Relaxing in Baden-Baden

9/19/17 Tuesday
We woke up around 8:30am. We got dressed leisurely for a change, which was fantastic. We contemplated the hotel’s breakfast, but opted instead to just get outside and figure it out. We found a little bakery just down the street, in the alleys we had explored the previous night around midnight on our way in. Fatih Markt is the name of the bakery. We ordered a kaffee and tee. We picked out a random snack bar. While the coffee was being made, I decided to order a slice of…something. I don’t know what it was, but it had cheese and spinach in a puff pastry. It was pretty tasty, whatever it was. We purchased our goods and stepped out to wander around on foot while we worked on our coffee and tea. We spotted a pretty tall hill and a little hidden staircase going up it. Hoping for a cool view, we made our way up the stairs, which zigged and zagged across the hill all the way up. At the top, we were afforded pretty good views but it would have been better if the weather were clearer. It was a lovely stroll all around the hill, and back down around the other side. We were lucky to stay mostly dry the whole time, because right about the time we got back to the hotel, it started to rain. Perfect timing! We relaxed a while in the room and sorted some upcoming travel plans; buying train tickets and picking places to stay and whatnot.

It seems we are following this little bird.

The view of Baden-Baden from the top of our small hike.

​After we were all square, we set back out on foot. We made our way to Friedrichsbad, a Roman-style bath, which is just up the street. Once there, we checked in and paid for our three hours stay. We found our way to the locker room and put all our clothes in. Then, we found our way to room #1, which was an awesome shower. The water actually felt heavy, there was so much of it raining down. From there, we went to a series of saunas, steam rooms, pools, and showers of various temperatures. Each of the 17 stages had a specified amount of time to spend in it posted on the wall. At the end, when we were feeling good and relaxed, we were to jump into a frigid pool “rapidly”. That part was brutal, but then we got to wrap in a warm towel and dry off. Once we were dry, we lubed up with lotion and were lead to a quiet, dim room. Here we were wrapped up by staff like burritos on a bed for a half hour nap. We heard the church bells ring out at 5:45 and 6pm. Then there was a song or something shortly after 6 on the church bells. We don’t know, but it was a lot of ringing. After the nap, we moved to a reading room where we relaxed a while longer and drank some tea. By about 6:30, we were feeling somewhat hungry, so we put our clothes back on and made our way back out to the street.

Bridge over Oos River, which snakes through the town.

Vom Foss liquor store where you could sample everything.

We changed our clothes and our gear back at the hotel. We picked up a train ticket that the Hotel Quellenhof Sophia reception had graciously printed for us. We set back out in search of dinner, unsure where exactly we’d go, but comforted by the fact that there are about a thousand restaurants within walking distance here. We ended up at Bistrorante Café Lifestyle. We opted to sit outside because even though the weather was chilly, they have blankets on all the chairs. I ordered a hefeweizen half liter. I ordered a Riesling. We opted to split a pizza Romana, which had prosciutto and salami. All of it was very tasty. We were thankful for the blankets as the night grew dark and the air cooled off further. While we were finishing up the pizza, a light rain began to fall, and so we were thankful for the umbrella over our table. It did not rain long; after we had finished and paid (die rechnung, bitte!), it was dry again. We wandered around the now empty streets to take some pictures. Rob was still hungry, so we were also looking for an after dinner snack. Pretty much everything was closed by 8pm, except for restaurants, so we gave up the search and wound our way back to the hotel to make some phone calls before bed. After chatting with family a little while and making some more travel arrangements, we fell asleep around 11:30.

Goodnight Baden-Baden.