Hallo aus Trier! Well that’s where we were yesterday anyway! We had a day stuffed chockablock with historical facts.
First we headed to the wonderful city of Trier. Located near the French border, Trier is the oldest city is Germany and has plenty of Roman ruins left to see.
We had a walking tour of the city, starting at the famous Porta Nigra, the earthquake-proof, northern gate to the Roman city of Augusta Treverorum, know today as Trier.
We saw a fantastic building on Simeonstrasse, called the house of the three kings. We learned that in the medieval days, all the buildings were covered in white plaster, and were decorated with brightly coloured accents, just like this one.
You may be confused by the door on the first floor? We were too! It is in fact a protective measure to keep robbers and travelling pillagers from getting into the house. How novel!
We were all impressed by the old market square, and from there we were able to see the two towers. The two religious leaders kept adding storeys to the towers to ensure their church was the tallest- as our tour guide out it, even adults do really silly things sometimes!
This lovely building below is the Trier Cathedral. It dates back to the Roman times and would you believe it’s made out of over one million little bricks!
We finished off with a visit to the Roman baths, a UNESCO heritage site, where we learnt all about the day to day workings of the baths. We also learned that the Romans weren’t exactly the most environmentally friendly- they used more water than we do today and there were a lot fewer of them. We also found out about the Roman day equivalent to exfoliators- much more complex than today!
That concluded our little tour of the city and we were allowed an hour or so of shopping time. Expect exciting gifts!
In the afternoon we headed over to the town of Marksburg, a sleepy little town which is overlooked by a 12th century medieval castle. Marksburg Castle is the only castle overlooking the Rhein to never have been conquered. It is located at the top of a steep hill – we all got the equivalent of a good stairmaster workout, but theviews were breathtaking!
We visited the medieval kitchens, that looked like a witch’s kitchen and had a huge fireplace and locked salt box. Indeed salt was such a commodity in the day that the chef had to ask the Lady of the Castle to unlock the box each and every time he needed to use the salt! We also learned about refrigeration methods in those days: large blocks of ice were cut out of frozen lakes and rivers in winter, wrapped in straw and kept in the castle cellars until they were needed- go figure!
We were amazed at how tiny the beds were, but it turns out that people were so superstitious about dying if they lied down, that they would sleep sitting upright!
We toured the blacksmith’s shop, the torture chamber and the armoury, so see what the German knights used to wear on battle.
Miss Troll even found a plant named after her in the witch’s herb garden!!
One of our favourite bits was to be found in the dining room, where there was a toilet. Odd in and of itself, but it gets better! The toilet has no plumbing- it is a seat over a sheer drop to the garden. Not only that, but the door to the privy remained open throughout the day, even whilst people were eating at the dining table! It was only locked from the outside at night – to stop invaders getting in!!
We’ll finish off this post with the top 5 things that thankfully did NOT happen at Marksburg Castle:
- No one used the dining room toilet- no surprise there!
- No torture equipment was put to use
- No one fired a canon across the river Rhein
- The armoury mannequins did not get knocked over like dominoes
- No one bought a bum bum ice cream, although everyone did laugh at it!
Chadwell Heath Academy MFL Trips 