Leaving Hiedelburg early and gathering our bags from the storage locker at the train station we made or way to the platform bound for Mainz. We were off to meet with friend we hosted in Australia via Couch Surfing a web based community of international travelers who open their doors to fellow travelers for free accommodation.

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We were really excited to catch up with Nina & Hans and even though the train was moving faster that anything we have back home it couldn’t move fast enough.
Arriving at the station to greet us was Nina and her father, Hans was back at the house with the family. Nina explained that as they only arrived home the day before from their one year global journey, all the family from across Germany were there to welcome them home with a surprise party. We were in for a special treat. Meeting both Nina and Hans families – Brothers, Sisters, Mothers and Fathers
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Dropping our bags on a bedroom already set out for us we mad our way downstairs to meet and talk with the family. Meeting with them all it seems we have just made a whole lot of new friends and and felt privileged to be part of this special family gathering.
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As Nina and Hans had a meeting we walked down town and left them to their appointment. We planed to meet up with them later in the day and view more of the sights.

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The city of Mainz is simply breathtaking, there is a strong mix on modern and classic and Both Elena & I feel we could comfortably live here, Elena even mentioned “lets rent an apartment here next time” so we will be back.
Full of land and cobbled streets, we stumbled onto an old church, St Augustine. Going in and viewing the fresco painted ceilings  we were in awe of the beauty. As Australia and New Zealand are such young countries we have nothing like this back home. Signing the guest book with “Be still and know that I am the Lord” we quietly paid our respects to ones passed on and meandered back onto the street.

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Elena was so happy when she spied a handbag shop (just our of shot to the right above) I just waited and took in the view. Its strange, but I don’t mind here taking her time when you have such beautiful views to take your mind of things.

After transferring what we men call “junk” to her new bag and placing her old bag in the rubbish bin we set off again, we passed by the bin an hour later and the bag was gone, some luck homeless person has a bag from Australia and Elena has a bag from Europe, everyone is happy.

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Meeting up with Nina and Hans we walked by the River Rhine that passed through the city and into the modern quarter. This city is Awesome! Hans took us to the Gutenberg Museum when we watched children making pressed images the way the founder of the modern printers would have created then all those years ago.

Nina wanted to take us to a shop that she loves and hadn’t been there for over a year (because of their journeys) The Gummy Bear Store, so many choices but we just had to buy some for the journey on the train the next day.

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Heading back up the hill toward their home we chatted about the great times we had shared in Australia and promised that this was the beginning of or friendship and departing tomorrow was not the end.
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 Mainz, you’re a beautiful  city we want to live in and we will be back, really enjoyed meeting new friends here.