Mainz is another long inhabited German city on the Rhine River. There was a Celtic settlement there even before the Romans established a military outpost around the turn of the Christian era. Like most of its compatriots it has a medieval/renaissance central city with well kept restored period buildings.
We were marched smartly off the ship by our guide.Griselda. She was a crusty senior citizen with wonderfully acerbic comments about the younger generation and current politics. And she power walked like a person half her age.
We literally double timed it down the Mainz riverfront path. It was for bicycles and pedestrians but the bikes ruled supreme. They were plenteous, fast, furious, and clearly not about to take prisoners. Actung! Good preparation for Amsterdam.
One spot we passed seemed strangely sandy. Griselda explained, as we trotted along, that this area was a temporary beach during the summer. They imported food stalls, trucked in sand, and put up changing tents so the landlocked sun worshipers could pretend they were at the seaside. The last of the cleanup was going on as we passed.
Alongside the path and across a grassy boulevard was the river drive. National elections were to be held on the upcoming Sunday so there were lots of political billboards positioned to catch both the walkers, bikers, and vehicles.. Ms. Merkel did ultimately win the election, but her majority was diminished and as I write this now her coalition is under major strain.
Griselda's rapid pace was soon to be explained. We had one of the last appointments at the acclaimed Gutenberg Museum of Printing before it closed for the day.
One of our group was tagged to assist.
Hmm, looks like success.
Lo and behold they created a facsimile bible page, which the lucky assistant was given to keep.
After the demo we ushered upstairs to a darkened vault room where we were able to see the two Gutenberg original bibles in the museum's possession. I wish we had had more time to see the rest of the exhibits. A major group tourist complaint continues to be too little time in fascinating places.
We trouped out of the museum and into a large square with a nice Renaissance fountain.
We could see the clean Romanesque lines of the Mainz Cathedral from there, but the possibility of a call to more worship was defeated by the call of the bunions. We had done a lot of wallking already and knew it was quite a hike back to the ship. .
As a side note we opted that evening for a special tasting dinner that was served to a small group n the lounge rather than the dining room. It was advertised as a gourmet tasting experience and was accompanied by some special wines. The service was attentive and the commentary intelligent, but it didn't quite live up to the recruiting puffery.
After dinner we were entertained by an energetic group of three musicians called La Strada who played light classics and folk tunes on a violin, guitar, and cello. They provided foot tapping participation even to those of us who had put some extra miles on our dogs during the day. Maybe we should have taken some time to soak them in this fountain.
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