You emerge from the gift shop where you buy your tickets. In front of you are the woods where the Roman legions were massacred in 9 AD. The display of standards confronts you just before you enter the forest. Modern artists have painted ancient masks on poles with messages of peace, but really they depict the agony of the slaughter and get you in the mood for what you are about to see. You can enter the woods two ways, either over a footbridge that crosses a stream or on a path beside a swamp that has been recreated with insects buzzing above the dark waters and tall, reedy swamp plants sticking up out of the muck. Wooden footbridges head into the swamp. Signs warn you of danger. Germans lurk in the trees above. If you glance up you are aghast to see wooden cages suspended there that the savages used to capture Roman legionaries and torture them. On the other side of the dense grouping of trees lies a broad field with a reconstructed Roman camp wall. You get the chilly feeling of what it must have been like here two thousand years ago. There is a tower observation center museum with artifacts. But that was out of character with the scenery. You want to stay down on the ground where the soldiers were to experience the battle.
Ticket to battlefield and park
Roman legionary with coffee mug
Roman legionary standard reconstructed