Old Trier

The city of Trier, hmmm. Well it's cool for a couple hours, but not sure I would devote an entire day to it if I had the choice. One notable point: it is literally the oldest city in Germany, so we saw ancient Roman architecture, including a coliseum for gladiator fights.

After the Roman Coliseum, it kind of went down hill from there. We walked around some Roman ruins, went into another church (this time Protestant), then another Roman Archeologist Museum (hopefully the last one of those for a while, this is the third one, and they start to look a lot alike after a while), and then Karl Marx's birth house/museum (that was interesting...). The tour of Trier definitely should have ended with the Coliseum.

this is Karl Marx's birth house/museum

So overall not the most exciting day ever, but there were some beautiful sights and I did learn a lot.

Since I have now been officially been in Germany a week, I would like to share some things I have noticed....
1. The streets are smaller and they drive a lot faster. Who ever has driven with me, knows of my car anxiety, I have tried my best to stay out of the car!
2. People walk everywhere! I should have brought some ShapeUps! In the last few days I have walked more in than I have in the last month!
3. Recycle, Recycle, Recycle
4. as my host mom says, "This is Germany, everything is regulated."
5. The shopping... pretty good
6. everything is narrow and tall (shops, restaurants, houses)
7. be a conservative user of all things: electricity, water..... just everything.
8. Chocolate for breakfast is perfectly acceptable! yummmm
9. Cola Lite doesn't taste any different from Diet Coke, but there is no Diet Dr. Pepper
10. In case you didn't know, people drink here, quite often. I decided to not have an adult beverage today, first time since I've been here. Drinking is such a part of their culture that having a beer at 12 for lunch is perfectly acceptable, this might become a problem for my jeans in a couple of weeks!
11. I have been told that this weather is not normal, but it is really cold (and rainy!), much colder than I packed for, although today and yesterday were beautiful, until it started hailing on my way to the bus today.
12. People don't put ice in their drinks, but that doesn't mean that they aren't cold. I was worried about the rumors of the warm beer I would have to drink, but I haven't come across any of that.
13. Germans don't seem to be "people watchers;" if someone catches you looking at them, they really don't seem to like it at all.
14. The traffic lights go from Red to Yellow then to Green, that's kind of nifty.
15. No one "Jay-walks" they always wait for the sign, which can be annoying sometimes.

I will update this list weekly about little nuances that I notice. This week: Aachen tomorrow and  Rhine cruise on Saturday. Next weekend: PARIS!!!

Tschüss!