Trier, oldest city in Germany

First things first, I started at the Porta Nigra (Black Gate) which was built by the Romans. . . a long time ago. It is pretty cool, they did not use any mortar, it is stone on stone. Trier is a great spot to see some Roman ruins if you don't have the time or funds to go to Rome.

Ok, so this might have not been the best picture to select (I'm still trying to master the art of the self portrait), but this is a old roman amphitheatre. You can go underground where the gladiators used to prepare, and the rooms the lions and whatnot were held in are also still there.

Here I am at the Roman Baths, there is an awesome underground network of tunnels that were used to pipe steam and hot water into the baths.
This is Shery (we worked together my last week) and her boyfriend Tom (also a KPMG employee, and a native of Trier). We hung out the afternoon, ate lunch and went to a few museums. They were a lot of fun to be with, glad we were able to connect.

Ok, kinda a random picture of some guys putting up advertisements. .. just thought it was kinda neat. . .. ok, I haven't slept for way too long. So, this will have to do for now.

Switzerland

Here is a hodge-podge of pictures of our trip to Switzerland two weeks ago. Switzerland was beautiful, however we got rained on a lot. The Swiss have some different rules, you are not allowed to flush the toilet or shower after 10:00pm. They do not like to be disturbed.

The bread man was very friendly. Camille`s sister Ruth joined us for about a week on our journeyings. Bless her heart, she was missing her boyfriend Lance the entire time.

Ruth at the top of a tower we climbed up, there is a wall surrounding one edge of Luczern, pretty cool.

Looking into the lake on the south side of Zurich. Sadly, we did not get to see either the bank or embassy or park bench that are featured in Bourne Identity. Curses.

Here we are at the top of the alps. Yup, sweet clouds eh? So, although it was a little frustrating being at the top of the alps and not being able to see them, the train ride up (steepest cogwheel train in the world, nearly 50% grade in some parts) was very cool (all of the mist and whatnot in the trees). It was also cool hearing the cow bells through the mist, and Ruth snapped a picture of a really cool goat. We also saw yodelers (sp?) at the top, and they blew on those long horn things too.


Can`t remember what this is called (will update later) but very cool carving, and I guess somewhat famous.

Overlooking the river and a really cool bridge in Luczern Switzerland. Kevin Coombs from KPMG Denver was nice enough to let us stay at their flat in Zurich for the weekend. He and his family will be there for another year and a half or so. Everything was beautiful, we just wished it would have stopped raining!

Germany

Here is the newest intstallment! We went to Germany last weekend and it was awesome. I had no idea how beautiful that country is. The forests are very thick, and it seems like there is a huge variety of different kinds of trees. We drove along the romantic road which goes through many cool small villages. We found the German people to be pretty friendly, one guy even continued to give us directions in German when it was clear we didn`t understand a word he was saying. Well, he got the point across because we were able to find the road we were looking for.


Camille looking very seductive on a flower bed in Rothenburg. Germany has flowers everywhere!! Just about every windowsill has a tray of flowers, its beautiful.

On the banks of the Moselle river looking (vineyards in the background). As you drive down this river valley, the sides are covered with vineyards, all of the towns are small and really pretty, and there are several castles that dot the hillsides. Awesome drive.

We got a little turned around in one of the villages and ended up on one of the most narrow roads in the world (this picture doesn`t do it justice). Speaking of roads, driving on the autobahn was awesome!! We maxed out at about 180 kph, but even at that rate BMWs would fly by like we were standing still. You had to be careful if you ever ventured into the fast lane.

This is on the wall surrounding Rothenburg. Very cool.

Germany is amazing!! This is at a castle right on the Austrian border, we finally got to see the alps (they were covered in clouds in Switzerland).

At the castle mentioned above (Neuschwanstein, built by some king who was reportedly crazy). It was pretty amazing inside, but you were not allowed to take pictures. . . booooooo.

At the lake below the castle looking into Austria. The guy who built the castle had a thing for swans (many paintings of knights being pulled on giant clam shells by swans. . . kinda wierd), so this scene was quite fitting.

This was the Etlz castle along the Moselle valley in Germany. Rick Steves claims this is the best castle in Germany, and we would have to agree that it was pretty sweet.

Rothenburg ob der Tauber, this town was awesome. Very medivally.

Luxembourg

Welcome to the Winfield Blog. Don`t count on any super deep thoughts or daily entries because this is being updated somewhat sparingly at this point, and mostly just being used as a resource to post pictures. Hope you enjoy.



Just about every night the city of Luxembourg has some sort of musical performance going on downtown, its great. The best so far was a brass band`s rendition of "Bohemian Rhapsody"


These are the city`s old fortifications.
Looking down into the river valley. . . this might not have been the best picture to post, its hard to tell from looking at them thumbnails when I am uploading them!
This is a Spanish turret thingy that was put in by the. . . Spanish of course.
Looking down in the river valley at the abbey and other good stuff.
Some really old building in Luxembourg, I am not really sure what it is. . .

At the lake in Echternach, Camille had fun feading the swans.
Random statue horse man thing . . .
This was rad, it was like a tractor parade.
The town of Vianden.

Well, this picture didn`t add where I thought it would.. . anyway, same trip talked about below to a village with a crappy castle and really awesome "art work"


First real castle!! Woohoo! This is the entrance to the Vianden castle. Pretty sweet.
That guy looks like a killer.
The Vianden castle.
Bed in the castle.

So, this is the palace that the Grand Duke and Duchesses live in . . . actually the word on the street is that the Duke is living with his mistresses, and the Duchesses is off with some guy in Paris. So, pretty sweet. The Europeans definately love their tabloids, so you got to get into teh local gossip.

This is overlooking the top of the "Case-Mates," as far as I can tell they are the oldest original fortifications of Luxembourg. The whole downtown area is basically surrounded by a huge fort.
This is looking down into the riverbottoms.
The river bottoms are quite pretty.
We went to a random village, with a louzy excuse for a castle. Anyway, this was about the best things we found there.