Well, apparently the fireworks last night were wonderful, and the rain stopped in St Goar just before the fireworks started! I was very disappointed not to have seen them, but Paul was just glad not to have got any wetter. Our raincoats are more showerproof than cloudburst proof, so we would have been soaked to the skin.
We left Rüdesheim in fairly heavy rain at about 9.15 in the morning. We also left behind the area known as 'The Romantic Rhine', because now the countryside is much more flat. There are still little towns along the river, as well as Wiesbaden, the nearest city to Mainz, on the opposite side of the river.
I believe this is Schloss Biebrich, the former residence of the Dukes of Nassau.
We arrived in Mainz during lunch, and after lunch, we went on a guided tour of the city. It was extensively bombed in the Second World War, and 80% of the centre of it was destroyed. Mostly, the destroyed buildings were replaced with architecture typical of the 50s and 60s, but some were replaced in the original style so it is hard to know whether the buildings you see are really old or are replicas. Our guide told us that often the replica was only the facade anyway, and locals referred to the style as 'cardboard Baroque'.
Fortunately, the cathedral was not damaged in the bombing.
Renovation, restoration and new buildings are all going on all over the city, so it seems it's almost impossible to take photos without some evidence of the building going on. You can also see it was raining at the time - I fear it is due to rain for the rest of this holiday.
Building of the cathedral was started in 975, and it was consecrated in 1009, so it is really old. It has been extensively changed since this early time of course, including a time at the very end of the 1700s when Mainz came under attack by the Prussian army and then spent some time under French occupation, when the cathedral became virtually derelict and had to undergo renovation.
Inside of the cathedral is pretty gloomy, and Paul couldn't wait to get out.
I was interested to hear that the cathedral was used for coronations and several of the Holy Roman Emperors had been crowned here. Remembering my history, I was sufficiently interested to check and noticed that I was correct and Matilda, wife of the Holy Roman Emperor Henry V was crowned here in 1110. That's Matilda, daughter of King Henry l of England. Anybody who remembers that far back in English History may remember that Henry l died with no son to succeed him (his only son was drowned) and the English throne was claimed by both Matilda (by then married to Geoffrey of Anjou) and her cousin Stephen of Blois, precipitating the English Civil War known as the Anarchy. Even those who don't remember the history, or never studied it may have read Ellis Peters' novels of Brother Cadfael, which are set in that period. The Civil War ended at the death of Stephen, when Matilda's son Henry inherited the English throne and became Henry ll. Enough history!
Because there was originally a monastery associated with the cathedral, there is an attractive cloister.
Since it wasn't raining quite so hard, we were able to leave the cathedral and go outside.
There are several pretty town squares, with some old buildings, though I don't know if any of them is original.
The square in the photograph below seems to be the main square.
It is used for events and entertainment, indeed there seemed to be some entertainment going on even in the rain. The strange red pillar on the far left of my photo is a pillar of red sandstone, from which the cathedral is also built.
Our guide told us that unfortunately red sandstone is very susceptible to pollution and acid rain, and this is quite an industrial area of Germany, so the cathedral and other buildings made from this material need constant maintenance.
I had been quite keen to visit the Gutenberg Museum, which is shown in the photo below.
However, it was due to close shortly after we arrived, as we were quite late. Also my back was a bit painful, as it always is after standing about or wandering slowly. I would still have given it a go in the 40 minutes or so before the museum closed - I wanted to see the Gutenberg Bible, and they also had a early edition of Canterbury Tales printed by Caxton - but Paul had had enough by then, so we just went back to the boat. In hindsight, this was probably a good thing, as shortly afterwards the heavens opened again and we would have been soaked.
We had an interesting dinner this evening; 12 of our boat crew are Balinese, so they dressed in Balinese costume and we had an Indonesian Rice Table with my favourite things - Nasi Goreng and Beef Rendang, not to mention Chicken Satay of course. It was all delicious, and one of the crew performed a traditional Balinese dance after dinner as well.
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