Trier Day 2
There were no tourist groups around or inside of the Cathedral. Actually there were nobody in the church except a small group of sisters, a priest and a couple of cleaning staff. We spent a peaceful time to admire the details of the burial monuments and sculptures there for a while.
We stepped out to the cloister that we didn't see on the day before.
The cloister was large and beautiful. It was a nice view spot of the side of the Cathedral and the back of the Church of Our Lady.
The market square was also still quiet.
We stopped by St Gangolf's Church at the main market. The Roman Catholic church has been serving as a market and guild church since the 15th century. The tower used to be its tower keeper's apartment and also served as the city's fire station until the 20th century.
It was time for breakfast. We jumped into Café Mohr, a popular breakfast spot once they opened their door at 8:30 am.
More people were following us and the place was almost packed shortly.
J had a savory and hot breakfast platter as usual.
I had a light breakfast set, including three slices of their house bread with jam and butter, yogurt, a boiled egg and orange juice. It was very satisfying.
Next we took a bus to St. Matthias' Abbey, which is located in the south of the city of Trier. The 12th century Romanesque basilica is the monastic church of the Benedictine community as well as a pilgrimage church because of the tomb of Saint Matthias the Apostle.
The interior was very simple. The burial monument of the Apostle Matthias lies in the nave, above the tomb in the crypt. This is the only burial of an Apostle in Germany.
Actually in the crypt were two more tombs, which were larger and older than that of the Apostle. Those are for St. Eucharius and Valerius, the two founding bishops of the Trier diocese. The second half of the 3rd century is assumed to be the time of life and work of them. The basilica was built on an older abby that was built in the 5th century to venerate the two saints.
The small stone box over there was the tomb of the Apostle Matthias, which we almost overlooked. During the construction of the Romanesque basilica in the 12th century, the tomb of the Apostle Matthias was found at the site and the basilica was named after the Apostle. So, the Apostle Matthias officially joined St. Eucharius and Valerius here about 700 years later.
There was a large graveyard next to the Abby. The area that the Abby and the graveyard stand on today used to be an ancient Roman gravesite, just outside of the Roman city wall. The stone tombs of St. Eucharius and Valerius used to be in the ancient crypt of the chapel in the graveyard. The area is believed as an important spot for the early Christianity in Trier.
Instead of taking a bus, we walked back to the old town. It was a good exercise. On the way to the Rheinisches Landesmuseum, we passed by a pond in the Palace Garden again. A goose family was swimming. The babies were so cute!
The Rheinisches Landesmuseum is not just an archaeological museum in Trier but also the city's largest and most famous museum. The museum covers the history and cultural development of the entire region from prehistoric times to the 18th century Baroque period, but probably the highlights are authentic remains from the Roman era.
The collections of Roman artifacts, including sculptures, grave monuments and mosaics were fantastic. We spent a good amount of time there. Well, we needed a lot of time because the museum was really huge.
It was also fun to find where we walked and visited on the super-fine Roman city model.
Time for lunch!
J's pick was Schlemmereule, a fine German/European restaurant near the Cathedral.
We were seated inside. The interior was bright and elegant. Approved.
The two kinds of bread and whipped fresh butter. Approved.
The amuse-bouche was cubed kohlrabi with minty creamy sauce. That was ok.
For starter, I ordered the soup of the day, which was pumpkin soup. I LOVE pumpkin soup. I was so excited to have the first pumpkin soup in this fall. I saw someone at the outside table having a lovely orange-color soup through the window. I thought it must be pumpkin soup and looked forward to mine. In fact we waited quite a long time to get our starters. Then my soup finally came. However, it didn't look like pumpkin at all. Our waitress apologies the pea soup was prepared by mistake and asked me if I could take it. Of course I was disappointed but I didn't want to spend more time to get a right soup. At least the pea soup was fine. The flavor was very mild, but the texture was nice and wasn't so salty. J had a crustacean bisque soup, which he said looked like mine. I forgot to take a photo of it.
Before the main dish, apple sorbet was served. It was tasty! I could take another scoop.
My main dish was summer salad with duck. Delicious! J had Lammrücken (saddle of lamb = lamb loin) with paprika, Salzwiesenkräuter (which means 'salt marsh herbs.' It looked like samphire that we had in England), and Gnocchi. I tasted a little bit of his lamb. It was tender and nice.
The lunch was delightful although the service was so slow. I wanted to try their dessert but if I did, the day would have ended when we finished it. There were still some more to see and do in Trier, like visiting the Church of Our Lady. Yes, we could see the inside of the Church of Our Lady finally.
The floor plan of the Church of Our Lady was interesting. It was rounded, resembling a twelve-petalled rose. The high alter was surrounded by eight chapels. The interior was beautifully lighten up by sunlight though the stained glasses all the sides. I was glad that we didn't miss the church.
We also did some shopping. We visited a pastry shop, Oberweis and bought a box of cookies. When we visited Luxembourg last year, we had a breakfast at Oberweis' flagship shop in the City of Luxembourg. I was happy to see their shop in Trier. Then we found a wine store that sells local wines from several small wineries. One of the wineries is owned by the shopkeeper's wife's family. He kindly introduced wines according to J's requests. J had some tasting and chose two Riesling wines from the wife's family.
We also briefly visited the City Museum directly adjacent to the Porte Nigra. The most interesting thing there was the city model that shows how the city looked like in 1800, especially after seeing the Roman city model.
The last stop was the Basilica of St. Paulinus, located outside of the town center and close to our hotel. The 18th century Baroque church is famous for its large fresco on the nave ceiling about the life of St Paulinus. St Paulinus was the Bishop of Trier in the mid-4th century, who didn't get along with the Roman Emperor Constantius II. The Emperor pushed away St Paulinus to Phrygia, part of Turkey today. St Paulinus died there a few years later and his remains was brought back to Trier in the late 4th century. His burial church was built on the site that the Basilica stands today. The ancient church was destroyed in fire in the 11th century. It was replaced with a Romanesque basilica, which was also crushed by French troops in the 17th century. So the current church is the third one, a survivor of WW2.
I think two days were perfect to explore Trier. Trier was on our must-see place list and I am glad we made it. It was definitely worth for it.
