Mainz in photos: architecture, tasty train meals, street scenes and The Monochrome Set, May 2018

Located on the River Rhine, Mainz was founded as a military post by the Romans in the late 1st century BC and is famous as the home of the movable-type printing press, as manufactured by Gutenberg in the early 1450s.

To get to Mainz, we’d travelled through some spectacular scenery as the railway line hugs the banks of the Rhine for many miles.

Unfortunately, I was on the wrong side of the train so this is the best photo I could muster.

I’d definitely like to go back and explore some of the areas we travelled through as they were spectacularly beautiful.

Travelling by train in Germany can be a very civilised experience. Our train had a light and airy dining carriage serving excellent food.

Luxury!

Mainz was famed for its medieval buildings, but with more than 30 air raids destroying about 80 percent of the city’s centre during World War II, most of the historic buildings were lost.

Broken clock in a tree.

I was in town to play a gig with The Monochrome Set, and we were compelled to do a photo shoot before the gig. I’m not a fan of having my mug shot taken.

Opening in 1757 and heavily restored after war damage, the baroque pink vision that is St. Peter’s Church features a double onion dome tower façade by architect Johann Valentin Thoman.

Soundchecking at the Schon Schon venue.

The gig was reviewed by the local paper with Google’s auto-translate feature introducing some fabulously strange comments. I think the reviewer liked it. Or maybe not. Either way, I enjoyed the random comments.

Nevertheless, the band manages to convey a casual-bored attitude, that has style.

…bassist Andy Warren gives a serene Hans-peek-in-the-air… Drummer Mike Urban goes to work, he blows in. Pretty oblique, everything sounds partial…

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