Luxembourg- A City with a Moat

October 9, 2021

I figure that you should always try to make the most of your time when traveling, and from Trier it was just an hour by train into Luxembourg City, the capital of Luxembourg. So I figured why not go. Plus when I Googled Luxembourg City, it seemed like a really cool place to go explore for a day. I wasn't disappointed.

I grabbed a pastry in the morning on the way to the train station, and just barely caught the 8:45am train. They left hourly, and it was just 4 euro to travel to another country. The leisurely train ride went along the Moselle River for the first half of it, and just like the Rhine it's nothing but vineyards on either side.

The train crossed over the border into Luxembourg, and immediately started speaking French over the loudspeakers instead of German. This of course meant I still didn't understand anything it was saying. But 'do you speak English' is one of the three things in French I knew how to say, so I figured I'd be okay in Luxembourg too.

The downtown part of the city is basically on a rock with a giant moat around it. There's a pretty big valley surrounding three quarters of the city, which means it was definitely the advantageous place to build your fortress so long ago. This means that if you walk far enough in almost any direction you're going to get a great view.

The shopping center had lots of French bakeries and high end designer shopping, and you could walk one side to the other in about 15 minutes. It wasn't big. I went and found all the sights I was planning to, including things off the edge of the cliff. The Notre Dame Cathedral was an easy stop too.

The ducal palace had a couple guards outside of it that were patrolling with loud stomps of their boots. Every two laps, they had an elaborate little trading ceremony at the gate, then the other would do two laps of stomping. Sort of mini Buckingham Palace-esque. I didn't really see the point in it.

The Bock Casemates are a series of defensive tunnels running under or around the city. They were closed for COVID, but the entry point had a great view of the valley. Then from there I walked down the Corniche, a road that switchbacked down the side of the cliff.

At the bottom I walked a short way through the valley filled with trees around a little river.

Then I found one of the elevators that takes you between the upper and lower parts of the city, without having to go all the way back up the road. Very handy.

At lunchtime I managed to find an out of the way French bakery advertising a 6 euro panini combo, which seemed way more my speed than the 25 euro sit-down lunches that were all over the center. The lady behind the counter, when asked if she spoke English, gave a wide eyed 'noooo'. Then at the same time in our respective languages we said 'It's fine, we'll make it work'. Between the two of us and pointing we managed to get me a hot cheese and ham panini and a custard tart for dessert. I took that and a juice box I bought for breakfast and never drank over to a park across the street, and ate watching a fountain in the sun.

After lunch I found another elevator. This one was glass and made for sightseeing.

It went down to the valley on the other side of the city. I walked a short ways and found the funicular on the other side of the valley. Online it looked much more impressive than it actually was. It just went from a train stop which was kind of halfway up the hill to the street above, which meant about a 30 second ride. So I rode it up, and then right back down again.

It was getting to be late afternoon and I had done basically everything on my list. I found a sticker at a souvenir shop, and headed for the train station. I have no idea if I bought the right ticket or not, but no one asked for it on the way home, so it was a moot point.

I had another nice evening walking around the old town in Trier to see the cathedral and Porta Nigra all lit up one last time, and got myself a plate of pasta at the Italian restaurant right around the corner from my hotel.

Even though I didn't get a stamp in my passport, Luxembourg City was well worth the 2 hour round trip.

Trier and Roman Ruins

October 7, 2021

My last destination on the trip was Trier, west of Frankfurt over by the border with France. It's home to the most Roman ruins outside of Rome, and they didn't disappoint.

The Porta Nigra, or Black Gate is one of the most well known places, and is one of the main entrances to the old town. It's made out of sandstone, which has turned black with age.

There's a small model of the gate out in front of the gate.

Also in the old part of town is the Dom, or cathedral. It's just a bit of gorgeous architecture, with parts of it dating back to the 300s.

Inside, the ceilings, walls, and carvings are incredible. Photographs are allowed and the church loses a little of it's holy feeling due to the automatic sliding glass doors that have been installed at the front, but it doesn't take anything away from how beautiful it is. 

Right next to it is the Church of Our Lady, which also has stunning Gothic architecture and a painted ceiling. The sun was just right for me to walk in through the side door and immediately be bathed in colored light coming through the stained glass window on the other side. It was magical.

From the outside the stained glass windows were unassuming, and it was hard to even tell they were colored. All the magic was contained inside.

Next on my tour of Roman places was the bath house. It's now a shell of what it once was, and undergoing restoration so scaffolding all around detracted a little from it. The corner of the area held the tallest structure that once had windows at the corner of the site.

Underground tunnels have been excavated. Workers would use them to maintain all the pipes and stuff that carried the hot and cold water to the baths.

