> 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…
>How appropriate that the Frensch family should have the local franchise for Peugeot. I’m now on the lookout for an Audi/VW/Mercedes/Porsche dealership run by the Shermans….
>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…
>Can’t miss it. This sign’s been outside the Italian ice cream parlour for as long as I can remember. I’ll have yogurt, apricot and pistachio. As always.
>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…
>Night sky the other evening. Lousy resolution (Treo 650 smartphone – what can one reasonably expect)
>Heliopsis helianthoides or false sunflower. We stumbled upon this chappy in Vermont in 1995, staying at Beaver Pond Farm Inn in Warren, VT when it was still run by Bob…
>Mainz’s Walk of Fame leads from the Shillerstrasse to the Unterhaus, next to the City Hilton. You won’t find Brad Pitt here, but you’ll recognise the names of the creme…
>Friday evening. 6 p.m. Mainz 05 vs. Bremen. Me and my mate Christoph. A beer before the game, a beer and a sausage in a roll with mustard at half-time.…
>Artichokes are really only thistles with a college education. The Italian folks on the market (they’re Sicilian, to be more precise) must have taken their eye off the ball for…
>The view as one emerges from the circular stairwell of the Theatre underground carpark, with the back of the original State Theatre on the right and Klaus Möbius’s Kleines Haus…
>The zucchini blossoms were so fresh on the market yesterday that bumble bees were still zipping in and out in a futile attempt at pollination. So the best thing to…
>How very excellent! You can drive into town on a Saturday morning and you’re the first car at the lights. You can find parking – this is the underground car…
>The Heunensäule – Giants’ Column – is the centrepiece of the market square in Mainz. Not easy to miss it, really.Neither would you be if you were 6.40 metres high…
>The market square in front of the cathedral is where you’ll find Germany’s oldest Renaissance well.It dates back to 1526 and was erected by Cardinal Albrecht von Brandenburg, Elector Prince…
>Here are two, anyway. Wind and sun. Shame that the aircraft back there is burning carbon-credits as if they’re going out of style…
>The modern equivalent of cattle rustlers around here are the folk who sneak out under cover of darkness (and sometimes not even that) and plunder orchards. Cherries, plums, apples, apricots,…
>The countryside around here gives you an idea of the challenges involved in achieving economies of scales in agriculture around here. Certainly looks picturesque, but no sooner have you turned…
> Yummy. Schusters, our Kleiin-Winternheim farmers, have the new season’s beans on the market in Mainz. Nothing better than to boil them until they’re still al dente together with a…
>Stumbled over this just excellent example of corporate landscaping in the Weissliliengasse yesterday. A pillar of interior-lit sandblasted glass on a stainless steel plinth, set in a bed of pea…
>…the Mulberry Tree. Morus Nigra. They were introduced into Europe to satisfy the demand for silk – silkworms just love the leaves – and were planted mostly in southern Europe.…
>“MKOP” is the name of a restaurant in Albany, just north of Auckland in New Zealand.Stands for My Kind Of Place”. Which it definitely isn’t – the only thing they…
>The “tin shed on wheels” is a welcome sight at the Friday and Saturday markets. And it’s a perfect fit – the colour even matches that of the Cathedral’s towers.…
Mainz Daily Photo 