Another late update thanks to the horrible wi-fi on the ship.
Overnight, we had docked in Mainz. Another town founded by the Romans in the 1st Century BC, and another town where we started with a walking tour.
Walk Signal Don't Walk Signal
Fischtorbrunnen, or Fisherman's Gate fountain. This area used to be on the outskirts of town, where the smell wouldn't be so bad. If the wind was right.
The first stop was the Gutenberg Museum. Johannes Gutenberg was born in Mainz and invented the movable-type printing press--the Internet of the 15th Century since it really help spread information to the people.
Entrance to the museum. It was founded in 1900 on the 400th anniversary of his death.
Sadly, photographs of the Gutenberg Bible examples they had were forbidden--whether flash or not. There were other early printing examples however,
The Canterbury Tales
Examples of justified and left-aligned printing.
Now to a fontaholic like me, this place was great. Unfortunately, Fe doesn't share my fascination with serif type or optically consistent character spacing so this wasn't as exciting for her.
The Mainz Cathedral was next. It is over 1000 years old and the biggest cathedral in the city, which is why it's called Mainzer Dom (the biggest cathedral in any city is called the Dom).
Outside the Cathedral
Inside looking at the altar.
Biblical scenes above the aisle
I just thought this was weird.
This is the third headless statue I've seen on this trip.
Crypt beneath the cathedral (not the main one)
We were exploring on our own by now--we had left the group before going into the cathedral--and in the square outside, we came across a farmer's market. We bought some jam and looked around a bit.
Marktbrunnen, or Market Fountain
Giant Easter Egg. This was donated by the tourism association of Zagreb to the people of Mainz.
Building façade
Another building façade
Of all the cities in Germany we've been to so far, Mainz seemed more modern overall and--at least where we were--more commercial too. That's fine, but I did find it harder to explore the historical aspects of the place. I was also only on foot so that limited what I could find, I guess. That being said...
Gutenberg Statue. I shudder to think what McDonald's menus would look like without his inventions.
Giant gummi bear
Interesting storefront
These brass plaques are called Stolpersteine, or stumbling blocks. They can be found in towns all over Europe, mostly in Germany. They are placed in front of houses where the Jewish residents were persecuted or murdered by the Nazis.
These two people (probably husband and wife) were deported to Theerseinstadt, a concentration camp in what is now the Czech Republic, in 1942. Abraham Wallach was murdered on January 10, 1943; Jenny Wallach on April 20, 1944.
Looking across the Rhine
After all this walking around, it's nice to get on board and have a three-course meal. I'm afraid the caloric intake is greater than the exercise I'm getting by walking though. The Viking food is great and the serving staff is too. Unlike the ocean cruise we took in 2018 (see previous blog entries), I never felt that any of the crew were actively trying to upsell me on stuff.
Viking Joke #9: A famous Viking explorer returned home from a long voyage to discover that his name had been dropped from the town register. He stormed into the civic official's office, demanding to know why. The official apologized profusely and said, "I must have taken Leif off my census."
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