Seeing what's left of the massive bath house made me wish that we could see it so many hundred years ago in it's prime. Also it's amazing what people so long ago managed to build with the technology that existed then.

Last stop on my tour was the amphitheater a short walk outside of town. This one seemed a little more reconstructed to me. There was a sign saying that after the fall of the Roman empire the amphitheater wasn't used any more for gladiator fights, and a lot of the stone was pilfered to use for other construction. At one point the hillside around the arena where the spectators sat was turned into vineyards. So tough to say how much of it was original construction. But it was cool anyway.

There was a space under the main arena that had the remnants of machinery used to lift people or animals through the floor up to the main arena. It's somewhat flooded with water now, but I thought it was really neat down there. 

Walking back through the main square at night was much quieter, the majority of tourists were gone for the night, and the Dom was lit up magnificently.

The Porta Nigra was too.

My last morning in Trier I took a walk along the Moselle River to see the Romerbrucker, the oldest bridge in Germany. While it was cool, it was just sort of another bridge. But the morning stroll along the river was lovely.

As a side note, Trier has the fanciest McDonalds I think I've ever seen. Yes, that's it on the corner.

Hiking in the Black Forest

October 4-5, 2021

After saying goodbye to Sarah and Ave, they went back to Frankfurt and I traveled south, taking two trains and a bus to get me to Triberg, in the heart of the fabled Black Forest. My plans included two days of hiking while I was there.

It was pretty magical the next morning. All different shades of green, with mist hanging around in the trees. It was raining pretty good, but that's what raincoats are for.

I started my day headed to the Triberg waterfall, which claims to be the tallest waterfall in Germany. The area was pretty, with walking paths through the forest. The trees were teeming with birds and pointy-eared red squirrels.

The waterfall was very nice. There were several boardwalk view points arranged for you to enjoy the best parts of the waterfall.

While I have seen taller falls in my life, it was still beautiful. Also the area was largely deserted, probably due to it being October (aka not tourist season) and rainy.

Up the long path past the waterfalls and out the top of the park was the start of my hiking for the day. Although I couldn't figure out which way to go for the trail that I had planned (the next day I realized I was just looking at the wrong part of the sign) I figured I'd just follow the signs for 4km to Schönwald, the next town over, and see what happened.

The trail took me along logging roads through the forest. It was signed pretty well, with little diamond trail markers on trees every so often, and the big sign posts at crossroads. While the hike was different than my brain had imagined, it was beautiful and varied scenery, and a pretty flat walk, and I enjoyed myself very much.

The Black Forest actually has much more green...

I continued through Schönwald and went another 6.5km to Furtwangen, where I found a much needed bathroom and a bratwurst for lunch.

The descent down into Furtwangen started in the trees high above the town, and went down the little winding path all the way there.

I successfully managed to find a bus back to Triberg, so luckily I didn't need to walk the whole thing in reverse. I put my feet up on the couch in my room for a little bit, then found some dinner, and went to bed tired.

The next day I repeated the experiment, but went in a different direction. The waterfall was still lovely, and the sun was out which had a nice effect through the trees.

At the signpost I selected a northward trail, headed towards Shonach instead. The hike was shorter, about 4 km, and took me on some actual trails through the woods rather than all logging roads, as well as across the tops of meadows and across hills.

The meadows often times contained cows.

The sky was feeling extra dramatic that day.

At one point I went right under one of the wind turbines that dot the landscape. It's the closest I've been to one, and was tickled to hear the 'woosh, woosh, woosh' as the blades went around.

The approach to Schonach was picturesque, as per usual, and once again I managed to find a bus back to Triberg. It felt good to get some exercise, fresh air, and sunshine.

Triberg itself is a cute little town nestled into the trees.

Other than the waterfalls, it's got a cultural museum with a bewildering variety of displays, ranging from traditional clothing and hats, to grass weaving, to self-playing musical instruments, to the radio invented in the area, to bobsledding and luge.

There's a bunch of souvenir shops, and every one of them had a dedicated section for the cuckoo clocks the Black Forest is known for. While expensive and not my taste, they all had undeniably beautiful wood carving and decoration. I was glad I was never in one of the shops at the top of the hour. 

Triberg is also known for it's pom-pom hats, which are traditional for the women to wear. They are piled with giant red or black puffballs (signifying single or married) and are all over signs and souvenirs in the area. My favorite thing was the line of giant Easter Island statues along the river in town that got pom-pom hats too.

I was sad to leave the Black Forest after just a couple of days. It really is just a beautiful area, and somehow it's different than other forests I've seen and hiked in before. Maybe it's the colors, maybe it's the fact that there's both trees and fields hanging out together. Either way, 5 stars, I'd totally go back again and explore more of it.