Last Days of Summer...

Mainz, Germany is a very busy place on 'market day'.  Umbrella stand after brightly-colored umbrella stand, filled with fruits, veggies, flowers, fish, and fresh bread crowd the old-town square.  Many different smells surround me.  The smell of the watermelon which was just dropped by that lady (accompanied by the sounds of embarrassed laughter); of freshly baked bread; of basket upon basket of bright sunflowers; of the light breeze collecting all of the smells and mixing them into one single, delightful scent that states quite clearly, "Last days of summer".

My family and I visited Mainz (along with Rothenburg and Ramstein Air Force Base) with my Mimi while she was visiting.  While in Mainz, we stopped by the Gutenberg museum and learned a lot about how the printing press has developed and how it is used .... even though we don't speak German.  We also visited the Mainzer Dom cathedral ^.

 My dad captured some pretty amazing photos with his pretty amazing camera.  Mr. Temperamental-Little-Point-and-Shoot would not have done the lighting justice.

SchlossSchonburg was our 'pit-stop' on the way home.  As the GPS guided us along the Rhein, we saw castle after castle after castle.  So, finally, we had to stop, walk around, take pictures, buy a wooden shield, you know, all those things that tourists are compelled to do.  

And then, once these important tasks were completed, we piled back into the van and reset the GPS to a not-so-scenic, but much quicker route home.

~RM