Mainz, Germany was very special to me as a child. I would spend my summer vacation visiting my mom who used to work here. It was a little bit like a different planet for a kid from Poland in the early 90s… stores filled with food, sweets, clothes and toys; beautifil parks with just the greenest grass; pools and playgrounds, theme parks! Everything was a novelty and the excitement would last for a very long time… more than the summers. Now, our children could also experience it themselves.
Yes, we did go to my favourite ice cream place that has been there for at least 20 years now (sidenote: “Mozart” flavour is the best!) and where as a child I tried speaking German for the first time… This time there was a Pole working there so I didn’t have to sweat out my already-pretty-rusty German.
Mainz, the city of Johannes Gutenberg, the brilliant guy who invested a fortune in proving his novel ideas and invented the printing press. The visit to the Gutenberg museum is well worth it. You can see the very first book to have been printed–the Bible, as well as the tiniest book in the world. Kaj fell asleep, but not because it was too boring, but rather he was tired from trying to climb the roof of the museum with his scooter beforehand.
The city’s park (Stadtpark) and the Volkpark right next to it are where, together with my brother and cousin, we would jump elastic game for hours on end (a game that only Poles of the 80s generation or older are probably familiar with). This was a novelty for the locals who literally wanted to jump in at times. I still remember though that being at the playground with a zip line was a special treat for us. And it is still there now!!! They added a water splash zone that made our children really happy!
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