Amis off the port bow!

Last Wednesday, I got to take the first school field trip since 10th grade.

See, the Käthe-Kollwitz Gymnasium has an exchange program with a high school in Manchester, New Hampshire, to which we send a dozen or so 11th graders every fall. This means that in the spring, we then get to entertain their American counterparts here in Neustadt for a couple of weeks: a group of ten or so fun and energetic 16-to-17-year-olds who have been studying German for a couple years and figured it was time to see what this country was all about. I had forgotten all about their coming until last Monday, when I was walking up the stairs to the school and heard the jarringly out-of-context sound of American English being spoken on the porch. It was like hearing my own voice echoed back at me -- I'd gotten so used to the fact that the only English ever spoken around here is as British as British can be, that I'd forgotten I wasn't a lone animal in a land of German and German-accented Queen's English. "Americans!" I called happily as I approached them, hearing my own Yankee pronunciation get even more nasal in the proximity to my countrymen. We stood and talked for a while, and they said they were enjoying the fairytale-like beauty of Neustadt and the friendliness of all the folks around here.

So on Wednesday, all the Ami kids, their two teachers -- a feisty, small, and adorable (if it's not disrespectful to call your elders adorable) lady named Noreen and a California-surfer-type guy named Brett -- plus five German students, me, and Timo, another of the English teachers at Käthe-Kollwitz, piled into a bus and drove two gorgeous hours through the springtime countryside to check out Timo's university town: Trier.

The main square

Trier is the oldest city in Germany. It's also one of the most fascinating: 2000 years ago, Augustus Caesar established it on the site of a Germanic settlement on the edge of the Mosel River as the capitol of the Roman Empire's northern branch. The city was laid out in a practical, gridlike fashion, and surrounded by massive brick walls with a huge city gate in each of the four cardinal directions. The Porta Nigra is the only remaining one of these gates; and according to our tour guide, it's the best-preserved Roman structure of its kind in the world.

The city also boasts Roman baths, historic churches, a Romanesque Basilica, and a claim to fame as the residence of Constantine the Great for about 15 years. It's the resting place of the famous Holy Robe, brought to the city by Constantine's mother, Helena; the site of the start of the Crusades in Germany; and the birthplace of Karl Marx. It has been constantly fought over, and repeatedly occupied by the French -- whether by Napoleon or by soldiers after World War Two. In short, there's (as our tour guide in London would say) bags to see... including numerous lovely outdoor cafes and shops in the pedestrian-only, cobblestoned Innenstadt.

So what was the first thing that captured the kids' attention? A spinning playground object set up on the side of a fountain on our way into town from the train station. (Though to be fair, I wanted to play on it, too. In the end, however, I opted to maintain a pretense of dignity.)

The weather was hot and sunny, but there was a cool breeze and plenty of shade from the bushy green trees all around the city, so we enjoyed a long and in-depth walking tour of some of the sites. (You can check out some pictures here!) There is so much to see, though, that we didn't even get to the baths or any museums; I guess I'll just have to see if I can drag Gallucci with me when he comes in July! :)

After we let the kids go to explore on their own, Noreen, Timo, and I found Spaghetti Eis at one of the numerous ice cream cafes and took it easy until we all caught the bus back to Neustadt. Then all us teachers drove directly to Brigitte Griesemer's place for a delicious and summery dinner of salad, potatoes, and white asparagus in cheese sauce (a famous local springtime specialty), followed by fruit and mascarpone for dessert... and, of course, a couple glasses of the local sparkling wine.

All in all, it was a gorgeous day. Yay! I like fieldtrips!