Lost in Europe: Trier with Amanda and the kids

Are you ready for your history lesson? Because you are getting one! Trier is the oldest city in Germany, and it is just packed with history!!

We were lost so Amanda stopped to ask for directions. Notice the sign in the background? Probably not the BEST place to ask for directions with all of the kids.

Isabellas bumblebee dessert.

The kids inside the churches. The churches in Europe are SO AMAZING.

The doorway has such intricate carvings.

Here we are at the Roman Imperial baths. The Imperial Baths, or Kaisertherman, were constructed circa AD 293 and the baths are one of the largest Roman baths ever built. The main reason they were built is because the nearby Barbara Baths also located in Trier, were the second largest baths in the Roman Empire at the time, but they were too small to accommodate all of the local people.

Public baths were an important part of Roman life and this extensive complex helps support that. There were cold, warm and hot baths, each in separate but connected bathing rooms, changing rooms, a huge courtyard surrounded on three sides by a colonnade and used as a sports ground, as well as an intricate underground tunnel system that functioned as service passages and sewage channels. The baths were not only used for bathing. They were also for socializing by both politicians (see, they even campaigned back then!) and the general population. Gambling, relaxing, salon services such as waxing, pumice scrubs, etc, were offered as well as the use of libraries and pubs. The foundation underground of the Imperial Baths measures 480 x 820 feet (145 x 250 meters), which would fit almost three football fields, and even though most of the baths above ground is in ruins, the underground labyrinth of tunnels is very much intact. The kids had a BLAST running through and exploring each room.

The House of the Three Magi, or Dreikönigenhaus, is located near the Main Market. Built in 1230, it is one of the oldest stone houses in Germany. Since it was built before the medieval defensive city wall was built, the house has its own defenses: a front door that is built into the second story. In the photo you can see there is now a business on the first level, but also a door floating to the right above it where the original residents attached a retractable wooden staircase, as a matter of protection. The Moorish style of the house was popular at the time.

The kids and I at the Roman bath tunnels

I bought fresh flowers from the market. I am Loving all of the beautiful fresh flowers here.

A Pinocchio dessert.

Amazing inside of the church.

You have to pay to use the bathroom here. Prices are different everywhere, and it sure adds up with 3 kids who use the bathroom. Obviously Eden will too at some point. There is someone who collects your money, and they are responsible to keep the restroom clean and stocked with toilet paper, towels etc.

Audrey and Lauren trying bubble shakes.

This is Trierer Dom (or Dom St. Peter), a Roman Catholic church which dates back to Roman times and is home to the Holy Tunic, a garment with a recorded history back to the 12th century, in Catholic tradition said to be the robe Jesus was wearing when he died. It is only exhibited every few decades, at irregular intervals.

Inside the tunnels of the baths.

The Church of Our Lady, or Liebfrauenkirche, is the oldest Gothic church in Germany. The Church is attached to the south side of the Cathedral (Dom), and has Roman foundations, though everything above ground dates back to about 1235 or later.

The main part of the church is built in a crucifix pattern which is supported by twelve large columns. An interesting characteristic of this church is that there are twelve Gothic portraits of the Apostles, each one painted upon a separate column. But, you can only see all twelve paintings at the same time if you stand in one specific spot, designated by a black stone on the floor. It's fascinating to find the brick in the aisle floor and then see all of the paintings at once, which you simply cannot do from anywhere else in the church. This is only one of the paintings.

Here are the kids in Jews' Alley (Judengasse), which is the former medieval Jewish Ghetto. Some items found there during excavation, have Hebrew inscriptions which proves that there were traces of Jewish life in Trier dating back to the 1st or 2nd century. A local Jewish community came into existence in Trier by the beginning of the 11th century, and in 1235, the first houses were built by four Jews in the street which later became "Judengasse". In 1096, the Jews were forced by the knights of the Roman Catholic Church either to convert to the Christianity, or to commit suicide or to be killed by the knights. The Jews who were baptized by force were authorized to reconvert one year later. From 1096 till 1349 the Jews of Trier lived in peace. In 1349 an epidemic of plague struck the country, which cost the lives of almost one third of the population. The rumor is that the Jews spread the disease bit by bit in the country. This led to a real massacre, as in a period of one month, several hundreds of Jews were murdered.
These murders marked the end of the community of Trier. Only a few Jews remained living in Trier.
In 1418, Jews were banished out of Trier by the bishop. Their fate was much like those of other Jews in European cities in those days. Initially, it was a flourishing community with many of its members working as pharmacists, doctors or money-lenders and the Jewish quarter consisted of more than 60 houses. After their expulsion, many Jews went east. When the descendants of the expelled Jewish families were allowed to come back after 1600, they settled in different parts of the city and the Jewish quarter lost its significance. Today Judengasse hosts a number of restaurants and bars, and today you can find four of the original houses, and flight tunnels that remain.