May 19, 2012

Today, we spent the day in Mainz. City life is so different from our experiences of Germany. It was Market Day and all was busy on the Hauptstrasse. We arrived around noon and at a small brotseit and watched people at the fountain. Then, we began to walk up and down the smaller corridors, looking into shops. Hunter’s favorite included a three story toy store. He found Ninjago and all the toys he is familiar with. We allowed him to pick out one toy for later that evening. Around 3:30 pm, we met up with Chris’ colleague Stephanie. It was great again to have someone fill in all the gaps with my German understanding. She took us to a mall that had been built atop ancient Roman temple ruins. It looked kind of like an episode from Indiana Jones. Again, Hunter was enthralled. We then, went to dinner at a traditional Mainzer Gasthaus. Chris wanted to thank Stephanie for all she had done to set this up. We dined for three hours and were some of the first to leave. We sat and ate out under a large Chestnut tree. Stephanie shared her experience when she came for a semester to Pfeiffer to work. I forgot to mention, we parked at the University, where Chris taught. He briefly showed us around and then we hopped buses to downtown, about ten to fifteen minutes away. So, in the evening, we hopped a bus back to the school and then drove home to Ketsch. Hunter liked the bus riding experience! Oh, Germany FC Bayern Munchen lost in penalty kicks to Chelsea. So, no celebrations in Deutschland.