Last Adventures of 2017

As 2017 was coming to an end, Mario and I decided to crossed off two more cities from our bucket list. We decided to make Ramstein-Miesenbach our hub which was about 2 to 2.5 hours from the house depending on traffic. By doing this we decreased the commute time to these cities

The first city was Trier which is located in the southwest corner of Germany near the borders of France, Luxembourg and Belgium. It was founded by the Romans and still has many Roman monuments preserved. We started our adventure at the Porta Nigra or black gate. It is a towering stone roman gate. We were able to explore the outside and inside. Interesting piece of information is the blocks used to build the gate came from quarries around Trier and were put together by using iron clamps and no mortar. At one time this gate was a two-story church

As we left Port Nigra we came across the The House of the Magi or Dreikoenigenhaus in German. It was built around 1230 when Trier's medieval city wall was not yet finished. During this time each house had to defend itself and the entrance was the “window” on the right, accessible only by ladder or wooden staircase that could be pulled up.

As we explored the city we saw many other sites.

Before heading out of town we stopped and explore the Amphitheater. It was used as a quarry in the Middle Ages. The openings in the protection wall were for the animal cages. Did you know that it was built in the 2nd century A.D. and  had a seating capacity of about 20,000. Underneath the arena is a vast cellar where, in Roman times, prisoners sentenced to death.

The next day we explore the city of Luxembourg City which is the capital of the country of Luxembourg. As our adventures takes us to different places we have to adjust the language we are trying to read and speak. In Luxembourg they speak French so it's was Bonjour and Sortie for exit. As we explored the city we saw many different sites. Luxembourg has underground tunnels called the Casemates which I wanted to explore but it is closed during the winter.