Neither of my destinations, Mainz nor Heidelberg are included in RS guides, ah well they were both wonderful, in different ways. (Thanks to KGC, Russ, Nigel, & Ms Jo for ideas for this trip, Tammy for sharing her ideas on Heidelberg, and to Jean for super-light packing inspiration.) I didn’t have time to get to Trier, but have plans for it next time. The plan - meet an English girlfriend at FRA and spend 2 nights in Heidelberg, as she’d never been to Germany, & I added the first night in Mainz, (based upon many recommendations from the Forum) and because it would be easy back-and-forth to FRA, I ended with 2 nights at a German girlfriend’s house outside Frankfurt.
I downloaded the Deutsche Bahn app & linked it to a US credit card, very easy and really useful. Especially for planning for alternative trains when either we screwed up (once) or trains were late (once). I used Apple Pay occasionally when I remembered. There’s more use for cash than I expected, smaller lunch places that only took cash, & Chagall windows at St Stephan's church to buy anything, for instance. I bought 50 Euros at FRA airport at a Deutsche Bank ATM, using Bank of America debit card that has reciprocity, no fee.
I bought a new Samsonite, super light and small 2-wheeler, easy to get around with and carried about 6.5 KG, 14 lbs, including my iPad. (packing report here. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/packing/packing-report-for-sunny-skies-6-nights-in-germany)
Mainz- My main interest in Mainz was seeing the Chagall windows & visiting the Gutenberg museum.I flew from ARN to FRA (no jet lag, yay!) Since I arrived Sunday early afternoon, I prioritized the museum and then saw the cathedral and Chagall windows at St Stephan's on Monday, when museums would be closed. Would have liked to see the Regional Museum, just wasn’t time on Sunday. Easy train ride with only 2 stops from FRA, exited at the smaller Mainz Römisches Theater station (thanks for the advice on the Forum) & walked 6-minutes from train to the Hyatt hotel (used points, another yay). Went straight to the Gutenberg Museum after dropping off my bag, so I could browse a bit & watch the printing demo, (every hour on the hour except 1PM). The demo was GREAT, and more interesting after downloading and watching a documentary by Stephen Fry about Gutenberg.https://youtu.be/n-jkS5qOWS8?si=zwVEz5ArDc-tYfPm. Do you know how paper was made in the Middle Ages?? I stayed quite awhile at the museum & happened to have a nice chat with the director in German about how great the museum was, especially the erudite man who gave the print demonstration. (I recognized her from the documentary.) I find I just enjoy places more when I have some knowledge of what I'm seeing.
Mainz was reasonably busy on Sunday pm, just didn’t feel like dealing with it so opted for relatively quiet bar at Hyatt, not cheap but E40 was worth it to sit quietly, delish club sandwich, sparkling water & a VERY good glass of dry Riesling. Walked 13,000 steps first day.
On Monday I had a leisurely cafe breakfast at Werner's Backstube, (seriously this is really why I travel!), went to the cathedral briefly, (it was OK on a ‘cathedral scale’, sorry but after Rome I might be biased.) on way to AMAZING Chagall stained glass windows at St Stephan’s, opened at 10AM. I had read that Chagall, a Russian Jew, who began designing stained glass in his 70’s, gave this as a reconciliation gift to the German people after the horrors of WW2, what a mensch, I was sincerely touched. They only accept cash for audio guide & postcards, I just had enough money to pay for the audio guide, which was excellent. Got there as they opened, spent almost an hour moving around to different pews enjoying the glorious windows. I may have seen 5 tourists by the time I left, perfect timing I picked up my luggage back at hotel & walked down the street for lunch at Misaki sushi, it was reasonable and good service... To be continued...