Baden-Baden

After our one night in Heidelburg, we drove on to Baden-Baden.  Baden-Baden is known for the warm springs in the area and their healing properties.  Anyone that knows Jeff and I, knows that we are suckers for warm springs so we had to check it out.  There are several fountains around town where you can drink the spring water out of.  They say it’s the elixir of youth and has healing properties.  Having just entered my 30’s and having the bad cold, I was willing to try anything.  IT’S NASTY!  The water is warm and a little salty and full of minerals.  Gross!  But I drank about 200 milliliters of that liquid, and I don’t think it stopped my aging but my cold did get better over the next day or so.

 I think what really helped the cold though, was the Roman-Irish bath that Baden-Baden is so famous for.  There are two bathhouses in Baden-Baden, the one where you wear clothes and the one where you don’t.  We chose to go to Friedrishcsbad, the naked, bath and on Sundays its co-ed.  I was a little bit nervous being completely naked around so many people, but it only took about three minutes to get used it or maybe its because you are so relaxed.  You move from room to room and through dry warm hot air and into steam baths and different pools of water and showers with pure thermal water.  The temperature changes between the rooms and pools are deliberately coordinated  to beneficial; after a sharp increase at the beginning where they cook you in the dry rooms, the temperatures gently drop until the cold water immersion bath at end.  The cold water was a bit shocking at first, but kind of made your skin tingle and actually felt good once you were out.  All the rooms either had hand painted tiles lining them or beautiful Roman statues or carvings.  In most of the pool rooms, the ceilings were domed and let in natural light.  We spent about three hours there and left feeling completely relaxed.  

In the park in Baden-Baden

Drinking the nasty water in hopes of getting rid of the colds

Drinking more elixir of youth at a different location

Dirty 30 birthday in Heidelburg

Last Saturday was my 30^th birthday.  I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it there for awhile…. Popsie had shared his head cold with my mom and I and it was a bad one!!  My ears wouldn’t ‘pop’ and I could hear my voice echoing in my head plus copious amount of snot!  But I made it, barely! 

We celebrated with a nice dinner in Heidelburg.  The Germans make this wonderful potato noodle called spatzle that I have fallen in love with.  You can put in with cheese, fry them up with onions, or like I had for my birthday dinner, pour gravy over them.  Yum!! 

The next day we wandered the marktplatz with its wonderful cobblestone streets.  There was a little debate among Jeff, my mom, and I about exactly how much time was too much time spent window shopping.  To Jeff any time shopping is too much time, where my mom and I could spend hours.  We have all agreed to comprise in the future (which basically means we’ll plop Jeff down at a table with internet and a beer or ice cream while the ladies shop). 

We wandered around the Heidelburg castle on top of the hill and enjoyed some beautiful views of old town.  In the castle, there was the German Pharmacy museum.  Jeff fully embraced his profession’s history and said it was epic! 

Jeff getting ready to give us tour through the Pharmacy museum

Trying to figure out how to make pills and not just count them

What does an alligator have to do with being a pharmacist?

Your jacket Mr. Smartie Pants Pharmacist

Brass monkey statue downtown Heidelburg.  The saying goes if
you touch his fiinger, you will return to Heidelburg, if you touch the
mirror he is holding, you'll be blessed with wealth, and if you touch
the mice at feet you'll be blessed with fertility.  I don't know what
it means if you stick your head in his head.

Wandering the martkplatz

View from the castle overlooking old town Heidelburg

Garmisch

What a week!!  My parents took the train from Amsterdam on Monday to meet us in Munich.  We rented a mini van that of course Jeff has fallen in love with.  It’s a stick, it’s a diesel, it’s a van and I don’t think it could get much better than that for Jeff.  So we braved the autobahn south to Garmisch, which is right on the Austrian border and settled into a cute little guesthouse, Zum Raasan, for the night.  We woke up to amazing view of the Alps out of our window and a wonderful breakfast spread of meats and cheeses and fresh croissants (between the four of us, I think we ate 10 croissants, what a bunch of piggy Americans!).

After breakfast, we jumped into the car and drove an hour east to Fussen, where the famous Schloss Neuschwanstein is.  There are actually two castles, Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau, within walking distance and we decided to take the double tour.  I have been to Neuschwanstein as a kid and remembered bits and pieces of it; like the swan sink in King Ludwig’s bedroom and the huge kitchens downstairs.  King Ludwig started construction on Neushcwanstein in 1869, worked on it for 17 years, completing only 16 of the 120 rooms, living in it for only 172 days before he was found drowned in a few feet of water.  Schloss Hohenschwangau, the little castle, was much richer in history. It was the Bavarian Royal family hunting lodge and has a much more ‘lived-in’ feeling than Neuschwanstein.  Both castles were amazing and unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take pictures inside, so you’ll just have to take our word for it!

We left Neuschwanstein in a downpour and were soaked through and hungry.  We stopped a what we determined was the German Walmart and picked up some bread and cheese.  There was a little cart in the parking lot that was selling roasted chickens and we sent my mom (since she speaks a little German) to order a whole chicken for dinner.  Earlier in the day, we all had a conversation that at least we could tell on menus what was pork by the word schwein, so I guess when my mom ordered a schweinhocken from the guy we shouldn’t have been surprised that when we open the bag in the van that it wasn’t a roasted chicken, but a roasted pork hock instead.  I don’t know if she’ll ever live it down!

The next day, after we stuffed our faces at the guesthouse, we went to the highest peak in Germany, the Zugspitze.  We rode the Eibsee-Seilbahn cable car to the top, which was a little scary!  We stayed on top for several hours, Jeff had to go climbing around outside the safety area, and we took the cog-train back down.  It was an amazing day with  beautiful blue sunny skies and we got some amazing pictures.  After we came back to Garmisch, we wandered around town and I found my cuckoo-clock! Its really cute with a little dog on it and a German girl who rings a little bell at the top when the cuckoo comes out.  I love it!  Jeff had the lady show him were the off button is in case the cuckoo drives him crazy!!

On Thursday, we checked out of the guesthouse and did some hiking in the Partnachklamm, a narrow 700-meter gorge.  We first walked along a path at the bottom of the gorge and at times it felt very cavernous.  We walked back along the top of the gorge and the path lead us into the German country side.  There was a beerhouse in the middle of the hike, where we stopped and had a couple of cold ones.  The Germans combined two of Jeff’s favorite things, hiking and drinking beer!

We dropped Popsie off at the train station so he could begin his journey back to Sitka.  Mom is staying with us for several more days as we travel into Heildberg and Baden-Baden.  We’ve been trying to up the blogspot more frequently but internet access continues to be a problem, so we’re doing the best we can keeping it updated!

Cheers!

J & t

Stuffing our faces full of awesome German food in Garmisch

View of Neuschwanstein from the little castle Hohenschwangau

Us on top of the Zugspitze vistor's center with the German Alps in the background

Having beers on top of the Zugspitze



Me on top of world, inside safety areas



Jeff on top of the world, outside the safety area

My cuckoo-clock that I found in Garmisch

Gasthof zum Rassen where we stayed in Garmisch, our favorite lodging so far!

J on the path along the gorge Partnachklamm

Along the Partnachklamm

Beer garden on the German countryside along the hike

Having a few cold ones!