It was my first ever trip to Mainz last weekend, and that is also quite a cool place. It is about 80km to the north of Mannheim and takes less than 40 minutes on a very pretty and comfortable train ride. Mainz is full to overflowing with old churches and has a very pretty Altstadt (old city centre). Mainz is one of the largest transport hubs in Germany and also Germany's largest wine growing region. If you have ever had a German Riesling, there is a very good chance it came from Mainz or somewhere in the Rhineland Palatinate, of which Mainz is the capital. German whites, especially Rieslings, are amazingly good and relatively inexpensive. It is quite funny when you go out to a pub in Mainz, quite a large proportion of the people have Weißwein-Schorle (white wine spritzer) as their drink of choice. You can have it Süß (sweet, i.e. mixed with lemonade) or Sauer (sour, mixed with soda water). I have to say that sauere Weißwein-Schorle has been a favourite of mine for many years, but I never knew where they came from, and now I do. I didn't have a super-long amount of time in Mainz, but enough to make me think that it would be a very worthy place to bring students. There are the obligatory churches and the Cathedral of Saint Martin (Mainzer Dom), on which construction began in 975AD (that is not a typo, that is 1044 years ago). There is also the Museum of Ancient Seafaring (Museum für Antike Schifffahrt) with the remains of five Roman boats from the late 4th century; The Gutenberg Museum, with one of the original 15th century Gutenberg Bibles; Marktbrunnen, one of the largest fountains in Germany; the Mainz University Botanical Garden and much more. But all in all, the thing I most want to do in Mainz is take a ride on a passenger-ship from Mainz to Koblenz. It takes an afternoon and then you can get the train back to Mainz (or wherever) and travels, what I am reliably informed is, one of the most picturesque waterways in all of Germany. I was only in Mainz for one afternoon, which got dark pretty early as per usual in January, but I am going to go back and do it properly before I leave. I'll keep you posted. (note the red and blue street signs, blue street signs signify that the street runs parallel to the Rhine, red signifies perpendicular. That's so you know which way you are going in the skinny, winding streets of the Aldstadt )
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