Haydn Tour - April 2016 - Mainz Page

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To Mainz via the Rhine Gorge to visit the Gutenberg Museum

Monday/Tuesday 18th/19th April 2016

The second night was spent in Mainz. Breakfast at Gent was €15 each but a good buffet. We talked to a real Chinese girl academic from Solihull (!), looking to see if there was a job in Gent. Having arrived at midnight, she had missed the City. We left at 08:25. Despite the instructions of Reception, I found myself again going up a one-way street the wrong way. I still got to the motorway quickly. There were jams to get out of town & a big jam at Antwerp but this was clear as soon as we got on the ring road. Then, it was a long motorway flog across Belgium, with a stop at Aachen for coffees, €5.98. It seemed longer through Germany to Koblenz but the scenery was better. There was a huge jam North of Koblenz, so I cut through the town & proceeded slowly down the Route 42 on the East side of the Rhine.

Rhens

Burg Markstein from the North

Burg Markstein from the South

Boppard across the Rhine

Kamp-Bornhofen

Geology opposite Kamp-Bornhofen

Burg Maus

The sky was clear at Gent but more clouds appeared during the day but it was never really dull. We stopped at various points for photos & at Kamp Bornhofen for an excellent lunch in the Hotel Rheinkönig, €33.08 but did not take VISA!

St. Goarshausen from the Lorelai

Burg Katz above St. Goarshausen

The Lorelai

The Lorelai Rock

At the Lorelai, we walked out on the very poor pack-horse track to the statue but back on the towpath. However, to get down to this meant a very steep staircase, where I had to guide Avis down, a foot at a time. The bad path has better views, though.

OberWesel

St. Goar

Lorch

Lorch Castle in the Rhine

OberWesel from Lorch

Niederheimbach

There was a series of pleasant little towns, like Oberwesel, familiar from "Heimat 3". After the gorge, Route 42 gradually became a motorway. We turned over the Rhine, only to find the next junction closed! I got off at the next & managed by dead reckoning, to end up on the Rheinallee & turned into the Hilton car park.

So far, so good but the Hilton has expanded over the road with a glass bridge & it was a hike to the room. This is not good enough, although the room is big, not that we need it. Nor is the hotel guidebook any good. You have to ask Reception for anything useful. We hiked back to reception & found a bar, where we ordered cake & coffee, causing consternation, as it was not cake time!
The breakfasts here are diabolically expensive at €29.50 Each, so we stuffed ourselves & did not eat again until dinner time! I popped out, as the restaurant was on the river bank, to take photos.

The Rhile Bridge & Wiesbaden from the Mainz Hilton

We must have done a 'good' job of bombing Mainz, as there was not a lot of Old Town. We packed the truck & walked to the Gutenberg Museum but first, went into the working old-style print shop next door, seemingly staffed by girls & Avis left her calling card with what looked like the boss lady.

The Gutenberg Bible

Antique press

The working print shop & Avis

An English retired physicist but a very enthusiastic print man told us how the plate they were using in the museum was a solid block they had scanned from an original & cast in one piece. I would not have noticed. He has a medieval Gothic type face of his own & showed us an example. We went back & left at 11:00, going up out of town across the Rhine & along the A3 for, it seems ever. We had a coffee stop, where Avis was charged 0.70Rp for a pee, an new outrage by the Krauts. Some sections were being widened, with contra-flow misery.

There were a lot of Sun Farms along the way. I wondered what one could grow under them. At Junction 91, I turned off to Neumarkt & then, got a bit lost but soon was back on track, visiting some real German farming country. I could move along these deserted roads almost as quick as on the motorway with less hassle, except slowing to 50kph in villages, like Unterwiesenacker (far left& Parsberg (left).


Ghent

Regensberg

Bruckner

Eisenstadt

Haydn

Liszt

PortEight


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Contact: Ken Baldry at 17 Gerrard Road, Islington, London N1 8AY +44(0)20 7359 6294 or e-mail him
URL: http://www.art-science.com/Tourism/Haydn/Mainz.html Last revised 11/5/2016 ©2016 Ken Baldry. All rights reserved.