Marx and some bourgeoisie statuary

We were still behind schedule, so today would be another round of train travel. Our first stop was the city of Trier, about 90km (60 miles) farther up the Moselle river. It’s potentially Germany’s oldest city, having been established by Romans in the first century BC, and that means even more than the usual number of artful monuments preserved in an arrested state of decay, to stand next to and make blog posts about.

Nick’s first observation upon arriving: “Smells like cigarettes.”

One of the things I was keen to see was the “Black Gate” (and not just because of a beloved old computer game called “Ultima 7: The Black Gate”).

Back when the Romans built it, it was part of a series of walls and gates to protect the city and regulate commerce, and in the nearly 2000 intervening years it was nearly torn down, then left as a ruin for a while, then repurposed into a pair of churches, before finally being “restored” more-or-less to the form the Romans had planned. There is of course no need for a giant gate to regulate commerce, nor any point to having a giant wall (in this age of missiles, long-range artillery, and flight) so it now stands as a tribute to the deep history of the city and the passing of ages. And for Nick and I to stand in front of while taking photos, of course.

Another thing we came across in our wandering was a big statue of Karl Marx. No surprise because Karl was born here in Trier, in 1818.

Indeed, it’s possible to take a tour of the very house he was born in, which has been turned into a sparse but engaging museum you can walk through. The entrance fee was small, so Nick and I checked it out.

After that we wandered a while in search of snacks. We passed a portable fairground, and were amused by the deliberately off-kilter cartoon characters.

From this amusing bit of “low culture” we wandered into an area of “high culture”:

The Palace Garden, designed in the style of a French garden of the 18th century, with a deliberate mix of perfectly maintained vegetation and worn-looking statuary.

The official website for the garden gives the following handy breakdown, for reasons I cannot understand:

Water: 30%
Baroque: 60%
Greenery: 70%

The various statues represent a gallery of old gods and notable mortals. See if you can recognize Zeus, Poseidon, Demeter, Ares, Kronos, et cetera:

While Nick was wandering, he fell into conversation with another patron of the arts: