Trip to Trier.

According to Wikipedia, the city of Trier is probably the oldest city in Germany. The hubby and I saw that they were having a wine festival this past weekend, so we decided to drive over and see what it was all about.

Namely, we heard there were Roman Ruins to be explored.

Trier is still in the Rhineland-Palantinate state of Germany (which is where Mainz also sits), but it is on the Moselle river very close to Luxembourg. Driving around we even saw a few cars from Luxembourg.

It took about an hour and a half, then another half hour deciding where to park, but we got to the festival side right at noon on Sunday. Right when "die oldieband" was taking the stage:

I could definitely see my dad here, listening to the songs he's used to, just drinking a bottle of wine.

After finishing our glasses, we got a meaty sandwich and headed back to the car to drive to the other side of town where the main ruins are located. We had already seen the Porta Nigra driving, which was constructed as a city gate.

We re-parked and walked over to the Kasierthermen, or Imperial Baths. What was so neat about them is that they were never completed as a bathhouse. The city was becoming more and more important in the 4th century so they started construction, however everything stopped when Constantine I shifted political activities East, thus eliminating the need for a bathhouse in a city where people wouldn't congregate.

It wasn't until after 360 AD that construction started again, but this time, as a reception or parade hall. From there it was a residence, a church, expanded into a castle in some points - all sorts of things.

I was just happy that we could go exploring away from the scorching sunshine:

Someone really likes the sun in pictures.....

Here's me!

I don't know why he looked so victorious. Trying to pretend he's back in Roman times, I suppose.

He's so darn cute.

We did get a map of all this, but I couldn't tell you where we were at this point. We were just walking around, enjoying the underground coolness.

Here is the largest portion of the ruins, where that castle once stood. It sits along the old city wall.

After we had our fill, we decided to meander through the center of town and check out this Cathedral:

And also get some ice cream. Mmm.... I had coffee flavored and the hubby had the special of the day: Oreo.

We even walked over to the Porta Nigra. Here's me standing in one of the arches. It was hot.

About this time we decided to head back over to the wine fest. It was just getting going around lunchtime, so we were looking for a few more things to be open. We found the action and as I was distracted looking at a stand of cakes and cupcakes and other sweets, I stabbed my foot on a stick.

Hubby said I'm no longer allowed to wear flip flops out anymore....

To make me feel better, hubby got this for us to eat. It's one of my favorite fest foods, the Flammkuchen.

It was hands-down the best one I've ever had. Might have been that extra cheese.

We happily munched on this as some roadies did their sound check on the nearby stage (to Wonderwall, of course, only knowing about half the lyrics) and decided that we'd had our fill of Trier. Time to head back to Mainz.

The wines were delicious, but man, that car AC never felt so good.