This is really our only full day in this neck of the woods. Mainz is a modern city outside of Frankfurt. We had received an email overnight from our Airbnb host, Karim, Who suggested a great place for breakfast but also pointed out that there was a farmers market on in the city near “The Dome”. We find the breakfast place easily:
Recommended place
Sadly we were out “too early”, being 8:00 AM, things seem to start a bit later over here. So we depart and try to find the farmers market. Again we did that pretty easily. There were a large number of stalls in a lengthy mall type area as per below.
Well, it is time to say goodbye to Heidelberg. The following are a few photos of Ciaran’s apartment as we are ready to go.
The KitchenThe Dining Room / Work areaLounge room
We really liked Ciaran and his apartment and gave it a very high Airbnb rating.
We need to catch the train to Mainz around 12:45 and, because the weather is again stunning, we decide to leave the apartment early and go have brunch up at the Bakery which is just opposite the Taxi stand so headed up there with our suitcases. Two things went wrong (1) The Bakery is closed on Mondays (2) No taxis came to the stand. Eventually Julie goes into another shop which kindly calls a taxi for us which comes by shortly and we make the trip to the train station with plenty of time to spare.
There are some ordinaary food stands within the station, we should have gone outside where there was better choice. I got a croissant with a crappy sausage in it while Julie went to a juice stand and got some fruit salad smoothie combination.
Eventually the train comes and although crowded I manage to get us two seats while Julie stows the suitcases. We have a train change and as there is a bit of time I go try to find a loo. There is one but I walk right by it since it does not have a norml labelling. I get back to the train just in time, Julie was panicking because I was so late but I made it. It is crowded at the start, I get one of the last seats and Julie stays up above with the suitcases.
A pleasant enough trip with the train eventually crossing the Rhine which is a magnificent river. There is an electronic sign which shows the next station but it is typically one station behind so I don’t know when we have reached Mainz until Julie calls out to me.
We proceed through the station and Karim, our Airbnb host, is there waiting for us. Karim is young, vibrant, outgoing and very friendly. It is about a 20 minute walk, at my pace anyway, to the apartment and Karim puts my suitcase on his bike so I don’t have to lug it on the walk.
The building in which the apartment resides is not very special but boy the apartment is! Apparently, Karim had completely remodeled it himself to be very modern. Large in size, just like the photos on Airbnb. Further, Karim is a great host having provided fresh flowers, a bowl of fresh fruit, (Julie’s favourite) and some German beer in the fridge. He explains lots of info about the apartment, the area etc while he has a map on his Airbnb page showing highlights in the area including bars, restaurants, shops, etc.
After Karim left, Julie went out prancing to learn the area. I unpacked the suitcase a little bit, did Blog work, sat out on the balcony, had a nap, all the important things. When she returned, we decide to have a drink. She opens a 2004 Rioja that we had picked up in Heidelberg, cork was very difficut, falling apart, but the wine was OK. Julie also opened a Riesling that we had bought from the wine atrium in Heidelberg. It was quite nice.
We go with our wine onto the balcony and start searching through Karim’s locality map to find a place for tonight. We settle on Laurenz which is a wine bar with “good food”. We take off to it, around a 20 minute walk but Julie guides directly there.
There are tables available outside and we are shown to one by a very helpful waitress. We asked about German reds and after some discussion she goes away and comes back with two glasses of reds to taste. We select one and it is a good choice. She also brings us an English menu.
The Menu
Julie is initially very grumpy because she had not had a lot to eat that day and was quite hungry. She did not want tapas, which is what the menu looked like. Again the waitress was quite helpful and we ordered.
Cheered up!
The Waitresses start bringing our food, in two lots.
Salad with Cheese Truffle for JuliePork and prawn wan tans for me
I did not finish the broth but Julie lapped it up claiming I had left the best part behind. Main courses arrived and what treats they were. I had ordered loin of veal but they had run out so there was a replacement.
