Kindness Cures

This weekend we rented a car and with a destination of Wirschweiler, Germany. Olivia has family that lives in the small town of 330 residents in the Western part of Germany. On our way there we had a planned stop at Monschau, Germany.

Monschau is a small resort town in the Eifel region of western Germany and in the valley of the Rur River. This quaint town has remained mostly unchanged for almost 300 years. It is well known for its Christmas market that will start in a few weeks but for now it was quiet. Monschau castle overlooks the town from above, creating some beautiful views.

Monschau Castle overlooking the village.

After a few hours we were back on the road on our way. We drove on some windy roads through the countryside until we drove out of the trees to a beautiful view of the vineyards along the Mosel River and the small town of Piesport.

Our car for the weekend infront of Piesport.

Piesport on the Mosel River. 

We finally arrived to Wirschweiler and to be honest, I was nervous that I was staying with people I didn’t know. To my surprise, I was greeted with the type of kindness and generosity that are rare to find. Friday night was full of catching up, eating some great food, watching soccer, and lots of wine and beer.

Saturday we took a trip to Trier, Germany. Trier is one of the oldest cities in Germany, with a rich history in the Roman Empire, including being one of the four capitals under the Roman Tetrarchy. It is also the oldest seat of a bishop north of the Alps. In Trier we toured several sites that were almost 2000 years old. These included the Kaiserthermen, Trier Ampitheatre, and Porta Nigra.

Mosel River Valley

Kaiserthermen (Imperial Baths)

Kaiserthermen - 4th century 

Ampitheater built between 160 - 200AD

under the arena

Aparently the Romans preferred a John Deere for their 

landscaping needs at the ampitheater.

Porta Nigra - "The Black Gate"
The North Gate to Trier, built in 160 - 200 AD

Everyone together infront of the gate.

We were able to walk around in Porta Nigra.

This is the view from the top overlooking Trier.

We also toured the Trier Cathedral (seen in the picture above on the left side). Trier Cathedral, the oldest church in Germany, has been the place of worship service, the seat of the Bishop of Trier, and the place where the Christian faithful have gathered almost uninterruptedly for 1,700 years. It was particularly interesting that for such a historic Catholic church, the arches, walls, and windows were very simplistic besides the organ and the Holy Robe Chapel. The chapel holds the seamless garment said to be the Holy Robe of Christ. The Chapel is only open during the Holy Robe Days and the Holy Robe is only displayed every 10 years so we could only see through the gold gates and marble decorations.

Trier Cathedral - "Der Dom"

Holy Robe Chapel behind the altar.

Holy Robe Chapel

The organ.

After leaving Trier we went to Idar-Oberstein for an open fire bbq. The night was full of great wine and even better stories.

BBQ!!!

On Sunday we took a drive through parts of the Black Forest to a tower on top of the Idarkopf Mountain. Unfortunately the fog hindered part of the view but we were still able to see into the valleys on both sides.

The cloudy view from above.

After lunch we said our goodbyes and headed home.  It’s hard to describe how truly wonderful the family was to me as a “friend” The whole weekend I was treated like I was another family member and it taught me a lot about how to treat strangers. It meant a lot to be welcomed in this way and there’s no way I could ever thank them enough. I had an amazing weekend and hope to see my new friends again in the future.