>That’s what I thought, anyway. Postwar, slung-together, utilitarian apartment block, medieval building and the appallingly ugly Erbacher Hof in the background, looking like a set from one of Kevin Costner’s…
These three flossies must have been related to Job Lot (I stand anonymously corrected – check the comments). His wife, as you might recall, was instructed not to turn around…
>Being half a DINK, I’m pretty clueless when it comes to education around here, but the Maria Ward School for Girls in Mainz appears to be pretty good, both by…
>Adam Weber is a vintner in Bodenheim and the proprietor of the Urige (translates as natural, down-to-earth, real, authentic..) Weinkeller, a wine bar that’s open for 10 months of the…
>OK The female of the species and their offspring are instructed to take the detour. And we blokes? Are we meant to clamber over the fence and risk our lives…
>The bronze base of the Heunensäule documents significant events in Mainz’s history, this sculpture depicting the burning of the synagogues in the pogrom of 9-10 November 1938. Mainz has a…
>“Let there be broadband” might be more appropriate…. My ISP fell over yesterday, leaving significant chunks of the country disconnected from the rest of humanity. Hence the slight delay in…
>A late summer evening – threatening sky included – looking across the Schillerplatz down the Schillerstrasse, with the Carnival Fountain silhouetted acroos the night sky.
>It’s almost like painting the Golden Gate Bridge – finish at one end and start again at the other. That’s what this guy must feel like. I saw him a…
>A major retrospective of a major German artist, Jörg Immendorff, closed yesterday after a run of almost 2 months. 450 works, dating from 1968 to shortly before his death at…
>The Mainz Classic Automobile Rally hit the road yesterday. 90-odd entries ranging from a Bentley to a Fiat 500, more MGs and TRs than you could shake a stick at…
>The University in Mainz (actually the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz) dates back to 1477, receiving papal approval during the bishopric of Diether von Isenburg. This building (bang in the…
>A persisting urban myth is the quote ” At least he made the trains run on time” associated with Adolf.(Actually, it’s more correc tly attributed to a grudgingly appreciative Italian…
>Shameless commercialism. Who cares. I was, though, quite chuffed that Frank and Ingrid chose 3 of my images for the invitation to their autumn/fall shindig at the pottery. The top…
>Training session on the Klein-Winternheim football field the other night. No ref, only one goalie and 7 vs 8. But some rather smooth stuff being displayed – reverse passes, slick…
>“Abi” is short for “Abitur”, the German equivalent of University Entrance, A Levels or a High School diploma (although it’s more at the level of an associate degree at a…
>A single-track railway line links Mainz and Alzey, stopping in Gonsenheim, Marienborn, Klein-Winternheim, Nieder-Olm and a couple of other villages on the way. It’s an adequate enough service – once…
>Axel Schmitt is an organic vintner in Ober-Hilbersheim, a mere hop, step and a jump from Mainz. He’s taken over the vineyard from his Dad, Berthold – shown here, doing…
>I’m not sure if I’ve worked this out correctly. I’m pretty sure I haven’t. This bulbous tricycle was parked next to Schott music publishers yesterday and it’s certainly a show-stopper.…
Schmiede Wettig in Nieder-Olm has been home to blacksmiths from 1577 until well into the last century. (It’s now preserved as a time-warped 1920s working forge). The stable and outbuildings…
> And this is what a cobblestone road looks like when some poor bugger’s finished his back-breaking work. The Kartäuserstrasse is in the old part of Mainz, with the Girlande…
>A very elegant gargoyle on the roof of the Heilig Geist restaurant. The Heilig Geist Spital (Hospice of the Holy Spirit) in Mainz was one of many benevolent institutions established…
>Basil as far as the eye can see at Petra and Michael Stein’s excellent herb, fruit, veg and plant place in Gonsenheim. I buy pots when they’re this small, divide…
>Hermann Cardinal Volk was the Bishop of Mainz between 1962 and 1982, sandwiched between Albert Stohr and the incumbent Karl Cardinal Lehmann. You’ll find this sculpture on the square named…
>Sounds a bit like a “knock knock” joke Willi who? Willigis. Looking up from the Willigisstrasse across the Willigisplatz to St Stephans, the burial place of Bishop Willigis (although they’re…
>I have absolutely no idea what these people were thinking of when they dreamed up this name. Slavish conformity to the “Truth in Advertising” creed (in which case it’s only…
>The cathedral square’s a bit of a mess at the moment. The construction work to replace the crumbling post-WW2 faux-medieval houses also involves ripping up swathes of cobblestones to lay…
>Greenfield developments are a hot political potato in Germany and especially, it seems, around here. The social market economy (as against a pure market economy) concept spills over into almost…
>Well, this – with an espresso macchiato from the Tin Shed on Wheels – makes a welcome change from the usual müsli with fresh fruit and a big mug of…
>The four corners of the bronze collar at the base of the Heuenensäule depict significant influences on and through the city. This is the second, an extremely successful symbiosis of…
>That’s “Have another beer” in Ghanaian. I think Or the name of the team that had to stand in on short notice for Werder Bremen (which is one of the…
Mainz Daily Photo 