Ground level...#628

As a contrast to yesterday's 'looking up' photo, here's what's happening at ground level outside the Tourist Information Centre.

Pollard...#627

Pollard trees along the Rhine Promenade in Mainz. At the moment they look dead, but in summer they provide fabulous shade.

Rathaus...#626

..or town hall.

Boxy, but somehow interesting.

Christmas Markets Reloaded...#625

Lights, Camera, Gluhwein.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we are off and racing. The Christmas Markets were heaving with people this evening.

On the vine...#624

The houses that are covered in vines in Summer are looking very naked now. This is all that's left.

Christmas Market...#623

Marktplatz was a veritable hive of activity yesterday and it appears that preparations for the Christmas Market are in full swing. I think it opens on Thursday.

I'll be first in line for a mug of Feuerzangbowle.

After the snow...#622

This was the scene this morning at the tram stop.

It snowed quite a bit last night (the kids next door built a snowman). Unfortunately, the snow didn't hang around for long.

Straßenbahn...#621

Mainz has a pretty good public transport system - mostly buses, but also 3 tram lines as well. Having lived in Melbourne for the last 6 or so years, I must admit to being a tram fan. This is the Number 50 that runs between Hectsheim and Finthen.

Stride...#620

Striding out at the Market.

PS - it snowed a little bit today. Brrrrr.

Römerwall Park...#619

I took myself off for a random bike ride yesterday and ended up in the Römerwall park. It is a peaceful stretch of green (yellow at the moment) between the Uniklinik and the town below.

If wishing made it so...#618

... I would have seen some blue sky today. I didn't.

Romans woz 'ere...#617

The remains of the Roman aqueduct cut through Mainz-Bretzenheim. From everything I've read, the aqueduct would have been an imposing sight, reaching a height of approximately 25m in order to carry the water over the Zahlbach valley (which is at the bottom of the pathway) and up to the Castrum (Kästrich) to the thirsty, bathing-obsessed Legions.

Mosaic Wall...#616

I can't quite decide whether this wall is a work of genius or madness. At the moment, I'm leaning toward madness.

Left footed...#615

Now somebody has to sweep them up again. Tut, tut.

All roads lead to...#614

...something Roman.

Something black and white today, to match the weather.

This is Emmerich-Josef-Strasse, as seen from Schillerplatz. This street runs up to the old Mainz Actien Brauerei and if you go up the steps, you end up at Mainz Kastrich in the Oberstadt.

Pretty in pink...#613

These plants come in every imaginable shade of pink, and given how prolific they are at the market, I would guess this is the season for them.

Not having a particularly green thumb, I had to look up what they are - Cyclamen, members of fam. Primulaceae.

Fractal food...#612

The Germans call it Pyramidenblumenkohl - I call it just plain freaky.

According to the sign at the Market, it also goes by the name 'Romanesco'. Now I wish I'd bought some.

All the leaves are brown...#611

...but happily today the sky was blue.

With the onset of the cooler weather (it was around 5 degrees C this morning on my ride into school) my hands are beginning to look like this withered leaf.

Autumn may be the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, but for me it is the season to stock up on hand moisturiser. I know, I'm romantic that way.

This post is brought to you by the letter S...#610

...and a little bit of the letter R, and a goodly portion of the letter T.

Albeit, backwards (which is irrelevant for T, but you get the idea).

This sculpture graces the forecourt of the Öffentliches Bibliothek" (public library) in Mainz.

Our language class was given a 'grand tour' of the library this week - I give it a big thumbs up.

That reminds me ...#609

...

Need to cut the grass down at the farm.

Only 7.5 acres.

Handmower.

Should take about a month.

Helen'll look after you while I'm away....

Twins - #608

Not really.

Pierre et Liliane Gautard from Quemigny sur Seine were here the other week at the Burgundy market in Mainz.

Mainz is twinned with every whatsit and his brother and does a pretty good job of keeping in touch.

The folks from Dijon and surrounds turn up every year as regularly as clockwork and set up their stalls under the flash white igloos that the city provides (I thought that the Eskimos had invaded, the first time I saw them..)

Lots of goodies - one chappy making crepes, loads of preserves and potted meats and dried sausages and sheeps cheese and whathaveyou.

