Fast train to Munich

Before catching our train to Munich, we walked around Mainz to take pictures.



If you ever plan to take the train to Munich the day before Oktoberfest, be sure to make a reservation on the train ahead of time. We stood or sat in the aisle on the floor for a 4 hour leg of the trip. I'm only glad that the train went as fast as 300 kilometers per hour or it would have been even longer.



Upon finding our accommodations, we boarded the three person elevator and checked into our home for the next few days. Up next, Oktoberfest!

Press Time in Mainz

On this day we made our way to the Gutenberg Museum to reach the pinnacle of our graphic design nerd-iness, surpassing our trip to the Bauhaus-Archiv museum in Berlin (we'd have it no other way). As in the Bauhaus museum, we were not allowed to take photos of the exhibits, but this might have saved us from buying another expensive camera memory card. Many of the exhibits were only in German as was the demo of the printing process performed on a replica of the original Gutenberg press. Even without translation, we were impressed with their collection of illuminated scripts, pages designed by Aldus Manutius, and their collection of Gutenberg Bibles secured and guarded in a bank vault.



Over a pizza lunch, we planned out some more of our trip, deciding to include Rome on recommendation of our Italian-Canadian friend Leandra.
On another recommendation from our German language teacher, who had spent time in Mainz, we dressed up and went to one of her favourite wine houses for supper. The food was delicious but we only managed to eat half as the portions were huge.

First Impressions of Mainz

We arrived a little early in Mainz so we dropped off our packs at the hotel until we could check in. In the meantime, we decided to look into river boat cruises on the Rhine. We found the small Eis (ice cream) stand that served as the river boat ticket office and booked a three hour tour... a three hour tour (a cheesy Gilligan's Island reference).
Before the boat trip started, we stepped into a Bavarian kneipe (pub) that was wall-to-wall filled with Japanese business men and women, creating an odd experience as I drank my Paulaner.
The boat ride along the Rhine gave a unique perspective of Mainz, with country and western elevator music as a soundtrack.
Later in the evening, we wandered the narrow, winding streets of Mainz's Altstadt (old city). We came across a statue of Johannes Gutenberg, Mainz's most famous resident and innovator of movable type. You could sense the city's pride in their local hero in the statue's generously endowed package which was quite noticeable from street level. This piqued our interest into seeing the Gutenberg Museum the next morning.


Gutenberg Statue

A Day in Köln

Today, we had breakfast at our hotel then went to the Wallraf-Richartz art museum for a few hours. We stopped for a delicious oversized lunch at a pub patio in the Heumarkt square not far from the museum.
After looking at the Rathaus (that's where the politicians work, by the way), we stopped in at our hotel then went back to the cathedral to sketch. I tried to sketch the Köln Dom but only had 16 more hours left in Köln so I decided to be realistic and snapped photos instead.
We were exhausted so picked up a couple pretzels and drinks and had a brief nap.
In the evening we went back to the cathedral to take some night time photos.



Tomorrow morning we're off to Mainz.

Travel to Köln

We traveled to Köln (Cologne). After checking in, we walked along the Rhine river bank and around the outside of the Köln Dom (Cologne Cathedral) before stopping for supper on a patio near the cathedral square. There was a group of musicians playing classical music.

"You Are Leaving the American Sector"

Today we went to the Fernsehturm (tv tower) and had some cake and coffee in the revolving restaurant while snapping photos between bites. This was a great view of the places we had wandered around over the past couple of days.



We then made our way over to the Checkpoint Charlie museum. It was very interesting to see the many methods people used to try get over or through the wall. There is one example of a person getting across between two surfboards, with hollowed out parts. Other examples with suitcases, inside a big box of machinery, in a stereo amp, using hot air balloons, etc. Necessity is the mother of invention.



We stopped for a pretzel and lemonade then wandered over to a large plaza nearby called Gendarmenmarkt. There were buskers playing violins at the statue in the centre. We headed over to Potsdamer Platz to look at some of the buildings there, took the transit system over to the area by the zoo (but didn't go to the zoo because it was about to close). We took a double decker city bus back to Alexanderplatz and had supper. Doug had blackened chicken from a cow. (when Doug pointed out to the waiter that he'd actually ordered blackened chicken, he pointed to the steak on the plate and said "yeah, blackened chicken").
After hurrying back to the hostel before the impending rain storm, we settled in for our last night in Berlin. Tomorrow, Köln.

"Holiday in the Sun", the Berlin wall with Kelly and Klaus

Today was special because Klaus surprised Kelly by coming to Berlin for one more visit before we leave the region. We had lunch together on a patio then went to the DDR museum. Klaus grew up on the East Germany side so it was great to hear his personal stories and memories about the pieces in this museum.



We then headed out of the city to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. It was sobering to walk around a place of so much suffering. There were so many stories on display. We left at sunset, a little worried that we may get locked inside since it closed at 6pm. I came away feeling sad that such suffering occurred but also impressed with the strength of the human spirit for the survivors. It's good this place is remembered. I am so appreciative of what a good life I have.



We followed this up by heading to the East Side Gallery. We had supper at a Bavarian themed restaurant near there. The East Side Gallery is a kilometer or so of the Berlin Wall that has graffiti art painted on it. Beautiful stuff. At an opening in the wall was a beach bar with sand and bonfires that we stopped for some cola before continuing to see the last stretch of it.