Mainz, Germany

Our first day in Germany we picked up our rental van (that was a story in and of itself), checked into our Airbnb and headed to the Gutenberg Museum.  It's the oldest museum about printing.  It had some of Gutenberg's presses and original printings and the illuminations done are so fun and individual.  It had every type of printing from European to the different Asian kinds. One of my highlights was seeing the books with chains on them.  Apparently books were so valuable that the libraries had to chain them on a rod so that they couldn't be stolen.  Another was the fad of tiny books.  There were miniature presses and binding materials to make books the size of doll books.  I was marveling over the skill it would take to make something that miniscule and a guy said over my shoulder, "Just imagine trying to read it."

 

They had a printing demonstration, and had all the step by step instructions on how to print with wood blocks, metal plates and with acid washes.  I learned two of those in college, and the fundamentals of them sure haven't changed.

 

We got to the museum later in the afternoon and caught the last tiny bit of a food market.  We had bread and cheese for breakfast/lunch.  We weren't sure what kind of cheese it was, but it had flowers in it.  That was different.

My Dad had come here as a young missionary and wanted to share.  It was extremely neat, and the beginning of a lot of language immersion for all of us.  When I came to Germany years ago, most everyone I met spoke English.  But half of the army bases have been closed down and passed on to the German people... and along with that, fewer English speakers.  Dad and Seth both speak Germany and between the two of them we were able to comfortably get places.  Seth met quite a few Turkish speakers while in Germany too. He would greet everyone in the language that he'd hear them speaking and they were delighted to talk to him in their own language.  Once he met a guy while we were out touring and invited in for tea... he declined.  Then when we found this yummy Turkish place to eat, the same guy was in there hanging out with the owners.  They gave him some tea as a complimentary offering for a new friend.  We eventually got around to the Mormon conversation.  They were not too surprised when we said no coffee or tea, but when we said no alcohol... the entire restaurant about had heart attacks.  In Austria, we came across mostly Arabic speakers (which he also speaks)... and Spanish speakers (which both of us speak).  In Switzerland, mostly people from India... who mostly speak English.  It was fun to learn pieces of German and it was fun to hear Seth talk to people everywhere we went.

 

You could tell that a lot of refugees had immigrated North.  It was kind of a neat symmetry.  The country that once drove people out and killed them now opens their arms and welcomes them.  My cousin Eric explained once that the staunchest Nazi followers were driven out of the country and the normal people were left.  There's even a colony of German Nazis in Brazil.  Who knew?

These were benches out in the courtyard to sit on.