I arrived at the track and noticed there were not many people as crazy as me to get up so early on a Saturday for the train- that is, except for the group of about 10 guys next to me dressed in lederhosen and drinking beer. BEER- at 6 in the morning!! And I thought MY friends were crazy... they at least wait til after breakfast! Hahah. In their defence, these guys were headed to Munich- one of the stops along our train route and also home to the ever popular Oktoberfest. I was very tempted to get off the train and at least see it, but did not want to haul my luggage around. Maybe some other time!!
The train ride was not too bad- I got off in Stuggart after a few hours and then had another 2 hours to Mainz. Luckily, I went to bed so early the night before, I was awake and able to enjoy the view!
When I arrived in Mainz, Inka and Kaja (pronounced Kaya), were waiting for me at the platform. We drove home and I met Inka's husband, Thomas. Thomas was one of the first friends Tim made when he was in Germay years ago. Thomas and Inka also have a daughter, Merei, but she is away in England until next week.
We sat on the deck and had some water and pastries and talked for about an hour before we decided to take a trip into the city of Mainz. Mainz is situated along the Rhine River, one of the heaviest traffic areas for a river in the world as far as cargo, etc.
One of the things Mainz is most known for is that Guttenburg was born here- the inventor of the Guttenburg press. We went to the museum and I received my own English ipod which explained everything in the museum. It was pretty fascinating. One of my favorite things to see was one of the original Guttenburg bibles, completely preserved in a glass case. It used to take people 3 years to make a bible back in the day, and with the invention of Guttenburg's press, he could make 180 bibles in thr same amount of time!!
We were able to see an actual demonstration on the press.
While Guttenburg made 180 bibles back in the 1450's, only 48 are around today, and of those 48 only 21 are complete- and I got to see one of them! It was amazing to see.
I also got to see the smallest book in the world. It was about a quarter the size of a penny (or smaller), and it had the Lords Prayer written in it. Of course- who could ever read it!! Hahah. This was not Guttenburg's work, just a part of the museum.
In the museum I also found out that no one knows what Johannes Guttenburg looked like- not a clue. A French artist drew a picture of what he pictured Guttenburg to look like, and today he is recognized in many paintings as having a long beard, but historians say based on the timeframe and the culture/religions, it is highly unlikely he had a beard, and was clean shaven. But the French painting had already been stuck in peoples minds. Hah!
In town, Thomas took me to a Federweisser stand where I experienced my first taste!! For those that do not know, Federweisser is similar to wine, but they bottle it much sooner in the fermentation process. It actually has a very cloudy yellow/white color. Of course, it is also very sweet as well. I could only drink one glass I'm pretty sure. But it sure is good!!
We walked toward the large church in the center of town. It has a magnificent orangish tint to it due to that it is made out of sandstone. Thomas and Inka told me not to get too excited- the inside was Gothic and very dark.
When we entered the church I was still awe-struck. Even though it was very dark, in my mind it was still spectacular. The ceilings are 53 meters high on the inside (the outside towers are much larger). The grand arches and overall size of this church was amazing!! I turned this photo to black and white, but you can still see how amazing it is!! Thomas, Inka, and Kaja were laughing that I really DID think it was a beautiful church, but I told them it was merely because I can't find this kind of architecture and history back at home.
As we left, I took a picture of these church doors. They are the ORIGINAL doors to the church from the year 1000!!!! Unbelievable. This is not the main entrance now- of course, much has been added to the church over the years. As Inka explained, each town has a large church, and it was likely a symbol of money and power back in the day.
We headed back into the town and they pointed out the lines in the sidewalk, indicating the exact location on the 50th latitude- pretty cool!!
Next, we hit up a great ice cream store before dinner. Yes, ice cream before dinner- I think I am Thomas and Inka's long lost daughter!!! Hahahah.
Eventually, we made our way to dinner. I ended up getting a chicken breast with mushroom sauce and some spatzle per several peoples recommendation- and now I see why. Yum!!!
Thomas and Inka were catching a theater performance at 8, so Kaja and I went to the Eisgrub brewery downtown. This is one of the only brewery's left in Mainz, and they do not distribute their beer for sale outside the brewery. It was DELICIOUS! The place was packed and so fun! There were a group of about 30 old people in the room next to us, with an accordian and guitar singing songs all night long. Wish I could have sang along!!
Later in the night we met back up with Thomas and Inka and made our way home. I was dead tired!!! I don't think my head has ever hit the pillow more quickly. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment