Saturday's excursion was to Trier.
I've been once before, but I was young enough that I don't remember so it was pretty cool to discover the city again. Was not expecting the Roman ruins, that was very nice.
Unfortunately, to get there we had to take public transport. It wasn't that big of a deal, it was just inconveniencing enough to have some of us grumble.
When we got there, we established a meeting point and split up to have lunch. I ended up getting a sandwich and desert from a lovely bakery, and ate with others in the gardens of some fancy house. It was beautiful. Afterwards we bounced through the different churches in the area (including one that supposedly had Jesus's cloak or something).
I've been once before, but I was young enough that I don't remember so it was pretty cool to discover the city again. Was not expecting the Roman ruins, that was very nice.
Unfortunately, to get there we had to take public transport. It wasn't that big of a deal, it was just inconveniencing enough to have some of us grumble.
When we got there, we established a meeting point and split up to have lunch. I ended up getting a sandwich and desert from a lovely bakery, and ate with others in the gardens of some fancy house. It was beautiful. Afterwards we bounced through the different churches in the area (including one that supposedly had Jesus's cloak or something).
Afterwards we all regrouped to go to Karl Marx's house. It was a bit of a disappointment - they had stripped the house of everything and put panels of text with pictures on the wall. We had audio guides for the museum. It was just a lot of information all at once, and a bit boring besides. Not one of my favorite things we've done.
Then we split up again as we had some free time in the city. I did a wine tasting with a few others. Trier apparently is in a region where white wine is a Thing. They weren't bad persay, I'm just not a huge fan. Still, the one red that place had was a joke. I'm not even sure what it tasted like - maybe red mixed with white? The aftertaste was almost like licorice. I guess the moral of the story is that you don't get red wine in a white wine region - you're not going to like the results.
After the tasting we went to the Regional Museum. It wasn't a very good museum either, it was a bit bare and wasn't very engaging. Still, we had had a bit of wine beforehand, so we had a pretty good time despite the museum's flaws. We did see a room where there were ginormous Roman ruins on display though, which was pretty interesting in itself. However we weren't there long before the museum announced they were closing and we had to leave.
A few highlights from the museum, as it did have its moments:
Then we split up again as we had some free time in the city. I did a wine tasting with a few others. Trier apparently is in a region where white wine is a Thing. They weren't bad persay, I'm just not a huge fan. Still, the one red that place had was a joke. I'm not even sure what it tasted like - maybe red mixed with white? The aftertaste was almost like licorice. I guess the moral of the story is that you don't get red wine in a white wine region - you're not going to like the results.
After the tasting we went to the Regional Museum. It wasn't a very good museum either, it was a bit bare and wasn't very engaging. Still, we had had a bit of wine beforehand, so we had a pretty good time despite the museum's flaws. We did see a room where there were ginormous Roman ruins on display though, which was pretty interesting in itself. However we weren't there long before the museum announced they were closing and we had to leave.
A few highlights from the museum, as it did have its moments:
We had a bite to eat after the museum, and ended up being caught in a huge downpour. Of course, after that we were also witnesses to something. Not sure what it was, but we were eating across from a jewelry store and a bunch of police cars pulled up and police started milling around. They eventually left, but drove back by at least three more times.
Afterwards we went back to meet up for the bus. Slight problem there: we were sharing our transport back with the College of Charleston. Again. As if it wasn't clear from last time that this would be a problem. At first, they tried to tell us that they wouldn't be able to pick us up until an hour or so after they originally agreed on. Then, since someone must have made a big enough snit about it, they did end up picking us up around the right time. Still, just the fact that they tried again to make a mess of things was annoying. I thought I'd never have to deal with them again, and I was wrong. The College of Charleston is quickly becoming a meme.