Haydn Tour - April 2016 - Mainz Page

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.