St Avold France

Today (21 May 09) I had the day off so we decided to take a short drive to Luxembourg to do some shopping the Auchan shopping mall in Luxembourg City. We thought the traffic was pretty light but when we had driven for about 1-1/2hrs and arrived at the store - it was closed! Not only that every other store we drove by was also closed ???

However, we decided to drive to France (French Pastries - mouth was watering with just the thought). But when we drove by a few more stores we discovered most of France was shut down as well ??? Rats! No pastries today.

It wasn't until we drove home 200-miles and 4-hours later that we found out that today in Germany is what is called Vatertag (Father's Day) or Christi Himmelfahrt or for us Americans - Ascension Day.

By then it was getting a little later so we decided to head to St Avold, France to make a short visit to the Lorraine American Cemetery. This is the largest American Military cemetery in Europe.



We often see the war movies and TV shows that show the destruction of war, but until you visit one of the war cemeteries in Europe and see the staggering number of graves it doesn't sink in. But having visited several of these sites in Europe it really touches the heart to think of all the lives that war has hurt so much.

Oldest City in Germany

Friday was a great day - beautiful weather and no work! So we decided to take a quick day trip to what is claimed to be the oldest city in Germany - Trier.

Trier is famous for its ancient Roman ruins and religious artifacts. We didn't have time to see it all but we did manage to get in over 10km walking around looking at some of the many great sights in the area.

Of course one of the first places to see is the old Roman gate to the city - Porta Nigra that is about 1800yrs old! Pretty impressive and they still let people walk through the building.



Also in Trier is the Dom Trier which is another must see. Among the artifacts claimed to be held in the cathedral is the Seamless Robe of Christ and the Holy Nail claimed to be one of the nails used to crucify Christ.





















Finally we went to the Amphitheater where they still actually hold gladiator fights every year. Guess we might have to take a trip back later this year.