Poland

I have not forgotten about you guys, but I have been doing school work literally for about 6 hours in the classroom, and then 4-5 hours outside of the classroom daily. I have pictures and a video. I will upload them asap!!

Day 20 (I think): Lost in Trier

So... this is how our adventure started:

6:00 pm Connie, Annika and I decided to go get some ice cream. We ended up sitting at Franz (the pub) Note: no ice cream. 

6:37 pm Connie and I feel "bleh" just sitting around so we decided to go on a walk around Merzig.

6:46 pm Another one of those clear understanding moments happens and we are standing at the train station waiting for our ride to Trier, Germany. All of this was at night, by the way... so, it's not like we went inside or really did anything super cool. Just walked. And walked. And walked.

8:02 pm We arrive in Trier. We see the Porta Nigra, the Trier Dom (Cathedral) which by the way is all Roman...as in, built by freaking Constantine!! We also took a stroll through the old Rococo palace gardens, la ti da... have dinner... everything seems like a nice, normal night...

12:01 am: Our train has not arrived. Our GERMAN train has not arrived... WHAT!?? Germans are always on time, so something HAS to be up. We call Annika, ask the train people and a couple of Taxi drivers. Apparently Monday was the Day of German Unification or something like that... meaning ONE train gets cancelled for the holiday. THE train that we need to get back. O.O 

We are now officially stuck in Trier, Germany for the night... Two Americans lost in Trier. The only thought that comes to our minds was: At least it's not Mexico!!!

What's the answer to all of these horrible problems? Beer.

Here are the bartenders that saved our hides. We nonchalantly decided to get a beer around the trainstation. Neither of these two spoke any English, but we managed to have a (somewhat) clear conversation in German. They called a hotel, a taxi and found out what the problem with the train was, and served a delicious cold beverage that assuaged most of our anxiety all at the same time. Like I said, the answer to most of these little issues while in Germany always starts with beer.

 After spending the night in a ridiculously comfortable/nice hotel that we booked last minute... we decide that we should at least see the sights during the day. Here is the main shopping district of the town, where buildings from every point in time during the last 2,000 years can be seen. Pretty spectacular, really. Bakeries, Apothecaries and small specialty shops line the streets and make for a great browsing tour.

Note: as we did not plan on staying in Trier for the night, we are still dressed in the same clothes that we wore the day before when we THOUGHT we would be getting ice cream. I'm sure you can imagine what Connie and I were dressed in, what we looked like and how we felt.

 This is the Roman Cathedral, built by, or in Honor of Empress Helena (mother of Constantine I). The Cathedral houses the Relic of the Holy Seamless Robe, apparently worn by Christ before or during his death. Now, I am not religious really, but I have to say, this place, which has had an unbroken tradition of Faith, was incredibly peaceful. The building is the only thing that's really Roman, all the decorations, alters etc. were all added during the long span of time the Cathedral has been standing.

 Refer to captions #1 and #2. That's the "Oh shit...we're stuck in Trier" look.

This is another Church built on the same foundation as the one pictured above; beautiful!!