> Around here, churches are locked most of the time. Except the big ones and even some of THEM close down for lunch. {Shakes his head, muttering “Close down for…
> This is Dottie, the most famous chook in Mainz. (“Dottie”‘s short for “Dotter” – “yolk” in German) Attracts kids of all ages, but I was fascinated by the conversation…
> I looked at this sign – it’s where you enter the market square in from of the Dom in Mainz – and thought…. “No. They can’t really mean that”…
> Take your partner by the hand…. Mainz has a touch of promiscuity when it comes to partnering. They seem to chat up any likely looking talent and then…
> I have no idea where the blackberry vine in our garden turned up from. The strawberries aren’t an issue. I know I planted them I stumbled over ripped my…
> Saturn, one of the national consumer electronics megastore chains, has an advertising slogan that’s become embedded into the language: Geiz ist geil (Cheap is cool) Germans being financially conservative,…
> Saint Martin gets everywhere. And so he should, being a true heir to the Good Samurai or whatever his name was. There’s the modern statue next to the Martinus…
> …I heard someone say. “Not very nice” I thought. Oh, they’re talking about the RECYCLING bags. Big thing over here, with more wheelie bins than you can shake a…
> He was here just the other day, though. Johannes was getting a bit frayed around the edges (so am I for that matter and I’m nowhere nearly as old…
> …in a bag. Plus some tomatoes, a couple of onions and a clove or 2 of garlic
> James Rizzi must have been in the army. Where else would he come up with the principle: “If it moves, salute it. If it doesn’t move, paint it” This…
> …chantarelle. Eh? That’s what comes from translating colloquialisms literally. As in “Darauf gebe ich keinen Pfifferling” Or “Not worth a red cent” I rather like chantarelles, though. Fry them…
> Bunches of dill flowers on the market. Put me in a right pickle….
> .. as the situationally unware are wont to say. Can’t get lost on the Rhine, though. Every 1000 metres, a whacking great sign like this tells you exactly where…
> Toddled off to my first political event the other evening. Not that I can actually vote over here, but whatever.. Wolfgang Bosbach, one of the Head Honchos from the…
> …the hottest Currywurst in Mainz. The Currywurst used to be the Teutonic equivalent of Fish and Chips, both of which have been toppled from their perches by Döner and…
> The Bin family out for the day on the Schillerplatz. Can’t you just hear her: “Now Willy Bin, don’t get too close to the road…”
> …when pumpkins and sundry gourd-like devices appear on the market. If only they didn’t look as if they had Proteus syndrome…
> If you lay gas mains around Mainz or do anything that involves more excavation that digging your garden, you must get sick and tired of people asking “Found any…
> Yesterday was Assumption Day, a feast day (a Holy Day of Obligation, actually, so it appears to be fairly major) in the Roman Catholic church. On the market in…
> Some of the trams around here are truly museum pieces. Technically (being in Germany) they’re obviously top notch, but their stilted officialese signage (“Seek a secure grip whilst standing”)…
> Excellent educational stuff spread around outside the Gutenberg Museum. BIG chunks of wood with individual letters carved out in mirror typeface, with the printing surface stained black to simulate…
> proStore’s a nice new Apple (and PC) dealer that’s opened up in Mainz in Am Kronberger Hof. Macs on the left, PCs on the right (I obviously veer to…
> …Günther? Best bank robbery I’ve read about happened here last week. Pensioner fronts up to a bank, pulls a pistol and demands money. Cashier gives him a wad of…
> That’s for sure. These are the vineyards on the “other side” (i.e Hesse – boo, hiss…) side of the Rhine, with the Niederwald Memorial topping it all off. (Helen…
> They didn’t have stuff like this when I was a kid. The State Horticultural Show in Bingen has something for all ages. This is a kiddies’ playground in the…
> ….Number 6… Helianthus and hypericum
> 21st century buses and medieval cart tracks don’t really go together. The bus from Lörzweiler to Hechtsheim is a case in point. It has to be this big because…
> Pretty sloppy security at the Landesgartenschau (State Horticultural Show) in Bingen the other week. This chappy appears to have got through all the barriers and clambered up to the…
> Mainz’s exquisite market – where else? Cut them in half and de-seed them, brush some olive oil over the skin, roast them under the grill until they’re blistered and…
> … Rhine cruise. (The Woodstock Generation might get it…) If you’re zipping up and down the Rhine or the Moselle, chances are you’ll be on one of the…
Mainz Daily Photo 