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Here I am back at you with wonderful Trier. Again many nice family memories here over the years and always looking forward for a repeat. Now enjoy the shopping in Trier!!!

The first time we were walking in town at night during the Christmas market and we came upon this dept store. It has been our favorite ever since that day in 1992. Let me tell you about the Galeria Kaufhof of Trier!

Galeria Kaufhof GmbH was founded in 1879 by Leonhard Tietz, who opened a first store named after him. Many branches sprang up all over Germany. In 2001, Galeria bought the Belgian Inno stores which became Galeria Inno. In November 2019, Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof announces the takeover of 106 Thomas Cook travel agencies in Germany.  Galeria Kaufhof has about 97 branches and DINEA Gastronomie GmbH has about 58 restaurants, all inside the dept store. It is headquarter in Cologne. Until September 30, 2015, the company was a subsidiary of Metro AG, when it was acquired by Hudson’s Bay Company (Canada), which in turn sold a majority stake to Signa Holding in 2018. Signa Holding has held 100% of the shares in Galeria Kaufhof since June 2019, On March 25, 2019, Karstadt & Galeria Kaufhof presented the new logo for their merged company, Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof . On November 6, 2019, the management announced the merger of Galeria Kaufhof GmbH with Karstadt Warenhaus GmbH. Under the umbrella of Signa Holding, both companies are now continued as Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof GmbH. On July 1, 2020, insolvency proceedings were filed with the Essen district court for the successor company Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof, which were successfully completed on September 30, 2020. The sad news is that the department store Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof is closing 62 of its 172 stores, threatenin  the jobs of some 6,000 employees, the German United Services Trade Union (Verdi) has reported. Due to the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic,(a lot more than health issues) , the affected branches can no longer continue operations, the company announced, adding that doing so would threaten the survival of the entire chain. The company has been particularly hurt by the recent crisis due to the size of its branches. Under April’s 2021 relaxation of lockdown measures in Germany, stores with a shop floor of up to 800 square meters (8,610 square feet) have been able to reopen, but given that Karstadt Kaufhof’s outlets exceed this measurement, the already ailing business felt it had little option but to implement cuts. Sad story on the covid, hope they can make it is sentimental for us too.

 The two Trier Galeria Kaufhof branches on Simeonstraße and Fleischstraße ,68-76  (been to both but preferred the latter) have been open since April 2021 with a new lifestyle, new brands and a new look after a renovation phase of around one year. Many craftsmen and fitters worked on the new Galeria appearance every day during the redesign, and that during ongoing operations. As modern department stores of the new Galeria generation, the two stores offer their range on four and five floors with a total area of over 20,000 square meters. A total of well over 100 brand shops are presented in the various product worlds . They are fighting hard indeed. You see one of my twin boys in pic!

The Galeria Kaufhof at Fleischstraße: https://www.galeria.de/on/demandware.store/Sites-Galeria-Site/de/Stores-Details?StoreID=001754&src=90L100001

Dinea in the Galeria Kaufhof Fleischstraße (on the 3rd floor) with 220 seats in the middle of Trier city center. We have enjoyed too nice on 3^rd floor. The Dinea resto webpage: https://galeria-restaurant.de/fillialen-dinea-trier-fleischstrasse/

The Trier Galerie shopping mall at Fleischstraße 62, offers 70 highly attractive shops for fashion and textiles, health and fitness, food, gastronomy, services and telecommunications, making it one of the most popular shopping hot spots in the heart of Trier. All on 3 floors with opening in 2008, the neighbouring City Parkhaus has 950 covered parking spaces. (which we used extensively) .Visit the monthly changing exhibitions in the art and culture room “eigenART”. Enjoy the wide range of dishes in different restaurants and cafés. You can find fresh groceries in the supermarket.

We love it here in the basement floor (1 fl) for GameStop video games of course ! First floor (2nd fl) you have Zara, Yves Rocher, and Bianco footwear, Second floor (3rd fl),New Yorkais, and Mustang, And for a quick bite go to Wajos , entrance by Metzelstrasse street, webpage for reference snacks section: https://www.wajos.de/blogs/snacks

The official Trier Galerie : https://www.trier-galerie.de/

For reference, the Trier tourist office: https://www.trier-info.de/en

There you go folks, another dandy memorable spot for my family in Europe, Germany and Trier. The city is known as the oldest in Germany and it shows its beauty in architecture and history. In addition, you have great modern shopping; can’t beat the combination me think. Hope you enjoy the post on shopping in Trier as I.

