Getting Home the Long Way

One day Bill and I decided to drive to the city of Trier, which was west of us.  We didn't have a map, but that didn't stop us.  We had no problem following the road signs because Trier is a big town.

While there, we had a good time.  About the only thing that I remember was the Roman Amphitheatre on the outskirts of Trier.  It was built around 100 A.D. and used in the Roman imperial era (until the 5th century) for gladiator fights and animal contests.  The entire structure, consisting of an elliptical arena and a stepped auditorium, was surrounded by a high wall, divided into individual stories by colonnaded arcades.  The complex could seat up to 25,000 people.  Underneath the arena is a vast basement where gladiators, criminals, and exotic beasts were kept before their release into the arena.  In the 5th century, the inhabitants of Trier used the amphitheater as a place of refuge from the increasingly frequent raids by Germanic tribes.  The site was used as a quarry in the Middle Ages.  Today, the amphitheater area is used for the Antiquity Festival and open-air concerts.  When we were inside the basement, I tried to imagine what it was like for the gladiators and criminals waiting to go out into the arena.

So everything went fine until we started driving home.  We couldn't find any signs showing the way back home to Baumholder, a small town.  We ended up going south and back north again.  We got home late that night.  After that, I don't think we went anywhere without a map.