My stay with the family Dorfmüller in Mainz was completely charming. Sara and I headed out bright and early one Saturday morning to visit a family that was very familiar to the Cuhls. The mother of the family, Andrea, went to primary school with Anke. With Sara and Anke's combined descriptions of Andrea an her family, I was very excited to see what would meet us at the end of our trains rout. The father, Hans, is a very relaxed lover of life. He often wore button down shirts, raggedly unbuttoned. Barefeet. A glass of red lazily decorated his left hand. With his white hair, receding hair line, I wouldn't say he was handsome. But he does display a ragged joy that I enjoy seeing in the people I color my life with. We talked about sail boats and jazz, cooking and drinking all the while.
Their two daughters were a very precious mix of their parents. The elder, Henrietta had just finished Gymnasium and was merrily accustoming herself to freedom. The younger, Anna was still in full throttle of her Gymnasium years with two left. Both were very sweet. Anna showed a lot of her fathers energy and Henrietta was fully in admiration of her mother's European style of life.
Andrea was a total sweetheart, very practical yet loving. I could easily 'figure her out'. She had great love for her family, and politely told me that she is VERY European and loves her European ways. She opened her house and family completely to me and it was a beautiful experience to meet such a lovely and warm family. I've met so many this trip, it's hard to say which was the greatest, so I'll briefly state that one must have certain comfortability with themselves and life style to show and have hospitality, and I greatly appreciate it when people are able to show this.
The town of Mainz is wonderful. It greatly reminded me of Washington DC. A fairly large 'town' describes it with the dignity it calls for. The town is built around, not through the beautiful trees and numerous Roman ruins. Mainz bears comfortable class. There's nothing in the town that is calling for one to act stuck up, merely a call to enjoy. With the 5th largest university in Germany situated gently in Mainz, the area glows. The first thing Henrietta, Sara and I went to visit was the Guttenburg Museum. Fixed in the center of old town, the pedestrian center of Mainz, the Museum finds itself surrounded by many young people. The Market was in full bloom this lovely Saturday morning.
In the Guttenburg I became astonished by learning more and more how the printed word affected History. One learns that the real interest of literate people throughout the ages has been philosophy. What I loved most about the museum was seeing the gorgeous hand decorated artwork on the pages. Seeing the progression of the printing press to what we have now, with simple three second printers was incredible. Those who aren't in the area of printing wouldn't normally see printing as an art, but it truly is. What people print is the knowledge that they want to share with the rest of the world. It's the piece of themselves that they think important enough to share with others, and that venerability, in my eyes is beautiful. Although, coming from the girl who's in love with writing, that makes sense. l
