Wiesbaden & Mainz, Germany

Day 6 Helene In Between River Cruise: Wiesbaden and Mainz

WIESBADEN

Our final day of our trip started with a morning walking tour of Wiesbaden, Germany. Wiesbaden is an old spa town with thermal springs, historic charm, and is known for their wealth. We saw the Kochbrunnen hot spring fountain, had lunch strolling through the markets, and I had some amazing gingerbread.

Mainz

Final stop of the trip was the afternoon in Mainz, Germany. Mainz is famous for being the birthplace ofÂ Johannes Gutenberg, the man who invented the modern printing press. I really loved the markets in Mainz. Unfortunately, we had a lot of rain in the afternoon but luckily there were shops to seek shelter and also the market had some large barrels with seating for cover. I had my final chimney cake of the trip and had some hot lillet. I was surprised chimney cakes were not as popular at Germany markets as they are in other European holiday markets, they are my favorite market treat. I also stopped in a shop that seemed to be a family owned store who happened to sell Longchamp bags. I ladies were so sweet and seemed like it may have been multi generations of women from one family. I had purchased a bit too much on the trip and wanted to bring home my market mugs so to distribute the weight better, I purchased a larger bag to use as my personal item.

We headed back to the boat for dinner and a champagne farewell toast. We arrived in Cologne the next morning to fly home for holidays.

I flew premium economy each way for my longest journeys this trip and I am glad I did. The extra space gave me more comfort and ease to be able to work on my ipad. After losing my luggage on the way, I was grateful it made it all the way home in great condition. It was my first long trip since purchasing the Lojel luggage set and they worked perfectly.

This was my first river cruise and while I really enjoyed the luxury of the ship and not have to continue to pack and unpack, I do feel like you are at a disadvantage with time. Some locations we could walk to and from the ship to maximize the place while we were visiting and other ports we had to take a bus to and from our destinations which limited our time so we could set sail. I usually enjoy waking up early on vacation to go out and explore the city before everyone else is up and about.

Helene and Michael were really sweet and I would go on a future trip with them. We were so lucky with the weather on this trip although, I was hoping for the magical holiday moments that I had in my 2023 European Christmas market trip but it was still great!