The focus of these turns is going to be on infrastructure buildup, assuming we still have a window of peace.
Inherited turn - For some reason it's turn 24. So I guess turn count went back to normal. The empire looks mostly good, but Manz is working unimproved grassland. I switch it to forests for now. (If you have to work unimproved tiles to grow, at least use grassland forests.) This triples the city's production capacity. I also move from grassland to forest at the capital.
Note: Bavarian leader is annoyed with us already. (-4 for trading with enemies) That could cause problems. Perhaps we should convert him to Christianity.
I also notice that scout costs 3 times less than a missionary, but I'll hold off on training either for now, because I want to get the forges up ASAP.
642AD (turn 25) - Mainz Granary->Forge(24). Worker goes to mine Copper, because we have enough happiness for now, but need production. Worker at Cologne roads the Iron mine. (Iron is already connected by river, but it's better to have a road there anyway, in case we need to defend that hill. And the worker is already there. I will not go back to road coal mine, but when worker is already on a hill or a forest tile, we might as well spend the time to build road in case we'll need it later.)
644AD (turn 26) - Hestral Granary->Forge(24).
Borders of Mainz expand, allowing us to meet Saxon leader, who is also annoyed. That Saxon border next to Mainz is a little too close for comfort. I wonder if we should gift a tech to that guy just to improve relations, open borders, and convert him.
646AD (turn 27) - Worker from Cologne goes to build a cottage for Mertz.
648AD (turn 28) - We see a barb warrior south of Hestral. Where are those Papal Pikemen we were supposed to be getting?
650AD (turn 29) - We meet Chiperic, who is cautious with us and has only 2 cities. Gungoband reaches our Favor rank, with 43 Favor. (We have 48.)
Capital Worker->Forge(13). The farm is given back to Mainz, which can now be reconfigured to work both quarry and mine and still grow quickly, bringing its Forge's ETA down to 9 turns. This wil be sped up further by a later whip.
652AD (turn 30) - There is now a Barb border north of Cologne. I also notice that Mainz has higher production potential because of more hills and forests. Mainz is already up to 10 production, and I'll build another mine after Winery is complete.
654AD (turn 31) - Cologne Forge->Monastery(3). This should get us up to 50 favor.
656AD (turn 32) - Capital can now hurry Forge for 2 pop, which I do because it has low production and the two citizens to be killed are working grassland forests. Mainz can also hurry forge for 2 pop, and I do it because the city is at the happy cap and has an insane food surplus now that Winery is ready. In fact, I might give the farm back to the capital to enable more whipping.
658AD (turn 33) - Capital Forge->Library(14) (Should be whipped too.) Mainz Whips its Forge. (I forgot to do it last turn.) It turns out that tiles diagonally from the river aren't connected to it, so the road in forest north of Hestal doesn't connect it to trade network. I build another road west of that forest to fix this.
660AD (turn 34) - Cologne Monastery->Barracks(3). This will make sure at least one of our cities can train military. We also finally can Open Borders with Saxon leader, which I do. I had opened borders with the other guy I met the moment I met him.
Notes:
1. Capital can whip Library, which I recommend we do, because it has lots of food, little production, and library is the most expensive building available anyway. There is huge happiness surplus now that Forge is completed and Gems and Wine are connected.
2. When Capital regrows its population we can hire scientists for an academy.
3. Mainz will probably make a better production capital than Cologne. Now that happiness cap is much higher, it doesn't need to be whipped any more.
4. Hestral is not working its mine, because it needs to grow. Perhaps we should make some farms to enable it to work the mines.
5. One of the workers is left unmoved. I suggest either cottages for Cologne, mine for the capital (if you don't want to keep whipping it), or farms for Hestral.
PS I think we should convert Bavarians and Saxons as soon as possible. Perhaps replace the Barracks at Cologne with a missionary. I am very worried about them, and converting them will make our borders much safer, in addition to giving victory points.
We even picked up a city at basically no cost too. If only the barbs could have founded on one of my dotmap locations, eh? 
I'm posting this from my laptop, which runs just fine - only problem is that the laptop doesn't have nearly good enough specs to run Civ4, let alone the expansion. So... you're going to have to skip me for the moment, until I can get my computer fixed again. That's a major disappointment, since I really wanted to play these turns. 
But I'm not going to put the game on hold until my problems are solved either.
