On to Saarbrucken and Trier

Tuesday - May 13th

I got up early and ate the breakfast that most places provide. Never had cucumbers and slices of peppers for breakfast before! Then I left for Saarbrucken, a place famous in German history for its industry and coal mines that supplied much of the rest of Germany and France and that has been argued over for centruries by those two countries for that reason. ("It's mine!" "No, it's mine!") Not a real touristy spot, but the Saar River is nice, with an ancient bridge over it (the name of the town means Saar Bridges) and an interesting old town. I got my first German chocolate bar - with Marzipan from Lubeck inside, a real delicacy, Mm-mmm! As you say, Ryan, we remember things by the food we eat and as you say, Kristina, we always like to talk about the food we eat! Since I had a hard time finding a place to stay there, I hopped the train again for Trier, just a few miles to the north to stay for the next two nights. (I spent many hours on the interenet for sevral months trying to book places, but Saarbrucken seems to have very few cheap places). My hotel here is in a quaint old gaststatte, a typical German guest house. It has a view into the hof, the inner courtyard and even has its own bathroom. It has the typical quaint German restaurant downstairs and the Gastgeber is a nice old German Herr, whose German I can understand pretty well.

I walked around town a lot today and bought my favorite German meal - slices of wurst with Edamer cheese and brotchens, a small hard-roll type of bread. Pretty good! No one has quite the wurst like they do here in Germany.

The most impressive thing here in Trier is the old Romanesque cathedral that was built from about 500 AD to 1100 AD - pretty darn old and very simple and bold-looking compared to the gothic and baroque architecture that came later. Too bad the interior was closed due to renovation. Another interesting thing is that a second, gothic, church was built to adjoin it, making it one large cathedral! There is also an old Roman gate (Porta Nigra, or Black Gate) which was built in the 100s, nearly 2000 years ago! Trier was the Roman capital of the area back then. Then there are the old narrow streets, the shopping (a little too busy and expensive for me) and my hotel is about two miles out of the center of town. I must have gotten 10 miles of walking in today, bertween the two towns. lt works up a sweat during the time l wear my 30 pound backpack - no suitcase for me!

The German kids dress and act just like Americans - very different from when I was here years ago. Cell phones, some long hair, faded jeans and up-to-date fashions are the "in" thing. The older folks are much more casual now, too, than when I was here before. I guess that's the American influence for you, for better or worse, All the kids have cell phones, which are called "Handys" here. Pretty handy way to call, no? Well, Auf Widersehen, or Tschuss, for now!

(Well, I am having a hard time uploadng my pictures from this `Internet Cafe,´ so I will try again later).