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Wednesday, June 5
We relocated during the night, arriving in Mainz about 8.
After breakfast, we joined the walking tour of the city, which included the Gutenberg Museum (no photos allowed) and the Cathedral.
These three photos were taken near the beginning of the walking tour. The photo on the left shows flags with the symbol of the city - a pair of wheels. Originally, this symbol was proposed as an insult to the first mayor, a miller. He showed them... The other two photos show a sculpture in front of the modernistic town hall.
We continued making our way towards the cathedral. The photo on the left shows a tower that used to be part of the original town wall. The Rhine used to lap at the base of it. It's now a couple of blocks away from the riverbank.
The photo on the right shows some interesting buildings in the old part of town. We had climbed to a higher level at this point.
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Along in here, we went into the Gutenberg Museum. Our guide gave us a short demonstration on how the printing press works. No photography was allowed inside the museum, so, sorry. After the demonstration, we got our turn in the extremely climate controlled room that contains three of the original Gutenberg Bibles. They were interesting to see.
The three photos above offer different views of the various towers of the Cathedral, most of which was built in the 12th century.
There was a large statue in the middle of the plaza by the cathedral representing various stages in the history of Mainz. The photo on the left represents more than one stage, as it shows a fox in a gladiatorial helmet. The fox represents the first modern mayor of the city, whose last name was Fox (if memory serves) and the helmet represents the Roman founding of this town.
The photo on the right commemorates the Holocaust.
These two photos show two views of the large well located in the market square.
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These three photos were taken on opposite sides of the large market square. The photo on the left shows a balcony full of potted flowers. The other two photos show some of the buildings lining the edge of the square.
The photo on the left above shows the long nave of the Cathedral. The second photo shows the mosaics and stained glass windows on one side of the nave. The remaining two photos above show the lovely garden area of the cathedral's cloister.
From here, our guide turned us loose to make our way back to the ship as we pleased. We had plenty of time, so we could have done some shopping if we had wanted to. So, we ambled back.
The photo on the left above shows a garden area in the market square. According to our guide, this area is planted full of annuals during the summer months. Later, they will be dug up and this area is where the Christmas market sets up. The center photo shows the front of the Cathedral. The photo on the right shows St. Peter Church.
The photo on the left shows the towers of the Cathedral through an opening in the wall near the riverfront.
The photo on the right shows our welcoming entrance to the ship.
We got back to the ship shortly before lunch, which had a German theme.
After lunch, most of the passengers on the ship left on buses for Heidelberg while the ship continued up the Rhine. We passed on that excursion and just lazed around the decks. I spent most of the afternoon on the front deck, in front of the Panorama Lounge reading. Even fell asleep once... There's only about a dozen of us left on board (plus the crew). Strange!
We indulged in afternoon tea! They even found a dessert without butter or milk that I could eat.
We stopped in Ludwigshafen to pick up all the bus people, then were on our way again. Dinner was okay, but neither of us liked what the chef did to the fish (something called John Dory). We wound up crashing shortly after dinner.