On our first drive to Losheim, on Monday, a Concorde standing in a field caught our attention. Behind it sat many different airplanes. Tim turned in to find out what the place was. It turned out to be an air museum. We decided to go back at the end of the week, the same day we planned to say goodbye to Albi and his family.

The week was over before we knew it and we visited Hermeskeil Air Museum, also known as Flugausstellung Leo Junior. We had stumbled on the largest private aviation museum in Europe. It was founded by Leo Junior in 1973, and now has over 100 planes and helicopters, as well as over 60 aircraft engines and propellors. Tim was in his glory! There were hardly any people there, making it easy to leisurely look through the museum peering into cockpits, in some cases climbing stairs
to see in, and in a few of the planes we were able to go inside. Tim was impressed by the wide variety of aircrafts, and found the engines on display very interesting. We ended our visit with a snack in the Concorde replica / restaurant.

Our next stop was Albi's Eis Cafe to say goodbye. Again we were spoiled with more of Albi's homemade eis. He made cantaloupe and pistachio eis early that morning. Closing our eyes we really thought we were eating cantaloupe -the flavor was incredibly pure. The pistachio was a light color because no colors are added and again the taste was delicious. Most of the fruit eis is made without dairy, but somehow it's texture is so creamy that you have no idea it is dairy free. The eis made with dairy is lower in fat than most ice cream, and no artificial sugars are used. The eis is kept at much lower temperatures than ice cream too. Albi takes a lot of pride trying to create new flavors, but did mention that if he wants to change a favorite recipe he has to do it slowly, over a long period of time, because Germans don't like change - too funny!

We had a look at the eis lab, and Tim got to paddle some eis out of the mixer
into the serving containers. Strong muscles are definitely required! Albi prefers to use an old fashion mixer where he participates in the paddling rather than using a modern machine that does the mixing for you. His eis is an artform.

We said our goodbyes, hopeful to meet up again soon, and drove to Trier, the oldest city in Germany.

Arriving in Trier we were hot and grumpy. We found a fountain where a few people were gathered to cool off. The kids enjoyed the water, and we ate our supper there. We were shaded by a few large buildings, the outermost building being The Basilica of Constantine; long since used as a protestant church.

The Basilica was originally built in 310 AD and used as the throne hall of the Roman Emperor. Germanic tribes ended up destroying the city, and used what was left of the hall as a place to build their settlement. Throughout different parts of history it housed Archbishops, became part of an imperial palace, was used as army barracks, and then was finally reconstructed back into its original Roman design under the order of a Prussian King. Since 1856 the hall has been used as a protestant church for St.Savior. Following damage from bombing during WWII it was renovated.

The Romans wanted the architecture of the Basilica of Constantine to reflect their power, originally it was decorated ornately but not anymore. Walking in definitely gave me a feeling of being in a commanding place. The space is purposely not ornate, instead minimalistic, but the wooden ceiling draws a lot of attention; the height and deceivingly large sectioned squares create a beautiful effect. Also interesting was reading about how Palatinate hall was heated. Fires below the floor, with ventilation running under the floor, and up between double walls, heated the building. This type of heating is known as hypocaust central heating. To be warm for church on Sundays the fires were started a few days ahead.

We walked along Main Street, a traffic free zone, browsing in the shops. Mariah bought a beautiful black dress to wear with her new shoes from Venice. A few blocks ahead of us stood a blackened Roman Ruin; Porta Nigra, the world's best preserved Roman gate. We stood back admiring the craftsmanship. A variety of flowers planted next to it gave a stunning contrast to the old stones.

Wandering through the city we found our way back to the underground car park. It had been a long hot day - we were all ready to get back to our house and put our feet up!