>There is nothing better on a sunny spring day than a stroll through the Market with a brief pause at the ‘tin shed on wheels’ for a much needed caffeine…
>The view from Cafe Grünewald across from the Dom and Marktplatz. The view more than makes up for the ordinary coffee.
>Mainz goes in for mass planting in a big way. The city has its own gardening department, with glasshouses and the whole shebang. Over winter, you’ll mostly see hardy heathers…
>Here’s a definite sign of spring. That and asparagus, which has yet to make an appearance due to the mild permafrost we’re experiencing this year. One thing in common, though…
>Ever since I’ve been interested in the fortunes of the local football team, it’s always been a bit hard on the nerves.This season’s no different. Three teams get promoted at…
>…but blue? And not both? Odile Landragin is celebrating the 10th anniversary of her exquisite herb and aromatics garden in Gonsenheim with a series of open days. If the weather…
>.. I wouldn’t have been crawling around on my belly to get a decent perspective of the wild tulips. I could have just bent down, taken a snap and no-one…
>The Vertical Village doesn’t run by itself. It would all go pear-shaped if not for Mrs jb. And the janitors. From left to right – Andreas, Peter the Painter, Tibor…
>Yesterday was good. My mate Tibor called me up with 2 free tickets for the game against Paderborn PLUS 2 VIP Lounge tickets. (Tibor – being Hungarian – has lots…
>I don’t have a problem with elevated blood pressure, doubtless as the result of clean-living and impeccable restraint. 120/80 for as long as I can remember, except when I see…
>Gau-Odernheim, which is a hop, skip and a 20 minute drive from here, has the largest mass habitat of Tulpa Sylvestris. the Florentine or Wild Tulip, in Germany. They were…
>Cafe Dinges in the Altstadt has introduced a carbon-neutral cake delivery service. There appear to be quality issues – only 23% of the cakes reach their recipients in the anticipated…
>This is Brand Protection in action. Saturn’s a Big Box electronics outfit in the Brand shopping centre in Mainz – -didn’t intend THAT pun, if I’m honest – and they’ve…
>“Space Shuttle lands on barge on the River Rhine” Not really. “Buran”, the Soviet equivalent to America’s space shuttle got decommisioned to Bahrain (look, I have no idea…) and the…
>That floats on high o’er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A vase, of golden daffodils. Shamelessly nicked from Mr Wordsworth, but they can’t get…
>Not recently, which is a shame, but here’s an archive look from the epic “Igor ist weg” evening a while back. Beer just tastes better when you’re sitting there, actually…
>If there’s one thing they like around here, it’s “Ordnung” Which you can roughly translate as “order”, “orderliness” or “tidiness”. There are whole BOOKS on the subject – this translation…
>The Carnival Fountain (Fastnacht Brunnen), created by Blasius Spreng, was erected in 1967 and depicts symbols of “Karneval/Fastnacht” – jesters, jokers etc. Fastnacht is a big deal in Mainz. My…
>The first time we passed this shop, we giggled like children. “They sell children in Germany? How odd.” It is actually 5 levels of pure kid heaven – barbies galore,…
>Gau-Straße looking up the hill to St Stephens. Gau-Straße is the bane of cyclists in Mainz. It is not overly steep, but it is a long incline, and it is…
>Taken today waiting for the bus to take us home from the big tin shed shopping centre that is loftily called the “Gutenburg Centre” (I’m sure Johannes would be turning…
>Schiller is one of the towering figures in German literature and philosophy (and they certainly don’t have a shortage of towering literary figures over here). This statue is in Schillerplatz…
>This weekend has been sightseeing-tastic. We had a visitor come to stay, so we trotted around the city ticking off the sights. The Dom (Cathedral) is one of the big…
> jb has talked about the Heuensäule (Giant’s Column) before, so I hope I’m not doubling up here. I have lived in Mainz for almost a year, and have wandered…
>The Rheinland-Pfalz Austellung rolls around again. Big consumer thingie, a bit like the Easter Show in Auckland when I was growing up, but without the sheepdog trials and displays of…
>Seeing the church spire and the satellite dish immediately made me think of the wonderful Richard Feynman and his “Inconceivable nature of Nature” YouTube clip. Watch the entire 5:44 and…
>Figure this. If it hadn’t been for Johannes Gutenberg, we probably wouldn’t have been able to read the signs on the buildings behind his statue. We’d still be identifying services…
>I really like Mainz, but “metropolis” isn’t a term you could honestly associate with the place. Except when it comes to parking fees. Right up there with Munich and Hamburg.…
>Or was it “The knight in shining armour”. St Martin reloaded, at any rate – a by-product of a night on the town with Frank the Potter Tags: Mainz, Saint…
>I’m all at 6’s and 7’s over this. This being Mainz’s new Kunsthalle (literally: art hall) which officially opened at the weekend and attracted throngs, including some rather inept avant-garde…
> …is a friend indeed. 14 of them, in fact. The Fourteen Holy Helpers (street sign here in Gonso and the name of the chapel where Magdalena‘s Mum and Dad…
Mainz Daily Photo 