Roasted Bone Marrow for JulieWild Boar for me
Julie loved her marrow and also the green sorrel sauce on my boar. The cheesy thing was interesting. So after initial reluctance with the menu, we agreed that this might be the culinary highlight of the trip. Thanks, Karim.
We walk back a different way seeing a few restaurants along the way. Back at the apartment, I finish the Rioja and fall asleep in the chair, how unusual while Julie went to bed. Another day tomorrow.
BTW: does anybody recognise anything unusual about this Post? Yes, there is no mention of Salmon at all. In fact there are none of the usual TagsOops, I needed to add a Tag
The original intention about starting in a relatively small town like Heidelberg was to do next to nothing to wind down and charge the batteries. Today we make a bit of an effort at it.
A bit of a sleep in after being up a few times in the night. We decide to go out for coffee some where. We wander for a while and there is nothing really satisfactory, things are quiet on Saturday morning. It is still quite cool which makes the walk a little uncomfortable. Eventually we duck into a Hotel restaurant and are the first customers of the day.
After consideration, Julie just orders a large coffee and I order:
The Heidelberg Breakfast Part 1
We eventually make a Mimosa or Bucks Fizz out of them. Plus:
Heidelberg Breakfast Part 2Julie and her coffee
In fact, Julie ordered another coffee and an orange juice which was fresh squeezed, can’t beat that. Then she decides to go down to the Salmon shop to grab another salmon roll. It apparently does not open on Saturdays until after 11:00 but she is able to get something just after 9:00. We go back to the apartment. We swing around behind it and then down to the river with not much to see.
Julie entering the apartment.
The two large windows you see are our loungeroom and bedroom. There are two large rooms, a loo and a hallway behind these. You can see that Ciaran’s apartment is of generous size.
Julie eating her Salmon roll out in the patio of the apartment.
I have a relaxing afternoon, possibly with 2-3 naps while Julie prances around. Her main effort is in the famous Philospohers Walk. Maybe 10-15 kilometers. Some photos along the way:
A Blue Corvette, sorry Prince, not RedA group of guys with sleds full of beer for their walk
She found an organic market along the way:
Asparagus Everywhereand I mean EverywhereAlong the River
Julie comes back around 5:00 and suggests that we immediately head out to get a drink in the sun. Sounds like a great idea. We go out to the main market area where there are a lots of tables but the competition for a Keith Dunstan was fierce (sorry to most of the readers but Keith wrote an article in one of our newspapers called APITS – A Place in the Sun – for many years). We have found a nice table and settle in for the odd casual drink.
Julie in APITS
We decide, as the sun slips behind the huge cathedral, that we had better find a place to eat before the hordes overwhelm. We pick a place, Palmbrun Gasse, which we had stopped by a couple of days ago, It is very much a MMMMMeeeeeeaaaaatttt place, which is not exactly suited to JV. Neverthessless, we settle in. We are in a good spot, but there is an open window and five girls are out smoking harder than Nero’s burning Rome, after complaints they shut the window which helps a lot.
We order our meals, which is hard for Julie as there is no Davy Jones stuff available.
A complementary appetiser of a very tangy cole slawFeed the Man Meat! A big Pig’s KnuckleAll Julie could find was salad
The Pork was good with some nice crackling. The meat was tender enough that Julie could have some with her salad.
Served with fried potatoes; our red in the background. Just OK, but it was a Heidelberg wine.The spoils – could not fit it all in, even with helpJulie went for an Irish Coffee variation
Well, that was it and we hit the apartment and then the sack relatively earlier. I slept through until about 2:30 AM and got up starting to work on Blue Tooth file transfer to solve our problem about how to get files from the Phone to the Tablet. Julie got up a bit later and we worked it out, hence not giving up on the Blog that I had felt before. Back to bed and some decent sleeps.
We have been to a number of food and wine events at the Grand Hotel in Burnley, e.g. the Wednesday Duck and Pinot night, and this was a special one. Many thanks to Katie and the Grand staff as well as Adam Foster of Syrahmi wines and Foster y Rocco, with well known sommelier Lincoln Riley, who supplied all of the wines tonight.
