Gasometer - #748

This is the Church of the Holy Cross (Heilig Kreuz) in the Silesian Quarter, one of the flasher bits of Mainz.

Stunningly bold, given that it dates back to 1952.

Obviously didn't get to go inside - churches get locked in Germany - but I'm reliably told that the central structure has 13 segments (participants of the Last Supper, number of apostles etc).

Looks a bit too much like the Beehive for my liking.

Now, THAT's a bunch of gasbags....

Michaelmas - #747

Aster amellus or Michaelmas Daisy

Not that anyone around here knows it as that, of course.

Here's it's just the Herbstaster - Autumn aster. Fairly logical, given that the Equinox was exactly a week ago.

But its original name is stems from the fact that it blossoms on/around St Michael's day - 29 September.

As in: today

And talking of St Michael the Archangel.

I've never much liked John Travolta but "I'm not that kind of angel" from "Michael" gets me every time...

15 minutes of fame - #746

Famous Fotog Franzi(ska) Hasse popped around in spring on the recommendation of her Mum and Dad.

Quite an honour, because she's a freelance garden photographer for some of the major lifestyle magazines Germany.

Photos over here

Ms jb was significantly miffed at being left out of the credits.

Was she ever...

And then there were two - #745

In the queue.

Blokes that is.

Second one was me, queuing up for my 80c worth.

One scoop of Mozart.

But it really did look like a "girls' thing" for the longest time.

Weight Watchers Inc it wasn't...

The end of the golden summer - #744

 

Last Insalata Caprese of the season.

Cuore di Bue tomatoes and torn basil leaves (both grown in our own compost), buffalo (is there any other kind?) mozzarella, good olive oil, exceptionally good balsamic vinegar from Chateau la Canorgue, sea salt, ground pepper, ciabatta, glass of rosé from the Luberon.

Hand-thrown porcelain plate from Sandra Nitz

So what do I do now?

Apart from turning the remaining basil into pesto

Waiting for....#743

...the Death Panel.

Given that we have socialised (compulsory, no less. Shock! Horror!) medicine over here, pensioners are a bit nervous.

"Who's that fellow over there on the right dressed in black. With the scythe. Quick, Günther, run for it"

"Hannelore, wait for me. Aaaaargh!"

That's what's going happen if the public option gets through.

That's what Sarah Palin says, anyway.....

A Day at Caffeea Moguntia - reloaded #742

And then they crank the roaster up to 150ºC (work out what it is in cubits and stuff yourselves...) and pay  v e r y  c l o s e  a t t e n t i o n  to what's happening to the beans in the porthole of the right starboard side.

All very gripping stuff.

Hot, too.....

On second thoughts - #741

It's all very picturesque and stuff, but who has right of way?

I think a bridge is definitely the right idea.....

Imagine...-#740

..a bridge.

Right here.

This is the Middle Rhine Valley, an UNESCO Heritage Site.

Because:

Criterion (ii): As one of the most important transport routes in Europe, the Middle Rhine Valley has for two millennia facilitated the exchange of culture between the Mediterranean region and the north.

Criterion (iv): The Middle Rhine Valley is an outstanding organic cultural landscape, the present-day character of which is determined both by its geomorphological and geological setting and by the human interventions, such as settlements, transport infrastructure, and land-use, that it has undergone over two thousand years.

Criterion (v): The Middle Rhine Valley is an outstanding example of an evolving traditional way of life and means of communication in a narrow river valley. The terracing of its steep slopes in particular has shaped the landscape in many ways for more than two millennia. However, this form of land-use is under threat from the socio-economic pressures of the present day.

The state government is looking to do some "human interventions" of its own, by slotting in a bridge between St Goar and St Goarshausen.

Which sounds fair enough, given that it's 90km between the existing bridges in Koblenz and Mainz.

The politicians reckons that it's ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY in order to develop the towns along the Rhine which are HUGELY disadvantaged by the lack of transport infrastructure.


Which I think is a pretty specious argument.


Firstly, you're geographically constrained by the steep hills sloping (SLOPING? PRECIPITOUS, more like it), secondly vehicular ferries can take anything that can wind its way down from the motorways or along the roads that snake along next to the river and thirdly - just just what sort of development would you tolerate in a region of national beauty with an almost exclusively tourist focus?

It's all hypothetical anyway, because Kurt Beck's boys thoroughly cocked-up the application earlier this year.

Remember at school when the essay you were supposed to write was something like

"Inferring friendship relationships by using mobile phone data"

and you got stuck in and wrote about what you did on your holidays?

Didn't actually get an "A", right?

That was pretty much it here as well.

The Heritage Committee didn't even start to assess the content.

They reviewed the document against the formal requirements and said "Go to jail. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200. Try again next year. And RTFM"

What's wrong with ferry boats, anyway?

