Today our first port of call was Mainz, Germany. Mainz is the home of Johann Gutenberg and the place where he invented moveable type. Naturally, the first stop on our walk about tour of Mainz was the Gutenberg Museum. Probably the most astonishing thing we learned about Gutenberg was that is was 200 years after his invention that Mainz actually honored him. Gutenberg's problem was his invention was only available to the very rich. In 5 years he was able to print 185 bibles, each over 1000 pages long. Compared to one monk taking 3 years to copy one bible this was astounding. But it would take one year's wages for a common craftsman to buy one of Gutenberg's Bibles. It was 200 years later when Napolean was in Mainz that he wondered why there were no statues to Gutenberg. Napolean had sent several of his printers to Mainz to learn Gutenbergs printing process, realizing what a history making invention it was. He actually commisioned the first statue of Gutenberg to be erected in Mainz. We won't bore you with the details, but he never realized financial gain from his invention. While the six of us discussed the incredible vision he had for an invention that brought the world out of the Dark Ages, we also thought he should have had the vision to invent the patent. From the Gutenberg Museum we went to the Mainz Cathedral, which, unfortunately after our experience in Wurzburg, turned out to be just another old church. The real disappointment was that our guide mentioned that another church in Mainz, St. Stephens, contained a number of stainglass windows designed by Marc Chagall. When asked if we could leave the tour to go see St. Stephens, we were told there was not enough time as our ship was leaving port in 30 minutes. Once on board we made our disappointment known to the Program Director.
After our brief two hour stay in Mainz, the ship sailed on to Rudeshiem am Rhine. There was an optional, meaning it cost money, tour that was a bus ride to a winery for wine tasting for which none of us signed up. We know. Shocking. The ship was overnighting in Rudeshiem so we were all discussing over drinks that going into Rudeshiem for dinner seemed like a good idea. When pizza was mentioned our server immediately suggested a pizzeria in Rudeshiem that the staff of our ship always went to. Her suggestion was excellent. The pizza was a nice change of pace from the heavy German food we have been eating.
Tonight there was excellent entertainment in the ships lounge. A trio, piano, french horn and soprano, presented a concert of opera, operetta and broadway showtunes. It was very well done. It was a sublime end to another wonderful day.
Thursday morning the ship left Rudeshiem and we cruised for three hours on the Moselle River through some of the most beautiful scenery we have every experienced on all of our travels. There were steep hills on both banks of the river featuring many vineyards as well as magnificent old castles atop the hills. At rivers edge there was one picturesque village after another. This afternoon there is a tour that buses us to a castle for a tour there and then continues on to Cochem. We have opted to stay on the boat for a relaxing afternoon of reading and blogging.
Tomorrow is our last day aboard the Viking Idun. Saturday we will leave the ship and take buses through Luxembourg to Paris. We can't promise when we will next blog but please keep checking back with us. Hopefully our internet access will improve and we'll once again be able to upload a picture or two.
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