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!!

And why stick with Germany for a while, and take you to another city we enjoy visiting with the family in grand days of German road warrior trips. This time we went to Saarbruecken; of course plenty of other posts on the city but this time will tell you a bit about some curiosities of Saarbruecken !!

The museum in the castle church is located at Am Schlossberg 6 in a historic church building. Right on the Schlossplatz . The entrance with a double wooden door can be reached via a ramp, which is located in a steep, cobblestone alley. The interior (nave) with a stone floor, in which seating is also provided for special events. The chancel and aisle are two steps above ground level, but the view of the monumental princely baroque tombs is still possible from the central nave. The sculpture exhibition in the gallery via the outer churchyard and elevator/lift.

The Castle Church is a former church in Saarbruecken. Until the introduction of the Reformation in 1575, she wore the patron saint of St. Nicholas of Myra. Since 2004 the church building has been a museum for Christian sacred art. The Castle Church is located on the left bank of the Saar in the district of Alt-Saarbrücken.  Today’s Gothic building was first mentioned in 1476. So it can be assumed that the construction of the church began before 1476.

The Castle Church offers the perfect setting for the presentation of sacred art and handicrafts. It houses pieces from the Museum of Prehistory and Early History and the Old Collection of the Saarland Museum specially selected for this location, including an extensive group of medieval sculptures. Built at the end of the 15C and beginning of the 16C, the castle church served as a burial place for the princes of Nassau-Saarbrücken from 1651. The grave monuments of Count Gustav Adolph and his wife Eleonore Klara (erected 1699-1700), the tomb of Count Ludwig Crato (erected around 1713) and the tomb of Count Wilhelm Heinrich and his wife Sophie (erected 1772) have all survived to this day impressive evidence of baroque sculpture. Another highlight are the brightly colored windows that were created after the reconstruction of the church, which had been badly damaged in WWII in the late 1950s. In addition to its museum function, the castle church also serves as a rehearsal and concert room for the Saar University of Music.

The museum in the castle of sacre arts: https://www.schlosskirche-saarbruecken.de/de/ 

The St. Johanner Markt is a square in the district of St. Johann and forms the center of the city,  a square surrounded by inner courtyards and alleyways. The St. Johanner Markt is sometimes referred to as “Saarbrücken’s living room”. On this square with its original atmosphere and baroque style, you can buy shoes, designer clothes, accessories, books or original gifts in unusual shops. You can’t really get to know Saarbruecken without having taken a walk on the St. Johanner Markt. Its cafés with a good-natured atmosphere, its authentic bistros, its French restaurants and its first-rate shops will make your afternoon of shopping an unforgettable event. Indeed!!

People meet here or stroll through the picturesque alleys around the market square. The old town area has been a pedestrian zone since 1978. From the baroque market fountain (designed by Stengel in 1759) there is a line of sight to the castle, formerly another to the Ludwigskirche and from there one back to the castle , the so-called Stengel triangle. The village had extended into the streets around today’s St. John’s Basilica , Türkenstrasse or Katholisch-Kirch-Strasse, which stands on the site of the medieval St. John’s chapel. This explains the location of the church away from today’s market, on the Catholic-Kirch-Straße, which is quite wide by medieval standards and where the market probably originally took place. Both the original St. Johanner Markt at today’s St. Johann Basilica and the current St. Johanner Markt emerged as typical medieval street markets. The layout of the St. Johann market square can be explained by its proximity to the Saar river crossing or the old Saar bridge and by the crossing of trade routes from Metz to Mainz and from Strasbourg to Trier.

