Travel Diary

Baden-Baden

After a morning change of trains in Carlsberg, I finally reached Baden-Baden, my long-awaited destination. I was rather hungry that morning, so I stopped at the café and had a crème brûlée pastry with a cappuccino. I spent some time there at the café and then found the bus (Line 201) into town. Reaching the city center, I exited the bus and begin exploring. In time, I finally reached the baths. I had a little time to kill before they opened at nine o'clock, but I was anxious. At 9 a.m., I went inside and bought my ticket.

The clothing for the baths is simple—naked. If you can't get over this custom, you simply don't go inside. I knew what to expect. Still yeah, I suppose it's a little awkward, but people just keep their eyes to themselves.

The spa is very clean. The first thing you do is take a hot shower. The nice thing is the showerhead is about 12 inches in diameter. It's like standing in a thunderstorm of hot pouring rain. The feeling is unbelievable. From there, you enter a dry sauna that isn't too hot. After a while there, you enter a really hot sauna. It's like tanning in 115° weather. Afterwards, they have a wet sauna, and after that is super hot wet sauna, where if you stand up on the highest step, you can't even breathe through your nose. These saunas were mostly empty. Apparently, not a lot of people go there at nine in the morning on a weekday, or was it Saturday? It's funny, but for my two weeks in Europe, I rarely knew what day of the week it was. That's the way to travel. I did usually know the time though. When you're in a new country every so many hours, you learn to keep track of the time.

One thing did happen in the hot sauna. I noticed someone splashing some liquid from a large bowl up high. When he left, I decided to step up there and examine the liquid. It looked like soap. I rubbed a bit of it on my arm. It even felt like soap. But a few minutes later, my whole arm was burning. (Hmm...I don't think it was soap.) It might have even been chlorine or something. I don't know, but it stung. Fortunately, there was a shower nearby. In fact, each room in this place had a shower. You showered before and after each room, I think. I wasn't sure of the protocol, but my arm was burning. The water was free so I indulged frequently. Heck, it rained so much in Europe, I would not be surprised if it was a crime not to use a lot of water. After showering, the burning died down and finally went away. Lesson learned. Don't try that at home, or at Baden-Baden. Strange liquids are not to be rubbed on one’s arm. I can laugh about it now. But what was I thinking? Heh. No, seriously, it was pretty naive. But still...heh.

After the saunas, there were warm spas. None were boiling hot, but only warm. I spent some time in there and then headed for the next section. Here they had a cold pool which was supposed to be entered for only a minute.  And I soon found out why--it was freezing cold! (If you do swear, please substitute "freezing" for whatever suits you best) But I wasn't going to chicken out now. I immersed myself quickly, and exited even faster. Next they had warm towels. That was nice, but I noticed all the spa sections were done. I still had an hour and a half left. I wasn't going to leave that early. I asked if was okay to start over, and I was told it was, so I went all the way back to Section 1 and spent more time in the spas and saunas. The second time around, I skipped the cold pool. (I was not going to have my last memory be a freezing one.) [Misty ice-water colored memories? No, scratch that. Even I won't make jokes that lame.] In the final area, they wrap you up in blankets and let you rest in a quiet room. It's rather nice and makes you very drowsy, but I couldn't let myself fall asleep because I was already close to the time limit.

When the time came, I got dressed in the locker room and exited. It was a good experience. It was why I went to Baden-Baden.

After the baths, I explored more of the city. The north part of town had a large hill extending back into some woods, so I climbed it and found some large grassy paths to travel down.  I also discovered an old large manor, which looked deserted. Heavy iron gates kept people out and it definitely reminded me of some 19th-century gothic novel setting, complete with heavy vines and ivy climbing up the gates and walls.

I also received a short pardon with the clouds. It wasn't much, but it definitely changed the lighting in my pictures. Shortly after, the sun was gone again. The reprieve was short-lived. My friendly rain/sleet/snow cloud was back to play with me more.

Traveling back down into town, I found some quaint streets to explore. I also headed south and got some great shots near the casino. The town seemed like a wonderful place to be in the summer, where you could enjoy the warm evenings and stroll around the gardens or the many bridges over the small stream. It's a romantic town, to say the least.

After time, I headed back into the city center for one last beer. I also noticed that I had lost my attachment to my tripod. That was unfortunate, but there was nothing I could do. I would now be holding my video camera by hand or balancing it precariously on ledges. The weather was crazy. It was quiet and still one moment, and then pouring down hail the next. Yeah, go in the summertime. You'll be glad you did. There’s nothing romantic about cold, hard hail. Try it in the winter and your relationship will end faster than a Seinfeld spinoff.

Finally, I grabbed Bus 201 and returned to the train station. From there, I took the evening train to Geneva.

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