Gutenberg’s Revolution Updated

The Gutenberg Museum is located in Mainz, Germany. Folks recognize the name as associated with moveable type printing and the Gutenberg Bible. 

My own association is a little different. Because of my interest in social media, I associate Gutenberg with the history of a technology allowing more individuals access to knowledge. Internet access is often described as an updated historical opportunity. In addition, this new technology expands what was once a very limited opportunity to express oneself to the real chance to write something viewed by others in all corners of the world. This blog would be an example. Books I have read such as Gutenberg the Geek and From Gutenberg to Google draw this comparison in making the case that recent advances in technology offer opportunities of world changing significance.

The following images are from our visit to the Gutenberg Museum

Churches and castles - II

 We are moving through a 40 mile section on the Rhine which has 28 castles standing on the banks of the river. The river has always been active as a way to move goods and many of these castles once allowed medieval owners to require payment for passage up or down the river - something like a toll road. The following are some of the stills I took while I sat on the upper deck and before I got too cold to continue. I have some video, but my connection is too slow to upload and I will have to add at a later time.

Wine Country

 We spend the morning in Cochem, Germany. This is wine country. We have been traveling through wine country for several days now, but this is the first time we have visited a winery and had the opportunity to listen to the vintner talk about his craft. 

Cochem is located between the 50th and 51st parallel. The Canadian border  in North Dakota was the 49th parallel (I happen to know this because of the k.d. Lang album “Hymns of the 49th parallel.). Wines need heat. The secret is in the sun facing slopes and in the slate pieces that are common in the soil. The slate warms in the sun and then gradually releases this heat into the soil as the day cools into night.

The slopes are so steep most harvesting must be done by hand. We were in Cochem as the harvest was just beginning. The work must be very physically demanding because of steep incline and like harvesting of so many crops seasonal migrant workers play a significant role. Poland provides much of the labor. 

Riesling grapes are the main variety grown here and I can attest that the wine is very good. The vintner purposefully works to produce a wine that is about 10% alcohol which is low for wine. We were surprised that the price was as low as it was - about $12. I can’t imagine paying that in the U.S.. The vintner said that he could not ship wine to the U.S., but wine could be purchased to be taken home.

Churches and Castles - 1

What I know of the history of the United States didn’t prepare me for the scope of the history of the places we have visited in Europe. The guides describe locations with walls or parts of buildings dated to BC. Part of these lengthy histories are related to the different groups that have conquered and then been reconquered over the centuries sometimes leaving buildings and sometimes destroying and then rebuilding on the same locations time and time again.

Reims Cathedral

The Reims Cathedral [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reims_Cathedral ] in the City of Reims dates to approximately 1200. It was the church used as the location for coronation for the Kings of France. The cathedral is technically owned by France, but it is designated as Catholic. This separation of church and state allows the state to take on the responsibility of maintenance and I assume is the reason it is regarded as an official historical site and functions as a tourist attraction. 

A couple of things to notice in the following series of photos. The Cathedral bears the marks of the wars that have damaged it over the years. The pock marks in one of the images was from artillery shrapnel from WW1. There are several stained class windows that are very impressive. The one I selected was included here an interesting reason. In the middle toward the top of the window you may see a monk in what may look like a science lab. You will probably know the monk’s name.- Dom Perignon. This monk developed the process for champagne which remains so central to the prosperity of the region.

Bandwidth

 We are on our boat. I am encountering an issue I had not anticipated. While we do have Internet access, it is provided through a satellite connection. The upload speed is painfully slow. I am guessing it is phone modem slow. Text is not a problem, but images and movies are a big challenge. I have found ways to transfer images between devices, but there seems no easy way to quickly upload a photo to Blogger.

This is a test to determine if I can get anything to work and to let folks who expect me to post regularly to have an idea what is going on. I am trying to create a post with one photo to see if that will work and how long it takes. I am keeping notes on our daily experiences and if the worst case scenario proves to be what I am up against, I will post with text when there is something interesting I can convey in text and add photos and movies when we are again in a hotel. 

Here goes nothing.

Cafe Culture

Paris has a great cafe culture. There are Starbucks, but the local shops obviously have the advantage of ambiance and are preferred. Most cafes are small with ample outside seating. I did not see many folks writing or reading, but we are probably are in more of the tourist areas where the patrons intend to have an expresso and watch the locals walk by. We took a bus tour this morning and drove by what the guide described as the “intellectual district” located near the Sorbonne. The driver just kept going. 

One thing I have noticed is that the atmosphere of the cafes is very relaxed. There is no time limit or pressure to finish your coffee and free up a table. I have yet to figure out how to get the attention of a server so we can pay and leave. They don’t take your card here. They provide your bill and after you have time to examine it, they return with a mobile reader. I don’t need a lot of time to review a bill written in a language I don’t understand, but I have figured out that charges are printed with apostrophes and not decimal points. I just want to offer my card so we can move on.

Arch of Triumph

We just reached Paris. There were no intermediate stops between here and Minneapolis so it was an efficient trip but still a long time in the air. We took a short nap but just enough to get us to the end of the day so we could try to shift back to our traditional schedule. We are tired.

The Arch of Triumph was a 15 minute walk from our hotel so we decided we could make it that far to generate a photo for today. Most folks have seen photos of the arch, but if you visit everyone needs a photo of their own. 

Here is mine and for extra measure a closeup of one of magnificent stone carvings that decorate the pillars.