3 Perfect Days in Mainz, Germany

I have returned! I do exist! And school is over, hooray! To celebrate, we took a little tour of Germany and France. The France post will follow shortly, but we enjoyed 4 days in and around Mainz and Frankfurt. After 2 full days of exploring Mainz and one in Frankfurt, we wound up in a gorgeous historical town just up the Rhine, called Bingen. Although I wished I had signed up for an international data service plan, we were able to find some Wi-Fi...but having a map in these towns and a basic German phrasebook is key. What we loved:

Day 1: 

• From Mainz Hbf (main) train station, catch a bus to Reingoldhalle / Rauthaus (almost all buses stop here but just check the signs before you hop on. When you exit, cross the street and follow signs to the Tourist Office. This is a great place to start - you can get city maps, postcards, and the Mainz card. For 9.90 Euros, you get two days of inter-Mainz bus and tram travel, as well as free entry to all of the local museums.
• Mainz card acquired, start wandering! You'll find yourself in an outdoor mall (H&M, Zara, Geox, etc) which makes for good exploring, and there are plenty of cafes for a bite. I like Muffins or Awake (free wifi at the latter) but if you're in the mood for something heartier, Burger Laden on Quintinstrasse has great meat and veg burgers.
• Around the corner, you'll find the Marktplatz, a plaza that hosts a farmer's market on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, and otherwise serves as a pedestrian-only plaza. The market goes year-round, and there is a wine tent on the Fischtorplatz side that is quite popular in summertime.
• The giant church on the plaza, the Dom, is one of the oldest cathedrals in Germany. If you go inside, don't miss the beautiful garden within the church walls.
• Next to the church, you'll find the Gutenberg Museum, an homage to Mainz' favorite son. 4 of the original remaining 30 Gutenberg Bibles are available for viewing here, as well as an incredible history of the printed word and the revolution it brought. 
• Note: show off your Mainz card to get in free.
• Cafes around this area are pretty touristy, but we found Al Cortile (Italian) and Zum Beichstuhl (homestyle German food) on the Augustinerstrasse to be good value and great food. We learned the hard way that water is more expensive than beer or wine at many restaurants, so it was better to skip that entirely, or try a grosse Apfelschorle. 
• Finally, dessert. Ice cream shops are all over and tasty at just over 1 euro per scoop in a cone. Eiscafe Dolomite is good and serves the German favorite, spaghetti eis. If you're up for a stroll to the Neustadt (probably 15 mins walk from the Alstadt), you'll find unique flavors that change daily at N'Eis. Thus ends a great day, and you can easily hop on almost any bus to return to Hbf station.

Day 2: 

• You can hop on any bus towards town - and note, you don't need to show your Mainz card to bus drivers. Just jump on and off as needed- but keep the card handy in case you get checked.
• Head back downtown from Hbf to see anything you missed. There's a great, giant store for kids' toys (bus stop: Munsterplatz) called Der Kinderladen. Germany is noted for well-made and super cute wooden toys and this store did not disappoint for gifts for the little ones. I also like Strampelwicht for gift inspiration, which is conveniently near a yummy cafe, dicke lilli gutes kind. 
• While on the west side of town, wander through the Natural History Museum before finishing your day with a long walk up the giant hill towards St Stephens Church. 
• This was my favorite church of the many in Mainz - the beautiful Marc Chagall-designed stained glass windows, the view from the hill, and the small size all made it feel like the kind of church where you could attend a Sunday service - while still feeling quite grand.

Day 3:

Frankfurt! I will combine this day with Bingen, since we aimlessly wandered the city for a few hours, mostly in search of the less touristy areas, and spent another afternoon in Bingen.

• This post was our inspiration for starting in the Dom / Romer area, exploring a little bit of "old Germany" in Frankfurt before tackling the big city. We found it fairly touristy but charming, and after a few photos, we were ready to see the rest of town. 
• We did some window shopping on the Zeil, the pedestrian-only walkway that runs east-west. Stores ranging from Zara Home to Sarar to some yummy looking restaurants caught our eyes. Turning left at the opera house (if you're walking west), you'll find a lovely, narrow park. Good place to stop and watch the world go by - business to the west, tourist/shopperville to the east. 
• Time for a beer in Sachsenhausen, which you can get to by continuing south and finding a bridge to cross the Rhine. Then turn left. We liked the Grill Haus, on Große Rittergasse 52

• I learned later that this neighborhood shares a name with a particularly terrible concentration camp from WWII... fortunately, the neighborhood is full of charm. Lots of cafes, restaurants, shops lined the streets... plenty of parks and German rowhouses... and just across the river from downtown Frankfurt. 
• We skipped Museum Row, to the west of Sachsenhausen, but it sounded nice from the guidebook...
• We spent the rest of our day watching a live World Cup soccer game. Since that's not really an option for everyone, hop on a train westward, to Bingen! Just past Mainz, it's an historic town on the river, full of old castles, cobblestone roads, and tasty ice cream. You should be able to hop on a train at any station. 
• Bingen (Rhein) Stadt train station is much more central than Hbf - if you can, get out there and start exploring. 
• We ate lunch at a castle here, right in town. It's a hike to climb up, but you can also drive if you have a car - I'm not sure the name but if you are in town and look south and up, you'll see it. It's a bit expensive, so a budget friendlier option is to walk up, walk back down, and eat at the delicious Geniesserei Alte Wache at Speisemarkt 3 in Bingen. 
• We wandered around the main castle in Bingen, just outside of town - you do need a car to check it out. It costs 4.50 euros to go inside but it's large, beautiful, and even hosts events. After that, it was back to Mainz. 

There you have it! A recipe for a great few days exploring some towns along the Rhine and Main.