After my prolonged absence during my deployment, I was ready to spend some quality time with Kelly, traveling around Europe.  On two separate weekends, we ventured west into the Low Countries.  We also visited the ancient Roman city of Trier.  Here's what we saw.

Bruges

    Bruges, or Brugge, is a beautiful city, shot through with canals and picturesque streets.  The city is surrounded by canals, to the extent that it's almost like a big moat.  Much of the city consists of low buildings, but the skyline is pierced by a few imposing towers: the bell tower (from which old and refreshingly contemporary music fills the town square), the city hall, and the Church of the Holy Blood all tower above the rest of Bruges.  But the towers aren't what makes Bruges special -- it's the canals that run throughout the town.  We were fortunate in that we were there during beach season; most tourists seemed to be at the beach, and we had Bruges almost to ourselves at the height of summer! It was a bit hot, that much was true, but our hotel offered air conditioning (a luxury in European hotels!) to make up for it.  We also took advantage of the excellent, excellent Belgian beer - not pictured is our visit to Lindemans, makers of tasty lambic beer (no brewery tour, but at least they sold by the case).
 

Market Square	The bell tower

Damme

    A few miles notrh of Bruges lies the small, medieval town of Damme.  Formerly a fortified area, sleepy Damme is much smaller than it used to be; its canals used to surround a six-pointed fortified town with casemates, but the sharp fortified corners have rounded out with age and the few fortification remaining are now bat sanctuaries.  The cathedral has lost its glory over the years as well.  Built when Damme was prosperous, Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk  (Our Blessed Mother Church) was a proud Gothic structure.  When Damme fell on harder times, the church was too expensive to maintain; the spires on the tower were removed,  the nave was shortened by half, and the rest of the church was dismantled.  The spiral staircases inside the tower are claustrophobic (especially when climbers and descenders meet!), but the view from the top is well worth the €1 admission.
 
 

Onze-Lieve-Vrowekerke...	...and the view from the top

Ghent

    Like Bruges, Ghent was a rich town five hundred years ago, thriving on textiles.  The "Three Towers of Ghent" are fixtures of its former glory:   The focus of our visit was Gravensteen Castle.  Gravensteen was built in Ghent in 1180 for Philip of Alsace, count of Flanders from 1157 to 1191.  The castle was continually expanded for approximately 200 years, then abandoned in the 14th century.  It was then converted into a prison, then in the 1800s it became a textile factory.  The castle was partiallt dismantled in 1887, then restored in 1917 and turned ino a museum.  After hanging out in Bruges and Damme, we found  Ghent to be a little too much of a city for our liking, but the castle was a nice treat.
 
 

	The Three Towers of Ghent

Amsterdam

    I wasn't sure how much I'd enjoy Amsterdam.  I'm glad to report I was very pleasantly surprised.  The city is gorgeous, very fun to walk around.  We ended up seeing great art exhibits at the Van Gogh Museum and Rijksmuseum, toured the houses of Rembrandt and Anne Frank, took a canal boat tour, ate over 20 dishes at the Sea Palace floating Chinese restaurant, and generally had a great time.
 
 

Sculpture outside the Red Light district	NOT one of the top earners in the Red Light district.	Let Op! Drempels!
	Coolest...fridge... EVER!

Trier

    Like other German cities, such as Wiesbaden and Baden Baden, the baths were what drew the Romans to found the city of Trier on the Mosel River.  Trier had its start as a Roman military camp, but by the 4th century A.D., it was important enough that Constantine ruled the Western Roman Empire from here.  After the Romans, the city continued to be a lesser seat of power in the Holy Roman Empire; the histories of many outlying castles begins with "Founded by the Archbishop of Trier..."  However, it was the Romans who built Trier, and their legacy lives on the strongest in its architecture today.
 
 

Outside the Roman baths...	...and under them
	In Constantine's throne room
	Inside Dom St. Peter
	La Porta Nigra - the Black Gate

Luxembourg

    Although we had originally planned only to go to Trier, we realized that we were right on top of the Luxembourg border and that we had seen the main sights we'd panned to see in Trier.  So, without any clue what we'd find, we headed over the border and followed the signs to Luxebourg City.  We were a bit nervous at first, as all we were coming across were boring office parks.  Soon, though, we were in the old part of the capital, which was once part of a fortified citadel that was called the Gibraltar of the North.  So threatening were the fortifications that, after the Austro-Prussian War, the 1867 Treaty of London dictated that the city be stripped of the majority of its walls and casemates and that Luxembourg overall become a neutral power.  Only 10% of what existed before 1867 remains today, which is a testamen to how much there was before.