3 June ’04, Thursday. Quite honestly I didn’t know anything about Trier that I could remember prior to today. But this town has one heck of a long history behind it. It was founded by the Romans as “Augusta Treveorum” in 16 BC!!! Over 2000 years of history !!! Without a doubt it is Germany’s oldest city. Trier also boasts one of the most colorful markets in Europe with it’s outstanding ensemble of historical buildings and also being located right on the Moselle River. Louise and I will attest to the quality of the food at the cafes of the market square as well. Mmmm Good !!! The Dom “Trier Cathedral” is the oldest bishop’s church in Germany and was founded by Emperor Constantine. On the 20th anniversary of his administration he ordered the construction started around 326. It is a beautiful example of Roman Architecture. The cathedral also houses a most precious relic. Empress Helena discovered on a journey to Jerusalem what is believed to be the tunic of Christ. It has been retained in the Trier Cathedral every since. We found out at the tourist information center that if we tell them we are “Senior Citizens” we get special perks…will now we tell it to everyone that will listen. Budget, Budget, Budget. For $3.10 Euro ea. we got our passes for 6 different venues that we knew we wanted to see anyway. It was a great deal. The town isn’t too very large so we were able to walk from the campsite, into town, and to each of the attractions we had time for today. As it was, when we finally got back to the van we were wiped out. We found all the sites that we went to today not only beautiful to look at but, absolutely bowled over with the history behind them. We visited the Gothic church The Basilica of Our Lady, The Imperial Throne Room, The Roman Imperial Baths from the 4th century, the Electoral Palace and gardens, The Porta Nigra, which is one of the Roman city gates, and the Roman Amphitheater. Once we walked into the Amphitheater I remembered seeing Rick Steves standing in the center of this amphitheater and speaking to the small crowd around him. This amphitheater was so well designed that you can talk with a normal voice and be heard everywhere you might be sitting above. We also had an opportunity to go down into the lower chambers (under the dirt floor). We could only imagine who and what was kept under there and had to make their way up to fight for their life in front of the Roman crowds. Tomorrow….Oil Change for Bumble Bee !!!