The city of Saarbruecken on St Johanner Markt : https://www.saarbruecken.de/kultur/stadtgeschichte/stengelarchitektur/stengel_werke_in_saarbruecken/st_johanner_markt

The Saarbruecken tourist office on its heritage : https://tourismus.saarbruecken.de/en/discovering

The Saarland regional tourist office on Saarbruecken : https://www.visitsaarland.co.uk/Memories/Discover-the-Saarland-Region/Saarbruecken-Urban-Flair-and-plenty-of-charm

There you go a nice town on a beautiful silhouette of the Saar river , great shopping! and nice architecture. You can spend a quick whole day here or two as we came back again for another look on same family trip. Enjoy Saarbruecken, Germany.

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!!

As you read my blog, you know that once in a city love to walk it. Forget the public transports, do the walks, the best way to see a city and some healthy habits too… Walking lets you see all the wonderful niches of architecture in the buildings and able to read their history which I like. I did the same on several occasions in Prague, and with several posts, feel these squares deserve a post of their own.  Some of the sights on them have a separate post in my blog as well. Therefore, here is my take on the squares of Republic and Old Town of Prague!!

The Republic Square or Náměstí Republiky is a wonderful square in Prague,. It is located on the border of the old town and the new town. On or near the square are these important buildings: the Kotva department store, the Municipal House, the Powder Tower, the Czech National Bank and the Palladium shopping mall. The square leads to Na příkopě Street, the most expensive street in the center, which connects it to Wenceslas Square.

With buildings ranging in age and architectural style from the 1475 Powder Tower , refinished and redecorated in the 1800’s in a highly romanticized Neo-Gothic style, to the austere Baroque Church of St. Joseph tucked along side the Neo-Romanesque former barracks building now housing the Palladium shopping center, to the gorgeous mosaic-encrusted splendor of the Art Nouveau Municipal House , to the 1942 Czech National Bank building, and the newly-remodeled Kotva building, considered by some to be one of the ugliest Soviet-era buildings in Prague, you can see the wonders of the ages in Prague’s Náměstí Republiky.

Formerly part of the city’s fortifications, it formed part of the Royal Route, and later underwent various name changes based on its use over the centuries. Prague’s Náměstí Republiky earned its current name in 1918 when the declaration of Czechoslovak nationhood was proclaimed from the balcony of the Municipal House. Easy to reach by multiple tram lines, as well as the Náměstí Republiky metro B line stop, you can also walk to either Wenceslas Square or Old Town Square in a matter of minutes.

The city of Prague tourist office on the Republic square : https://www.prague.eu/fr/objet/lieux/1630/place-de-la-republique-namesti-republiky

Old Town Square or Staroměstské náměstí is another wonderful square in Prague, located in the heart of the historic center. The old buildings, often very colorful, which border the square give it its character and offer by their architecture a shortcut of the history of the city.

The buildings lining the square vary in style, ranging from Gothic with the Church of Our Lady of Týn, the Old Town’s main church since the 14C, to Baroque with the Church of St. Nicholas. The famous Astronomical Clock from 1410, one of the most famous and oldest in the world, is located on the City/Town Hall in the Old Town. The medieval city/town hall tower is open to the public and offers views of the old town. A museum is housed in the Baroque Kinský Palace.The picturesque Maison A la Cloche de Pierre is Gothic in style and dates back to the Middle Ages. (1330), The house known as A La Minute is decorated with Renaissance sgraffito. (1550), The Ochs house owes its name to the owner who lived there in the 15C. Baroque in style, it is characterized in a niche of the facade by a statue of Saint Anthony of Padua dating from the end of the 18C. The Týn School was a medieval high school opposite the Church of Our Lady of Týn. The school was taught in Latin.

The Old Town square is home to the monument to the religious reformer Jan Hus, inaugurated in 1915 for the 500th anniversary of his death. On November 3, 1918, the Column of Mary erected in the 17C after the Thirty Years’ War was demolished in celebration of the country’s independence from the former Habsburg Empire. After years of controversy, the column was re-erected in the square in 2020.

The city of Prague tourist office on the Old Town Square : https://www.prague.eu/en/object/places/183/old-town-square-staromestske-namesti

There you go folks, a brief introduction to two wonderful squares of pretty Prague district 1. I have great memories and friendship of my visits to the city and always looking forward to be back. Hope you enjoy the post on these wonderful squares as I

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!!