Days 5-6: Germany: Old Cities and Hot Weather

Day 5 - Trier

It is extremely warm here lately, especially for this part of Europe. Now, both my mom and I don't do heat well. At all. It was about 35°C/95°F and we were in the sun for much of the day. Mom bought an umbrella and she did better today than before, but I had a lot of issues with the heat today.

We began the day by going to the American Military Cemetery in town. I've been here a couple of times. I've even mentioned it in this very blog. This took place about two and a half years ago, in the winter, but I posted a ton of history on that entry, so if you would like the base information about it, check it out.

They've finished the part that they were remodeling the last time I was there, but they were working on the sidewalk in front of General Patton's grave. We also saw a couple of groundskeepers cleaning the already immaculate grounds. This area is probably the cleanest place in Luxembourg.

We also visited the German version of the same thing. Again, more history on that post from before, but I'll just say that it's not quite as immaculate as the American one. Difference in funding and attitude, it seems.

We next drove to Trier, also a place that I have been to several times. Last time I went to this city in a tourist state of mind, it was unusually cold for this region. This time, as I mentioned before, it was unusually hot.

We started off with the Porta Nigra, an old roman gate nearly 2000 years old. After a walk through the downtown and town market area, we stopped for lunch in a large store chain that is very popular in Germany. There is a cool little restaurant on the third floor of it. I seem to end up eating at this restaurant pretty much every time I go to Trier.

Mom bought an umbrella at this store, and we both bought little hand-held battery powered fans. I had forgotten a hat, which really got to me after awhile.

We walked to the old Roman baths (which I was too hot to take a picture of) and then back through the town square and market. We stopped for ice cream in a mall in the center. Ice cream places were probably the fullest places out of anywhere in Trier that day. Mom and I also bought some gummi bears from another shop in the mall, a place I had found last time I was there. We looked for the new Dunkin' Donuts (I hadn't had donuts in a really long time), but no luck in the mall. We returned to the van to start our second part of our tour.

We drove up to the same volcanic lakes that I visited two years ago. Last time I visited, people were using one as an ice skating rink. This time, they were swimming in them. Also, according to Charel, the volcanoes that these lakes fill are not extinct, just dormant. It's possible there may be some volcanic activity in the future, but at this point, it's not a grave concern.

We finished up our tour by driving around Spangdahlem Air Base, one of only a few American military bases left in Germany. It's quite large, as expected from an air base, and the ratio of large American cars went up considerably in the area around it. Not really any pictures from this area, either. I think Dick got a few, but Mom and I were still recovering in the back seat of the air-conditioned van.

We drove by a couple of old castles in Manderscheid, north of Trier. As you can see, the main castle has not been completely restored, however, it is possible to tour them.

Our long, hot day finished when we drove home to Luxembourg. Neither my Mom or I took time for our blogs, as we had to get up quite early the next day to catch a train to our next destination: Köln.

Day 6 - Köln (Cologne)

We started off our long day with a 3 and a half hour train ride, mostly through the Moselle and Rhine river valleys. This is vineyard country, with many of the crops grown on the steep southern slopes of the Ardennes Mountains. We started off the trip in a set of 4 seats with a table, but we had to move because they were reserved for a later stop. We ended up going into one of the private cabins. It was hot and stuffy in the train, especially towards the end of the trip. I ended up standing next to the open window for the last 40 minutes of the trip, just to get some air (the scenery was a bonus).

We met a friend from Düsseldorf in the train station and ate sandwiches while walking to the cathedral. Kölner Dom is huge. It is also pretty much the only thing to survive the bombings done in World War II by the allies. The last time I visited Köln, we didn't go inside, but this time we did. Air conditioning helped. There was a mass going on when we first entered, so we decided to go to the top of the tower.

There was no elevator. 533 stairs up to the very top of the cathedral. Mom and I made it up the equivalent of 12 flights, according to her FitBit, but after that, we had to stop. The stairways were narrow, steep, and crowded with people anyway, so we just decided to go back down and sit in the shade and wait for the guys to come back down.

By the time they came back, the mass was over and everyone was allowed to tour the interior. Mom and I stayed in the air-conditioned entrance, due to our semi-phobia of large crowds. We found a good place between the entrance and exit, and it almost felt like we were standing on an island in a river of people. There was a nice draft in that place too, which, with the heat, was a great bonus.

We went next to the Lindt Chocolate Museum by foot, along the Rhine River. As in Trier, ice cream businesses must have been making a killing. We ate our ice cream at the museum itself. Of course, we all had some variety of chocolate. Mine was a scoop each of white, milk, and dark chocolates. We also refilled our water bottles three times. I drank about 3 liters of water, and it's a good thing that I did. I didn't get dehydrated as I did in Trier, and the addition of a hat made the heat just on the bearable side. We got a few photos of the group, too.


We had to tour the museum quickly, because Charel wasn't feeling well. After the museum, we returned by foot to the train station, where we rested, chatted, and did a little looking around in the station. There was a Dunkin' Donuts in the train station, so I finally found what I had been looking for. I ate the first one on the train ride back, and while the banana flavor was quite obviously artificial, it was still extremely tasty.

The train ride back was much cooler, mainly because the cars were air-conditioned. There was a group of very loud drunk German ladies near us, but they exited about an hour before the trip ended, and after that it was very quiet. We arrived home around 10 pm, and most of us were in bed before 11 pm.

Today is a rest day, to recover for our next adventure, starting tomorrow. We will be in Rome until Friday. Look forward to a very large post afterwards :)