Mainz, or A Study in Scarlet

[selenak]

One of my favourite train journeys within Germany is the railroad between Cologne and Mainz, for which you must take the IC, not the faster but duller ICE. It's directly next to the Rhine, sometimes at places where you can't go either by car or on foot, and ridiculously romantic with all the castles, cliffs and vineyards. These days it's also noticable that the Rhine is at an all time low, but there you go.

Mainz, which has not one but two museums devoted to the Romans (featuring among other things the tombstone of Domitian's food taster - worst jov ever y/y?), as well as a Magna Mater/Isis temple, none of which I could visit this time around, is a city devoted to red sandstone. Which looks exceedingly pretty even under grey skies. Proof awaits below the cut.





These are restored (see: bombs, WW II, results of same), city gates, these days of course well within the city.



Two of the smaller churches





And now for the big one: the cathedral!



More cathedral photos later.  Here's a reminder of Mainz hosting one of the all time biggest game changers: Gutenberg, he of the moveable letters, and his suddenly affordable books. The museum devoted to him:



More from the civilian side of city life:





As promised, more cathedral glimpses from the squares around it, currently filled with christmas fairs: 







Where they hold poet festivals these days:





And now a brief detour from the Rhineland to the Palatine, where I'm staying tonight, in the small and charming town of Edenkoben, which looks like this:







Richard Couer de Lion was kept prisoner relatively nearby. You've got to admit he had nice views!

Comments

[raincitygirl]

Gorgeous pics. I love how brightly coloured so many of the buildings are.

[selenak]

The colours are one of my favourite elements as well.

[watervole]

Beautiful buildings, especially the cathedral.

[selenak]

Truly.

[jesuswasbatman]

I heard Koblenz got partially evacuated because the low Rhine exposed some WWII unexploded bombs. Scary.

[selenak]

Yes. The evacuation included a prison, even. I never experienced that but I renember sitting in a train not allowed to leave the station because they had just found another unexploded WWII bomb only ten metres from said station. It makes me wonder how long unexploded bombs from the current wars will be around, with their decades of additional technology for damage...