Travelogue 1995 / Episode Ten

Travelogue Deutschland 1995 / Episode Ten

Thursday Morning in Zavelstein
Today, we woke a bit earlier since we were scheduled to visit the city of Baden-Baden, with Martin's friend, Heiko. I mentioned to Martin that Heiko almost sounded Japanese or Asian instead of German He was surprised about my observation, and agreed he had just never thought about it that way. Martin, Matthias' [his little brother] and I got ready for the day and began the drive to Heikos town called Emmingen, about half an hour from Zavelstein. We arrived at his house around nine or so, and he jumped into the car with us as our expert guide. We began the sightseeing with a stop at a dam along the Nagold river, that runs through the Black Forest. We stopped and saw the large lake created behind the dam. Later, we stopped at another point in the river [where it was much narrower] and hiked down into the valley to the river and skipped stones across it. We spent about a half hour enjoying the quiet valley.

On to Baden-Baden
Our next stop was the city of Baden-Baden, a favorite place for the high society of Europe to visit. We parked several blocks from the citys center, and started the tour of Baden-Baden with the rose garden. It was a beautiful place with a multitude of rose varieties planted everywhere. I know that my mom would have enjoyed it thoroughly. There was a corridor that led from the rose garden to the central part of the city, along a narrow creek. It ran through a large, man-made cement basin and was populated with several families of ducks.

Baden-Baden Casino
Soon we arrived at the park where Baden-Badens big draw was located the Casino. It was not quite the same as a casino in Atlantic City or Las Vegas [at least from the Baden-Baden brochure and Heikos description] but more like a casino that James Bond used to visit in his movies in other words, no one-armed bandits. The casino did not open until two, so the lobby outside the main entrance was vary quiet. Past the casino, there was a souvenir shop and mineral water tasting building, which we visited the water was heated from what is called a Therm, a type of well that is low enough in the ground to be heated by the earth. The water tasted a bit sulphury and strange, unlike cooler water from mineral water wells. After the visit to the shop, we began a tour of the old portion of the city,walking through narrow streets that reminded me very much of Marburg. We climbed up the hill past an old church, to the new castle, built in the eighteen hundreds. When we attempted to enter the castle, we found that it had been purchased by a private citizen and was now unavailable for viewing. On our way back to the car, rain began falling pretty heavily, forcing us into a small cafe for a break. After our break there, Martin borrowed an umbrella from the owner and retrieved the car.

To the Top of the Mountain
We drove to a parking lot and left the car, walking to the entrance of the tram. This tram climbed an almost sixty degree grade up the side of the mountain. It was a bit odd to be climbing such a steep grade in an automated vehicle. Soon we arrived at the top of the hill and walked to the turret at the top it was built in the late eighteen hundreds and now housed a huge radio antenna. The door was open, so we began the climb to the top. Of course when we arrived at the there, we could not see anything because of the fog in the valley.

Back Down Again
We decided to get a little hiking in and save some marks by walking back down to the bottom of the hill we later realized this was a mistake. The walk took about forty minutes along wet, gravel roads leading down. I was pretty happy to be back to the car.

Visiting a Horse Racing Track
Heiko wanted to show us the other popular attraction outside of Baden-Baden the horse track. It was very close to the border of France, probably to attract French residents to the area. The track was open, so we walked in. It was quiet except for some workers across the road that were setting up additional areas for viewing the upcoming race on Sunday. One thing that seemed different from horse racing tracks [that I could remember from TV] was that the track itself was grass and not dirt, like those in the States.

Dinner in France
There is a region in France just over the Rhine river called the Alsace famous for a dish called Flammkuchen. Heiko knew of a little restaurant, in a small town over the border, so we followed his directions there. Well, it had been a while since Heiko had been to the town, so we wandered on small roads for a while. We eventually did find the place after some sightseeing and it was a nice little place. We were worried that the owners and waitresses wouldnt speak German, though they did. It made things a lot easier. Dinner took a while to come, since there were quite a few other diners there, but it did eventually come. The flammkuchen was good [Flammkuchen is almost like a pizza, a round crust that is very thin, grilled on a skillet and then topped with cheese, tomatoes, etc.] and quite different from anything that I had tasted before. In fact, we liked the one for dinner so much, we ordered an apple flammkuchen for desert!

Back to the Black Forest on the Schwartzwald Hochstrasse
Well, after dinner we began the trip back to Zavelstein on the Autobahn, then switched to a road through the Black Forest, called the Schwartzwald Hochstrasse or Black Forest Highroad. I was a bit apprehensive about taking the winding road on a foggy night there were some tight corners, but we kept the rubber side down all the way back to Heikos house. After dropping Heiko at his house, we continued on to Zavelstein and arrived there around ten. I was pretty pooped after all of the touring, so I found my bed and made good use of it. Tomorrow, its off to Esslingen and then Bad Uberkingen for Andi+Karins wedding.

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