Trier, Germany

Trier is a city of about 105,000 people located 50m miles northwest of Saarbrucken on the border with Luxembourg in the Moselle valley. It was founded by the Romans in about 16 BC. With the growth of the Roman Empire it became impossible to govern the Roman Empire from Rome; Trier became one of four Roman capitals. Trier was the capital for the Empire north of the Alps. At its height it had between 75,000 and 100,000 residents. The Roman Emperors Diocletian and Constantine both lived there.

The city was surrounded by a large wall with a gate on each of the four sides. There is one gate still standing, known as the Porta Nigra. This has survived partly because it was converted to a church and partly because Napoleon chose to preserve and restore it. The photo below shows the Porta Nigra from the street.

The photo below shows the openings in the gate closeup. There was a portcullis on each side which could be dropped trapping any bad guys in between. The guards could then rain rocks, etc on them.

Below is the main square.

The Cathedral of Trier is shown below. This was begun during the Roman Empire and added upon numerous times over the years, but never taken down. It is a real hodge-podge .

This is a shot of the Cathedral nave.

The two photos below show an ante room between the nave and the cloister walkway added to the cathedral.

The gate or arch shown below is over a side street off the main square.

This large building shown below is the Basilica of Constantine. It was originally built as part of Constantine's palace group and used by him as a throne room. Constantine was the first roman Emperor to become Christian and it became used as a church. Roman basilicas were large rectangular buildings used as meeting halls by the Romans. When Christianity was accepted as a religion by the Empire many of them were used as churches and the word basilica now refers to many Roman Catholic churches. It is now used by a protestant church that chooses to keep the interior plain.

The Imperial Baths were started by Constantine around 300 AD. The first photo is a wide view; the green field was used for athletics as part of the complex. The next four shots are of the tunnels and rooms below the surface where water was to be heated and transported and so forth. The last photo is of some of the above ground walls. The baths were never finished.

The next photos are of the Amphitheatre. This was built between 100 and 200 AD. It held approximately 20,000 spectators. Animals were kept in rooms along the lower edge and beneath the floor. Gladiators were also part of the show. Reminds me of the NFL--sometimes I don't think we've made much progress.

This young lady is waiting to present the flowers she has picked to the champion gladiator.

Mont Martre, Paris

Mont Martre is a 130 meter high hill in the northern part of Paris. It also refers to the area around the hill. The Mont Martre area is primarily night clubs. During the Belle Epoch, 1872-1914, the area was home to many artists such as Picasso, Toulouse La Trec, Salvador Dali, Renoir, Monet, Van Gogh, Maurice Utrillo, Matisse and Modigliano.The two photos below show artists and a street cafe on a square in Mont Martre.

On top of the hill sits the church Sacre Couer, built by subscriptions from the people between 1876 and 1919. It was built to remember the suffering of the French people in the Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune of 1871. Sacre Couer is shown in the two photos below.

In the photo above on the left you can see a tower from the church of Saint Pierre de Montmartre, built in about 1134 and still standing.

The photo below is a view of Paris from just below Sacre Couer. The Eiffel Tower is to the right, blocked by the trees.

To get to the top of the hill where Sacre Couer is one either rides a bus or a small train(no tracks), walks up stairs or takes a funicular. We chose the funicular going up and walked the stairs going down. The photo below shows a group of actors performing before a small audience just below Sacre Couer.

Below is a small square in the Mont Martre area.

The photo below shows an outdoor eating area for a cafe. A set of stairs begins on the left side, whee the people appear to be heading.

Below is a street musician situated at the top of the stairs. I don't know what instrument he is playing. If you do please let me know in a comment. He seemed to be good and his music was enjoyable.

These are the stairs that we went down that the musician was playing at the top

These two shops were located at the bottom of the stairs.

A look back up the stairs.

It ain't France if you don't see a Citroen automobile.

A tavern.

The last set of stairs leaving Mont Martre.

Bruges, Belgium..."The Venice of the North"

Bruges is located in the northwest corner of Belgium. During the Middle Ages and the early Renaissance Bruges was a wealthy city of merchants. At one time it may have been the wealthiest city in Europe. It was a very busy port until the estuary that led to the sea silted up, sometime in the 16th century as I remember. Recently(1907) a new port was created for Bruges, called ZeeBruges. This has apparently revitalized trade and the city's economy. We were able to spend a day there; it was very enjoyable despite off and on again rain. The first thing we did was to get on a tour boat and view the city from the canals.

Below are some windows and doors.

The Bruges residents are very proud of their beers. I love this brewery sign.

The message board below was outside a small pub.

Below are several examples of art on the corners of buildings.

Below is a photo of the Provinciaal Hof and the square.

Below is an emblem above an archway. The second photo is of some lovely old buildings.

The next photo is a side exterior view of the Church of Our Lady, built over the 13th through 15th centuries. The photo was taken from our canal boat.The second photo shows the tower of this church.

Michelangelo, between 1501-1504, sculpted the Madonna and Child. This sculpture was purchased from Michelangelo by Giovanni and Alessandro Moscheroni, wealthy Bruges cloth merchants, for 4000 florins. This was the only sculpture of Michelangelo's to leave Italy in his lifetime. In 1514 they donated it to the Church of Our Lady. It was removed by French Revolutionaries in 1794 and sent to Paris. After Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo in 1815 it was returned to the Church of Our Lady. In 1944, as the Allies were closing in, the Nazis took it to Austria were they stored it in a salt mine. President Roosevelt established a commission to try and get back all the art work stolen by the Nazis. They found the statue in the salt mine and restored it to the Church of Our Lady November 12, 1945. The photo below is of the statue being removed from the salt mine.  The movie "The Monuments Men", released in 2014, is about these efforts.

The two photos below are of the Madonna and Child. They have been behind bullet proof glass since the Pieta was shot by some nut in 1972. You also can't get closer than 15 feet. I really like it; Mary seems like a real woman and Jesus is a real baby.

There are two other sculptures in this church that we really liked. I don't know the artists' names. The first one is of Mary and the second one is Joseph and Jesus as a boy.

The last photo shows some tulip beds in a park.

Since we were in Belgium we thought we should have mussels for lunch; unfortunately the restaurateurs saw tourists as big money. We declined to pay 30 euros each for mussels. We also didn't get any Belgian chocolate while we were there. 30 to 60 euros per kilo seemed just a tad steep. Despite those things Bruge was well worth a visit.