We took a late Eurotunnel train on Friday evening and stopped over in Brussels in the early hours.
We decided to break our drive up for two reasons a) it was our not so Small Girl’s birthday on Saturday, so we thought it might be nice to wake up to a Belgian Waffle or two, and b) as with our drive down last year when we got to explore Trier on the way down and Aachen on the way back, we loved the opportunity to stop off and see somewhere new.
This time Mainz was our halfway destination as we wanted to see both it, and friends who had recently relocated. It was lovely to have a Mainz moment or two…
Bavaria doesn’t do Karneval as intensely as the rest of Germany it seems, so it was really fun to discover a city that is not only beautiful but completely full of brass bands dressed in various outfits and colours, just pitching up, playing a few songs before moving on to play somewhere else, dotted about the entire city. Such a loud fun atmosphere, which added to the birthday celebrations for our now 15 year old (how did that happen?).
Obviously (you know me!), I had to take a picture or two, so for those who are intrigued as to what Mainz looks like, here you go… If you happen to visit, as well as exploring the town and its medieval market places, make sure you wander down to the water’s edge to admire the vast Rhine which begins life in Switzerland and works its way out to the North Sea. This part of Mainz is also lined with beautiful trees. The cathedral is also really beautiful, the decorative tiles apparently reminded the four-year-old of an alligator. I know exactly what he meant… There are also various fun statues dotted about the place, this was our favourite…
Mainz also wins my award for the cutest green men at the crossings too…
We rounded off birthday celebrations with a dinner behind these beautiful doors at the Heilig Geist restaurant under its impressive vaulted ceilings. It started life as the oldest citizens hospital in Germany. The Schnitzel is particularly good, and despite our youngest travel member not being that happy about being in a restaurant environment that evening, it is surprisingly child-friendly. It was also wonderful to catch up with our friends who organised the most wonderful Birthday cake.
We hope to explore Mainz properly sans enfants soon enough. There’s definitely enough to explore for a long weekend. Plus, coming from a family with a printing background, I also want to see the Gutenberg Museum…
But for now we are mountain bound…
What a fun little getaway. :-) I love live music and it must’ve been especially nice on a cold, winter’s day. :-)
It was great fun! :D Thanks Krista! :) x
Ahhh, so lovely to see Mainz through your eyes – glad you had a good time! I love it, but I am steering well clear of it till Fasching’s over ;)
Thank you. I don’t blame you, I remember how fed up I used to get with Oktoberfest! :D It was so great to see though, we only really had a manic couple of days down in Bayern, not weeks and weeks of craziness like this! :D xx