Arrival and First Full Day.
July 2017
23.09.2017
We flew to Frankfurt Airport on the very day I stopped school for summer holidays, thus I was totally exhausted on the flight. I always hate to travel on a day I have been working. For a start, I feel anxious all day about missing the flight and then there are always so many last minute things to do. However, I had to go through with this plan in order to enjoy a good price on our flight from Frankfurt to New York via Heathrow Airport, London.
As my husband knew I would be exhausted on arrival in Frankfurt, he booked a hotel near the airport with an early check-in. So we just caught the hotel's shuttle bus and went straight to the Ibis Hotel in Kelsterbach and went to sleep. When we woke up we discovered there is not much to do in Kelsterbach, but it does have several supermarkets. We bought some supplies, ate in our room and went to the hotel bar for a drink. It was not a bad day to stay in and sleep as shortly after we arrived the heavens opened and it poured down.
Our Room in The Ibis Frankfurt Airport.
The Ibis served a pretty good breakfast.
Next day was a bit more exciting. We took the hotel's shuttle back to the airport then took a train to Wiesbaden. This is the capital of the federal state of Hesse. Wiesbaden is a spa town and its name literally means meadow baths. At one point the town had around twenty-six hot springs; now it has around fourteen. Its spas were known to the Ancient Romans and there are some Ancient Roman remains in the town.
In addition to its spas, Wiesbaden is famous for gambling and has a very ornate casino in its kurhaus. Famous visitors to Wiesbaden over the years include Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Richard Wagner and Johannes Brahms. Fyodor Dostoevsky is thought to have based his famous book 'The Gambler' on his own experiences of the casino in Wiesbaden. There is a statue of him just outside it.
We wandered from Wiesbaden Train Station through the Warmer Damm Park which has a large pond, a statue of Kaiser Wilhelm, a statue of two frolicking horses and a statue of Schiller outside the State Theatre. The kurhaus itself is a very impressive building with very beautiful classical frescoes on its walls. There is a park in front of it and behind it.
Wiesbaden Train Station.
Pond and statue we passed on the way.
The State Theatre.
Horses statue.
Inside the kurhaus.
Diana in the kurhaus.
Venus in the kurhaus.
Me with Dostoevesky.
Peter in front of the kurhaus.
After a look around the Kurhaus, we headed for one of the springs. It was roasting hot. I suffer badly from eczema so I put my eczemaed hands under it and in time it eased the discomfort. I was quite impressed.
Peter at a hot spring.
Next we headed for the historic centre of Wiesbaden around Schlossplatz and Marktplatz. We liked the very impressive Market Church. This is the main Protestant church in Wiesbaden. It was designed by Carl Boos and built between 1853 and 1862. Outside the church stands a statue of William of Orange. We also had a wander around the church's lovely interior. Wiesbaden's town halls, both old and new, are in this area, too.
The old Town Hall.
Market Church with William of Orange.
Market Church.
Schlossplatz.
On our way back to the station we took a quick detour to look at St. Boniface Church. This is the main Catholic church in Wiesbaden. The present building was designed by architect Philipp Hoffmann and built between 1844 and 1849. The church has two very high steeples each 68 metres in height.
St. Boniface Church.
Luisenplatz and St Boniface Church.
We took the train from Wiesbaden to Mainz where we had booked a hotel for the night. When we arrived we first went to the B&B Hotel Mainz-Hbf and checked in. Then we were straight out for a quick look around the city. We did not see much of our hotel room as to catch a train to Frankfurt Airport from where we would fly to New York next day, we had to get up at half past two in the morning.
Our Room.
Mainz is situated on the confluence of the Rhine and Main Rivers. It has a long history and was once home to an Ancient Roman settlement. Johannes Gutenberg who invented mechanical movable type printing was born here. There is a statue of him and a museum about him in the centre of town. Mainz is a university town and has a huge cathedral.
We walked from our hotel into the historical centre of Mainz. We soon found the statue of Johannes Gutenburg. Gutenburg lived from around 1400 to 1468. In 1439 Gutenburg invented a printing press with movable type. His invention allowed the mass production of printed books and sparked a revolution in the printing world.
Johanes Gutenburg.
Not far from the statue of Gutenburg stands Mainz's very impressive cathedral - St. Martin's Cathedral. It is a thousand year-old Roman Catholic cathedral built mainly in Romanesque style. The original Cathedral dates from around 975 AD but this building was frequently rebuilt reaching its current form in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. In 1188, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I took up the cross in the Third Crusade from this building. During World War II, around eighty per cent of Mainz was destroyed in allied bombings, but the cathedral was left almost completely unscathed. We had a look inside the cathedral building and a walk around its statue filled courtyard.
Mainz Cathedral.
Mainz Cathedral.
Across the courtyard of Mainz Cathedral.
After looking at the cathedral, we strolled down to the banks of the River Main. This is a pleasant place for a walk.
On the banks of the Main.
On the banks of the Main.
Family of swans on the Main.
We walked back past the cathedral and Mainz's old town to the Church of St Stephen. A church has stood here on top of the highest hill in Mainz since 990, but the current building dates from the late medieval era, This church is famous for its beautiful stain glass windows. These were created by Russian Jewish artist Marc Chagall between 1978 and his death in 1985. The windows depict scenes from the Old Testament, and show the shared beliefs of the Christian and Jewish traditions. Chagall made these windows as an act of reconciliation between Christians and Jews following the horrors of the second world war. Chagall himself had had to flee France to escape the Nazis during World War II. Unfortunately, the church was closed and we could not get inside to see the famous windows.
Cathedral Square.
St. Stephen's Church.
It was time to find somewhere for dinner. We noticed a great statue of a drummer on our search. We finally settled on Sixties a pub and restaurant at Grosse Langgasse 11. We had intended on having an early night, but my husband got well into trying this pub's amazing selection of draft beer. We both had schnitzels and lots to drink. Service was friendly and prices were good value. It was hard to get my husband to leave even though we had to get up at two thirty in the morning!
Guard Drummer Statue.
Dinner in Sixties.
Posted by irenevt 06:24 Archived in Germany Comments (0)