Our Week and Cathedrals in Mainz, Germany

What a busy week! Bob was up to his ears with work at the office plus dealing with computer bugs, so we took advantage of having some fun in the evenings. On Monday for Family Home Evening, we invited the sister missionaries and Dave and Julie Colton over for dinner. We enjoyed pesto fettucini with Julie's delicious salad and caramel sundaes for dessert. On Wednesday we had lunch at Mei King with the OGC team as they were seeing their intern, A.J., off to return home. On Thursday we took a delightful new senior couple, Bev and Paul Roberts, to the Alte Muhle in Bad Vilbel. I got my usual sweet potato topped with curry sauce and steak strips and Bob tried a new dish of gnocci. 

On Saturday we headed for Mainz, Germany with Swen Swensen, to see the Marc Chagall stained glass windows in St. Stephens Cathedral. The cathedral was originally built in 990, and the new Gothic building was built in 1290-1335. The church was almost completely destroyed in WWII and then rebuilt with a new dome in 1962. 

A Jewish artist, Marc Chagall, created the beautiful blue stained glass windows as a sign of Jewish-Christian understanding in 1978. He completed his last window before he died at age 97. Pretty amazing!

The Interior courtyard was very pretty.

Some interesting sculptures.

Help! I think I've lost my mind.

We explored the town square and then walkd into the old town side streets.

We discovered St. Emmeran's Italian Catholic Church. It was very plain inside with a touching Christus.

We stopped at the Guttenberg Museum. It was closed, but we got to see the fabulous ceilings in the portico.

Grrrrr!

The Dom, or St. Martin's Cathedral, was our next visit. Begun in 975, the Dom is one of three Romanesque imperial cathedrals along the Rhein. The original church burned in a fire in 1036 and was rebuilt with the red sandstone starting the following year, continuing through 1239. Since then, it has endured several fires and now has had several additions. During World War II the cathedral was hit, but much remained intact. The Dom is very dark and depressing inside—probably our least favorite cathedral.

Someone else lost his mind? What's going on in this town?

It felt good to get back outside in the sunshine.

We had walked a long way and some of us were tired.

So we stopped at our favorite German Mexican restaurant, Mexico Lindo. Yes, again!

Then to top off such a fabulous day, we headed for the ice cream store. The most important thing about choosing ice cream is the way it looks.  Hmmm, which to choose?

ESPECIALLY FOR KIDS

This is the first double seater spinner we have seen in Germany, but we decided not to go on it after our double scoop ice cream cones!