Plus the aforementioned M. et Mme Gautard, who have a fish farm and had smoked trout, trout pate and trout rillettes (some call it the Poor Man's pate - trout and goose fat. Yummy)

And a guy selling excellent wine.

For cheap.

Now, THAT I definitely like...

Barrow boy - #607

Serious stuff, this apple picking business at Appel Happel in Lerchenberg.

Following the mantra "Never carry more than you eat" (or is it the other way round?), we get a kilo or so.

Some people must have REALLY big appetites.

And be kleptomaniacs, too.

Otherwise Mr Happel wouldn't have to label his wheelbarrows so discreetly.

Reminds me of the umbrellas that the Farmers department store in Auckland used to provide to customers to get across the road to the bus stop:

Big white letters:

STOLEN FROM FARMERS

All Saints Day reloaded - #606

Don't see many war memorials in Germany.

Growing up in New Zealand, they were simply part of the cultural fabric of the country.

Understandably when you figure that New Zealand lost a larger proportion of its population in conflict than any other combatant nation in the first world war.

They used to say that the angel of death visited every family.

This is the memorial for the 87th Nassauan Regiment's 3 campaigns (1809-15, 1870-71 and 1914-1918) on the Zitadelle

Told you parking's a pain - #605

Being a cheap bugger, I don't like paying for parking.

I KNOW it's cheap (US$2 an hour) compared with Manhattan, but it does tend to reduce the enjoyment level of a morning at the market when you end up paying €5 or something.

So we park up above the Eisgrub or in the Zitadele and walk down in to town.

Never been as bold as this guy, though.

"Red and white striped tape? WHAT red and white striped tape...?"

Aspara.. WHAT? - #604

You have strawberries and blackberries and raspberries.

We have asparaberries.

This is what happens when you let asparagus go to seed - I'm an expert at this, having first hand experience of the process of going to seed - which you have to do to let the rootstock regenerate for next year's harvest.

Can't eat them, as far as I know.

Well, you CAN if you want to.

You can eat ANYTHING - it's just that sometimes you'll die....

Flossy in the Fountain - #603

I'm beginning to think I'm just following Helen around taking photos of the same things....oh well, never mind.

Detail from the Fastnachtbrunnen (Carnival Fountain) on the Schillerplatz

Cheesecake Factory - #602

Phenomenal stuff from someone who didn't start baking until she was in her mumble mumbles.

(Think the Roman numeral is "C". Or is it "L"? Probably "L")

Piece of cake (oops..) to make and cheap as chips.

The whole darn thing cost less than a smallish slice in a cafe.

And I get to lick the spoon.....

Toeing the line - #601

"Straighten up there, you horrible lot. Call yourselves soldiers - I've never seen such a scruffy bunch in all my ..... Oh, you're not soldiers. You're only WIMMEN..."

The 50th parallel that runs through Mainz has magical powers.

Magnetic, I think.

People are stopped in mid-stride as if glued to the ground and are only released once a photo has been taken.

Don't know how long they'd been standing there when I came along....

(Mrs jb observes the scene from a safe distance)

Romans woz 'ere- #600

Originally known as Castrum, this was the site of the Roman camp built in 90 CE.

You can still see the foundations of the original city gate, preserved in between some rather swish apartment blocks.

Swimming pool, too.

Not very deep, though.

Don't think I'd want to dive in......

November Theme Day: Books #599

Bookshops aren't about books.

They're about people.

Borders isn't a real bookshop as far as I'm concerned. It's just the "mortar" bit in the "Clicks and Mortar" business model.

Same goes for Barnes and Noble, Waterstones and whatever they're called in your neck of the woods.

I'm more for independent bookshops (or record stores), where people know what you read, can recommend stuff that you'll probably like (none of this "Other people who bought x also bought y" stuff) because they've read it themselves and get EXCITED about books.

Like Nida and Cliff Kilian at Shakespeare & So in the Gaustrasse.

Nida says that a lot of their customers are folk who have moved to Mainz, from which I conclude that if you've lived here ALL your life, you probably wouldn't switch from a bookseller you've been going to for ever and a day and who can tell you the last 3 books you've bought there.

But then again, you wouldn't know what you're missing....

The usual suspects are back - pop over and check them out.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

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Shakespeare & So, Mainz,  Gaustrasse