrunfahrten!
Our tram takes around Trier
Outside view of the fomer Imperial Roman Baths in Trier
After about 40 minutes, it dropped us back off at the Porta Nigra and I took the opportunity to finally go up into it. Everyone else opted to not go inside, so I went up alone. I was able to get some pictures while in it, while my Mom took pictures of me from the outside peeking my head out. There was nothing awe-inspiring about being in it, but now I can say that I was.
Back at the Porta Nigra – five years after my first visit
Madre Blanco and the Porta Nigra
Up on the first level of the Porta Nigra
The view below
The second level
It’s time for another game of Where’s Braddo?
Here I is!
The view from the top
The toppermost
There was a very slight drizzle in the air as we took the walk down to the Karl Marx house, stopping for a snack pizza salami (aka pepperoni pizza) from Ditcsh and a drink at McDonalds along the way. Once we got the photo of the house, we walked back toward the car and did some quick shopping (my Mom’s pursuit of scarves simply knew now boundaries). And of course, we couldn’t leave town without Mom & Bob grabbing a bratwurst from a vendor. It was a little bit after 2pm when we left Trier.
The Karl Marx birthplace
A most unusual McDonald’s
St. George’s Fountain in the Kornmarkt: the four corner statues represent the four seasons, topped by St. George slaying the dragon
More scarf shopping. Sigh.
A quick bite for Mom & Bob. The bicycler makes the photo a near-masterpiece.
Bryan drove us from Trier to the well-know wine-growing town of Bernkastel-Kues, which is situated right on the Mosel (Moselle) River. The plan here was to take an hour-long cruise on the river on the Hier Schiffsfahrkarten cruise line, the ship being named the Moselperle. It wasn’t until we has all boarded the boat that we realized that Bryan wasn’t on it with us. He had been searching for the place to pay for the parking while we walked on ahead, not realizing that he had stopped. As the boat took off, we could see Bryan flailing about on the shoreline. We missed his company, but this made a better story indeed. We all grabbed glasses of wine and enjoyed the traquil cruise, where we could routinely spot castles and castle ruins on the side of the river.
Rainy arrival in Bernkastel-Kues and the ship on which we’d sail
The blurry figure in the dead center of the photo is Bryan missing the boat
Mom & Bob on our vessel
Me and the Mosel
Cheers to those who made the boat!
Erine wasn’t sick about Bryan missing the boat; she was just seasick
Smooth sailing
Bob window-gazing at the scenery
After the cruise was over, we met up with Bryan, who had found refuge in one of the local bars. We did a little bit of shop browsing, and then stopped at a nice little sidewalk cafe called the Gasthaus Huwer for some additional wine. I had a glass of the Dornfelder Halbtrocken. We hung out there for about a half-hour, did a little bit more shop-browsing, and then made our way back to the car. It was around 5:30 when we left Bernkastel-Kues.
A fountain in the Market Square of Bernkastel-Kues
Erine does some alcohol shopping
On the streets of Bernkastel-Kues
The elders await their beverages
Tables of oodles of fun
Erine, Bryan, and Bob
Fine wine in Bernkastel-Kues
All it takes is an umbrella to make Bryan appear to be dapper
Our final German dinner came around 7pm back in Kaiserslautern. When Bryan and Erine had first arrived in Germany before they got their house, they assigned to live at the Hotel Burgschänke, which served as both living quarters and a very homey restaurant. Our waitress Rosie (whom I dubbed Rose McGonicle), understood our need for water – and served us up another great German meal. I opted to have the onion soup, and Jägerschnitzel. We took about an hour and a half to eat at a leisurely pace and enjoy our last evening together in Germany. We got back to the house around 9:30pm. Mom worked on peddling jewelry to Erine. I hit the sack pretty early.
Ready to enter our final German eatery, the Hotel Burgschänke
Bob, Mom, Diana, and Tom reflect on a trip well done
The Jägerschnitzel and pommes frites
One final dinner for this fun-loving trio
Bob and Mom pose as the figurines on their new cuckoo clock, as elsewhere it is getting ready to be packaged and mailed to America
On Sunday morning the 7th, I thankfully woke up on my own at around 6:40am, since no one bothered to wake me. I was able to shower and rouse myself to action so that we could leave by 7:30. Bryan drove us in the rental van and Erine followed us to the rental place and dropped off their car so that it would be there when they returned to drop off the van. We arrived at the airport in Niederanven, Luxembourg, with about two hours to spare before our first flight took off at 11:10am. There wasn’t much in the way of breakfast option at this airport so I bought the German version of Pringles from one of the gift shops. Eventually we boarded and I sat with Mom & Bob on the first flight, which landed in Amsterdam at 12:15.
In Amsterdam, there was some significant security and both Mom and Tom were required to open their bags. Then we had some more questioning before we were loaded up onto the big flight of the day, with airport security interested on what we had been doing in Europe. We took off at 1:20pm I sat on an aisle seat this time next to Diana, and kept myself busy watching Bridesmaids, The Five Year Engagement, and part of Meet the Parents.
Having gained our six hours back, we arrived in Detroit at 4:10pm. There we had our longest layover of the return flight from 4:10pm until 7:30, at which time we boarded for our final flight, which got into Dayton at 8:30pm. This flight obviously hadn’t taken too long so it wasn’t so bad cramped in next to a large man. I was tired enough to zone out anyway. Ed picked us up from the airport and took us back to their house where my car was waiting. I got home around 9pm and was able to get to sleep by midnight. The jet lag caused me to wake up at around 3am – but eventually, I’d be recovering and getting back to my life in America.
No doubt about it… this had been an outstanding trip.
Return to the beginning of the Germany trip here…
Continue with 2012 here…
There is something wistful, perhaps even poigniant, about the shot of Bob Ch*ndler window-gazing at the scenery…
Peter
June 25th, 2013