I lit a candle for you today

Whoa! Made it to Trier today. Finally! Met a Macedonian on the train. That was pretty cool.

My first stop in that epic little city was...the bathroom at a Burger King. My coffee caught up to me on the train and it was a brutal last half-hour. But after that I walked to the Porta Nigra. The Porta Nigra is this old Roman gate that used to stand at the edge of the city (ya know, like, 1,900 years ago), but now is a mere 0.6 kilometers away from the train station (the sign said so). The original name of the gate is lost to history (because people name gates, I guess?) but it has been known as the Porta Nigra (Black Gate) since the middle ages. Yeah, it got my Mordor up too. It got it's name, apparently, because of little lichen that took up residence on the stones, turning them a blackish grey color. I don't know if anyone else just got excited, but I love ancient symbiotes!

As I walked through the gate for the first time today, I got kind of a steam punk feel from it. There was a ton of scaffolding and wires and tubes running through it. Admittedly, they did make an effort to stick them in the darkest corners they could find which totally just added to the whole shadow-government ambiance.

After that I went rogue. I knew there were lots of other old Roman things scattered throughout the city, but I figured I'd just wander around 'til I found something interesting. I ended up following some narrow and very Harry Potter-esque streets to the Trier Cathedral. Admittedly, I had no idea it was a cathedral when I went in. I think I came in the back way. Absolutely gorgeous nonetheless and imagine how delighted I was when I found a magnificent cathedral at the end of Diagon Alley!

For real though. I do love old churches. When I lived in Wuppertal, I would often take the train to Cologne after classes just to do my reading in the shadow of the cathedral there. Something about all the stone-work is breathtaking. And they all smell the same: must and rock and...sacredness. There's a soothing coolness, an atmospheric balm for the soul that just permeates old churches.

When I left the cathedral (through the entrance I'll remind my readers), I found myself in the middle of the old town center! Old town centers are pretty cool in Europe by the way. Lots of old half-timber houses, but the fancy kind. Traumhaft! And they had the Weihnachtsmarkt set up there! And it's just not Christmas without Glühwein! I had four of those this afternoon, somehow made my way back to the train station and am now enjoying a cup of Irish tea (I watched Doctor Who this weekend and it made me miss tea time with Bronagh and Sharon) waiting for Till to get done with work so we can go see a movie. A surprise movie!