Out of Germany

My last day in Germany was pretty damn spectacular; it's amazing how spontaneity allows you to experience moments as they come, instead of trying to anticipate them. After my formal tour was over, four of us realized we all had an extra day in Frankfurt. Someone came up with the idea of going drinking on or near the Rhine. We asked around and found out that a mere hour away was a picturesque town called Bacharach.

It had it all: vineyards, castles, and as it turns out quite a sordid history involving the killing of Jews-even in the tiniest of towns, we couldn't get away from Jewish death memorials...anyway, we chose to focus more on the castles and vineyards, well more specifically, the Riesling.

So after a lovely lunch of wine and cheese we headed back on the train. Our next destination was either going to be Bingen or Mainz. Just because. And with no plan or rational reason, we hopped off the train in Mainz. 

Initially unimpressed, we left the train station area and headed towards the shores of the Rhine. Suddenly, we found ourselves in a quaint medieval town. In the town center there was a massive sculpture of a man. The name the sculpture bore: Johannes Gutenberg! We had stumbled upon the hometown of a man who had changed the world and is credited with ushering in the modern era. This revelation left my designer bits tingling. I whipped out my phone and found out that there was a Gutenberg museum. We headed over and by some miracle it was 4:45-the museum closed at 5, so we were told we could only stay for 15 minutes, free of charge. I made a B-line for the large vault on the second floor and beheld with my own two eyes THE GUTENBERG BIBLE.

Maybe it's because I knew the impact moveable type and the printing press had, or maybe it was because the book was so perfect, so utterly new looking I nearly wept. Here was a tome from 1452, a copy of a book that allowed people to access to history and knowledge on a massive scale and I was seeing it, right where it was printed. After the tingling wore off and my 15 minutes were up, we headed to the river and enjoyed a perfect view:

We then ran back to the train-which wasn't easy in the heat with Riesling in our bellies-and made it back to Frankfurt a bit sweaty but feeling amazing.