NEXT STOP: MAINZ, GERMANY

Patrick and Hanna

I've never visited Germany before. I have stopped in the Frankfurt and Munich airports to change planes en route to other destinations, but up til now have never spent any vacation time in Germany. This trip, though, I am stopping off at Frankfurt, then going to Mainz to visit my friend Patrick and his family. Patrick has visited me many times in Canada and a couple of years ago he brought his mom along. We spent a lovely week touring around and getting to know one another. So it will be a special stop-over for me to visit with them once again.

I've been doing a little research about Mainz and in keeping with my literary focus on this journey, I will look forward to visiting the Gutenberg Museum. Back in the 1400's Johannes Gutenberg was the first to print with hand set type cast in molds. The original Bible was published between 1452 - 1455.

I'd also like to see St. Stephens Church where there are stained glass windows by artist Marc Chagall (1976-79) Mainz was once a Roman fort called Maguntaicum with a fort built on the site of the present day city. There is also a Roman/German history museum.

I notice by the photos I've seen that the city is full of beautiful old architecture although much of the city was destroyed during the war between 1939 and 1945. It's the largest city and capital of Rhineland-Palatinate and was once the main ecclesiastical centre north of the Alps. It's located on the wet bank of the river Rhine about 40 kilometers NE of Frankfurt.

Patrick will meet me at Frankfurt and I am going to spend 4 days visiting with him. I'm really looking forward to this new travel adventure!