Only 16kms from Eltville to Mainz but no viable public transport link! Checked rome2rio.com - 55 minute by public transport with a 21 minute taxi ride to the train and 21 minutes on the train or 18 minutes by taxi.
I was prepared for my lack of German this time with written details and screen shots on the phone. It worked! I was driven to the Gutenberg Museum and picked up for the return journey on time without a word understood between me and the driver.
After an hour or so, my head was full of information about printing through the ages and by different cultures, bookbinding and paper making. Two "B-42" Gutenberg Bibles are on display. This means they are from the earliest pressing and have 42 lines a page. Useful for trivia...
The museum was very busy with lots of groups from river cruises...a far cry from the last few days! It's entrance is on a small square with the cathedral opposite which leads through to the main square, Markt, which is also bounded on one side by the cathedral.
Tuesday is market day and the area was brimming with fresh produce, flowers, locals and tourists. The giant white "spagle" (asparagus) stood out...mountains of it stacked neatly on every vegetable stall. Fourth Village have never stocked it! My salads at lunch and dinner included sliced "spagle"...my first experience but I prefer lightly steamed green asparagus.
Tranquility returned in Der Hohe Dom ze Mainz and cloisters. The cathedrals dates back 1000 years with later additions including two modern stained glass windows that are a complete contrast to all the other windows.
In the time I was visiting the cathedral and lunching at the Dom Cafe, the market was over and the fountain and market well regained their prominence in the space.
 |
| View of the cathedral from the museum entrance post market |
Eltville is a great base for exploring this area of the Rhine. I wasn't as luck as my friend, Veronica, who recently met a 3rd cousin in the library of a small town near Berlin. I couldn't find a library or other public building in Eltville or Winkel, the tourist information centre isn't open this early in the season and even the post office is fully automated! Prior to my visit, I was in contact with 2 DNA matches who live in the area but they don't have any knowledge of our common family.
This pedigree chart for my great-grandfather, Francis Gersbach, shows how many generations the Gersbachs have been traced. A 4th cousin on the St Mary's Gersbach line was stationed at the nearby airforce base in the 1980s. He engaged a German researcher which is the next option for me.
A final view of the spire of St Peter and Paul from my apartment at sunrise for this visit!
