religion – Roving Sun

Trier, Germany’s Oldest City

After a nice breakfast at the Luxembourg Marriott Hotel Alfa, we took the train over to Trier, the oldest city in Germany. Starting at the ancient Porta Nigra, we saw the Kirche St. Gangolf, Trierer Dom, and Konstantin Basilika churches. After lunch, we toured the ancient Roman Kaiserthermen, Amphitheater, Barbarathermen, and Thermen am Viehmarkt. We ended the visit with döner before returning to Luxembourg in the evening.

After breakfast at the Luxembourg Marriott Hotel Alfa, we walked to the north across the Passerelle to the Ville Haute. We enjoyed the view of the remnants of the Fortress of Luxembourg, briefly descended to the Grund via elevator, and visited the Notre-Dame Cathedral before walking through the Bock Casemates. After, we had lunch in front of the Grand Ducal Palace before visiting the Pétrusse Casemates. We walked back up through the Pétrusse Valley, spending more time in the Ville Haute before returning to the Marriott via an interesting walkway suspended below the Adolphe Bridge.

Happy New Year! We woke up before sunrise and headed up to the lounge at the 名古屋マリオットアソシアホテル Nagoya Marriott Associa Hotel for breakfast and for 初日の出 hatsuhinode, the first sunrise of the year! We then headed up to 犬山 Inuyama for 初詣 hatsumode, the first temple or shrine visit of the year, which we did at 針綱神社 Haritsuna-jinja. We spent the rest of the day visiting the 国宝 National Treasure 犬山城 Inuyama Castle and the nearby 三光稲荷神社 Sanko Inari-jinja. After lunch and snacks at the 犬山城下町 Inuyama Castle Town, we walked east to visit the large Buddhist 大聖寺 Daisho-ji, a temple on a hill overlooking the city, before returning to Nagoya to end our last full day in Japan of this trip.

Today is New Year’s Eve! After breakfast at the 名古屋マリオットアソシアホテル Nagoya Marriott Associa Hotel, we visited 妙厳寺 Myōgon-ji, more commonly known as 豊川稲荷 Toyokawa Inari, in 豊川 Toyokawa to the southeast of Nagoya. We returned to Nagoya in the afternoon and visited 大須 Osu, the shopping district around 大須観音 Osu Kannon and 万松寺 Banshō-ji. We had a late lunch and lots of snacks before returning to the Marriott to end the last day of the year.

After breakfast at the 名古屋マリオットアソシアホテル Nagoya Marriott Associa Hotel, we ventured south to visit the 伊勢神宮 Ise Jingu, the holiest of all the Shinto shrines. We visited both the 内宮 Naiku and 外宮 Gekū and also spent some time having snacks and lunch before returning to Nagoya for dinner.