GERMANY I
Gallery Three
Germany is a fascinating country filled with efficient, helpful
people. I’ve been fortunate to visit with Jürgen and his family four times
so far and I hope there are many times still to come. Each visit has been
unique but they also share some common elements: wonderful people, delicious
food, and gorgeous interesting sites to explore.
I think some of the things that stand out in my mind are how
clean everything is and how much Germans value rules. I suppose this is
particularly interesting to an American. I know I grew up believing it’s
my right to question everything, have my own opinion on every subject and
complain when I disagree with authorities. There is something very
comforting and safe to me about being in a country where you can depend
on people to follow the rules and behave in a certain way.
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 is one of
so many historical cities in Germany. In fact most places in Germany
have a history of at least two millenniums. Mainz cultural-historical
heritage is unique. Not only is it 2,000 years old, but it is continuous in
every age and epoch, directly in the forefront of developments from the day
Founder General Drusus first got off the boat.</p>'))
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 to visit that old historic city. While walking around we
found this sight, which turned out to be Christ Church with its 80 m
high copper dome. The High Renaissance building dominates the Kaiserstraße
and marks the border between the old and new parts of the city of Mainz.</p>'))
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, and it is interesting that with the other street signs;
pointing in one direction is red while the other direction is blue. The red
and blue street signs have a special meaning and of course an historical
background. They come from the middle of the 19th century when people coming
to the city of Mainz had a hard time finding a street or a house they were
looking for. There was no system at all for naming streets or houses with
numbers. Now the idea behind it is unique and you may compare it to the
American big city street system with avenues and streets. Keeping this in
mind all streets and street signs parallel to the Rhine River are in blue.
The streets that go perpendicular to the Rhine River got red street signs.
To make this system even worse …there are those green signs, too.</p>'))
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. This archbishop, simultaneously Arch chancellor
of the First German Empire, started to build it for the Ottons in 975,
modelling it on the old St Peters cathedral in Rome. Seven coronations took
place in the Mainz cathedral, also known as Kaiserdom. It may be just a
coincidence that this over 1000-year-old Romanesque Cathedral also has seven
outstanding towers, in the truest sense of the word. This photo was taken
from the walkway of the Kaiserdom in Mainz, where you can also see one of
the seven towers. When you walk around this square, covered walkway you
see a different view from each side. This is a very large and beautiful
cathedral and monastery.</p>'))
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