GERMANY 2007
Day
6
Sunday,
May 27
TRIER
We
slept until 9:30. The hotel had a
good breakfast buffet after which we
walked to the Dom for the Sunday morning service.
The music was beautiful and the church was full.
The Bishop celebrated. It was
Pentecost and everything was in red. (see Day 5 for
history of the Dom)
It
began to rain off and on and was rather cloudy. We walked to the Roman Basilica.
It dates back to Constantine with some of the original
walls. It consists of one huge
rectangular room. It is used now as
a Protestant church.
From
there we saw the Royal Palace and its gardens.
We
walked back to the square and went to St. Gangolf church. The present church was
begun at the beginning of the 15th century. A fo
ur-story
tower had alre
ady been constructed a century earlier. It was 200 feet
tall, taller than the Dom’s. The
interior is a Late Gothic color scheme.
We
then stopped in a café for coffee and afterwards found a McDonalds for lunch.
It was in the
mid
dle
of the square in an old building with a turret( building below with green turret
and brown facade.
McDonald’s tasted good. The
Germans serve a heavy meal for lunch,
and we wanted a quick meal. 
The
sun came out and we decided to take a sight- seeing bus tour.
We met a
couple from Holland who had a child of friends with them.
They were camping in a caravan. We
rode on the top deck of the bus. We
saw the Roman baths, coliseum and we sat up high for a good view of the city.
My
wife went back to our room for a rest, and
I climbed to the top of the Porta Nigra and got some wonderful photos of the old
town.
My
wife, now rested, decided she would like to take a ride on the Mosel River which
was a short walk from the hotel. The
boat ride was a little over an hour
and most enjoyable. When we landed
we found several outdoor cafes along the river.
My wife had a strudel and coffee and I had a beer.
We
walked back past our hotel to see two other churches.
St. Maximin was closed. A few
blocks away was St. Paulin. We notic
ed
a lot of cars parked on the street near the churc
h.
We walked in and found the church packed, chairs in the aisles and people
standing around the wall. We got in
on the beginning of a Bach Mass. There
was a full orchestra and a large choir. It also was a full service with a 15
minute sermon in German. We
heard the word Pentecost several times.
The church itself was very baroque. St. Paulin was erected in middle of
18th century. It is
Baroque church designed by Balthasar Neumann.
We
then walked back to the hotel for a drink and then back to the square where we
ate at the Zum Domstein.
They had wine tasting on the menu. They
brought three different Reislings each.
We had shrimp baguette and salad for a shared starter.
I had a pork cordon blue with
green beans, carrots and French fries. My
wife had an onion
tart. We ate in an awning
covered back outdoor café. When we
left we went out the backdoor and found we were right in front of the Dom.
All
weekend there had
been a big tent in front and to the left of the Dom where there was live
music. We stopped to listen a while
and heard “Isle of Capri” and “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown”.
My wife wanted to dance. On
our way home, we stopped and got gelato cones.
It started to rain.
It
is hard to have to eat dinner at 10:00 but the Germans
seem to eat late.