Poetically speaking -739

Now doesn't "Matured bread" sound just so much nicer than "Day-old bread"?

I definitely like the price...

Slap...#738

..bang in the middle of the fields on the way to Hechtsheim.

I have NO IDEA what it's there for.

As you can see, it's wall-to-wall bugger all out there.

It might be a high-tech bird perch, if the dropping's are anything to go by.

Knowing Mainz, it's probably a Roman relic.

(They did have plastic back in those days, right?)

I never tile ....#737

...of looking at old roofs.

This is 200 years old if it's a day.

You can keep your shiny lotus-effect blue tiled roofs.

Our neighbour's got one. It hurts my eyes.

This one has patina.

I think that's Latin for moss and bird shit.

Or "crooked"

A Day at Caffeea Moguntia - reloaded #736

Last week, I showed you a picture of some coffee beans...

(You'll tire of this, I promise)

The next step it to roast them in this highly polished roaster.

Taper.


Made in Turkey.

Now, if THAT'S not street creds....

Through a glass blearily - #735

Back at Wagner-Stempel's open courtyard from the other day.

(Shocking website and I've offered to do a words-for-wine barter translation deal, but he reckons that as they sell everything anyway, why should he bother. One way of looking at it, I guess)

Of course, the strict drinking-driving laws here make forward planning essential on such occasions and we've worked out a fairly equitable arrangement:

We share the driving.

I drive there. Mrs jb drives home.

Which is a lot fairer than My Mate The Professor's arrangement.

When they're on vacation (they've just spent 2 weeks in New England and last year, they were in Australia for 3 weeks...), he just adds up the miles and lets Mrs MMTP work them off incrementally.

As far as I recall, he's about 7000 miles in credit.

That's about 100 round-trips to our place for dinner...

A Day at Caffeea Moguntia - #734

The folk at Caffea Moguntia (the inimitable "Tin Shed on Wheels") have their coffee roastery in a cool little precinct in Bodenheim, a hop, skip and a jump down the river.

Actually, it's anything BUT cool when Hans-Josef Schwarz cranks up the gas-powered roaster to 150ºC (that's 300 in pounds and ounces) and turns the stuff in the picture (raw coffee beans) into something that you'd be happy to drink.


Expect more of the same a la "Last week, I showed you a picture of some coffee beans. Here are some more"


You'll wish I'd never returned.....

This is the life - #733

David Wagner took over the family vineyard in Siefersheim a few years back and did all the right things - canopy management, lower yields, old vines, focus on the top end of the market.

In a market where the average bottle of supermarket (and that's where over 70% of wine is bought) wine costs €1.78, his prices start at around €6 and top out at close to €30.

He sells it all.

The village hosts an Open Winery weekend at the end of August.

Of COURSE we went there....

....and a silver spoon on top - #732

Rosemarie Jäger (left in picture, slightly obscured), a delightfully cultured lady, runs a gallery in Hochheim (hence NQM) in her used-to-be-a-winery house.

Attracts top artists in almost any 3-dimensional medium you can imagine and the room - large, high, light-flooded - is just a treat.

The current exhibition is titled "R o s é a London flavour - metal to celebrate 20 years" featuring 3 silversmiths from the Royal College of Art in London.

Simone Ten Hompel works traditionally, David Clarke takes existing objects - teapots, for example - and makes them into Pythoneseque quirky, non-functional objects and Hans Stofer (professor, no less) makes.....um... an old Heineken tray, 6 dayglo-painted tin cans and a dayglo painted budgie that appears to have fallen off its perch.



Oh, and a silver spoon on top.


A snip at €1000......

"Tuition fees....#731

..are a bummer"

Almost (but not quite) captures the poetry and wit of the double-entendre*
(And who said Germans have no sense of humour...)

Elections coming up in 2 weeks, free tuition in tertiary education is always an issue and the Young Socialists are going from bike-rack to bike-rack, slipping covers to that effect over bike seats.

*Bums on seats? Bummer? No? Forget it...

Bedridden? - #730

This sounds almost mediaeval..

On the other hand, they might be trying to de-bed themselves

Whatever.

The Tomb of the Unknown... -#729

..Snooty-Looking Person.

In the Cathedral.

skʊn - #728

Mrs jb's been baking scones.

"skʊn" as in "on"

Not ˈ"ōn as in "disown".

The Americans call them biscuits, which is quite strange.

They have them with gravy, which is even strangerer.

We have ours with Tayberry Preserve from the Hi-Rise Bread Company in Cambridge, MA (or Mrs Frank the Potter's homemade strawberry jam) with whipped cream on a Nigel Lambert plate with tea from a Pascal Balay tea bowl.


Very nice, too.