Baden-Baden

I had 2 days off so I decided to drive to Baden-Baden for the night. It took about 2 1/2 hours to drive there. Baden-Baden is in the Black Forest (trees so thick they call it black) on the border of France. Baden-Baden is Germany's grandest 19th century spa resort. There are lots of hot springs here so, lots of spas. It was THE spot for the rich and famous of 150 years ago. It is still very elegant and beautiful. Lots of very fancy cars, ladies in minks, top, top end stores. The travel service on base got me a room at a very, very fancy and luxurious hotel for a pretty inexpensive charge. It was amazing. Very grand, very "Life of the Rich and Famous." After the army hotel for a month it was quite a treat. I got to Baden-Baden in the morning and spent hours walking around. There are beautiful parks, lots of shops and department stores, restaurants and outdoor cafes. Baden-Baden definitely has the French influence in ornate buildings with wrought iron balconies and in the food. It was so wonderful to have good French food! I even got vegetables (other than cabbage) and mushrooms! It was wonderful. There are 2 spas here besides the ones in the fancy hotels. One is the Roman Irish Bath. It is very elegant and old. Built 120 years ago. It is all nude all the time. Co-ed. I had to do it. You go through a whole routine. One room, shower, another room, shower, pool, sauna, shower. It was incredibly relaxing. The pools are different temperatures and different mineral makeups. Then, I went to the spa next door. It is modern and all glass like the one I had been to near Schweinfurt. It was nude only in some parts, mostly it was suits. Lots of different pools there too. One had these jets that made the water move strongly and rapidly and it went around in a large circle. So, once you got in the stream it was like being in a strong river. So I just rode it around for awhile. It was really fun. The original bath is just a ruin - It was used by the Roman soldiers. There is so much hot water just under the ground that the flora around there is very lush. There is also a spigot in town with hot water coming out. People believe you should drink it to heal what ails ya. No thanks. Actually they believe that the mineral water heals different things. So, you go to your doctor and get a perscription for a certain spa. Then the government insurance pays for your spa stay. Later I went back to my hotel and had this warm oil head massage treatment thing. It was wonderful. The girls in the massage part of the spa were very nice. I noticed in the restaurants and in the spa that the young folks who speak English tend to answer "Of course," rather than yes. It must have been a phrase used often in their English class. Now when we say "Of course," there is often and unspoken "duh" behind it. I don't think they mean that, but then they may. For instance, I said, "Should I hang my robe here?" and she says "Of course." Is she thinking "you idiot" - hard to say. she may be. But, it happens all the time. The spa in the hotel was very fancy. After my massage the girl who gave me the massage asked if I would like to use the pools and the rest of the spa. Sounded good to me so she said she would show me around. Well, there were pools and jets and waterfalls. Then she took me to this other part where there were saunas, steam rooms, aroma rooms, rooms with special lights. It was beautiful and empty, then we went around another corner where the showers were and there were all these naked people! You would think that I would be used to it by now. But it still is sort of shocking. So, she said take your suit off and put it in this cubby and take your shower and then use the different rooms. Well, I felt kind of committed but to tell you the truth I had had enough of the naked thing. Men and women walking around like they had clothes on. So, I got in the shower and decided I would go into this steam room where no one else was. So, I am in there and then I hear English! There are 5 American buisness men in the showers! That was just too wierd. These German folk that acted like this was norman was one thing, but American men! No thanks. So, I grabbed my towel and made my way back to the showers as the Americans moved to the sauna. The fact is Germans just have different attitudes about the body. It really is no big thing for them. Even in the spa with suits they have a more comfortable attitude with the body. Americans, even if in a bathing suit environment like Hawaii by the pool will put on a cover up, towel or shorts to walk 5 ft. to sit at the bar. The Germans walk over to the cafe in the spa in suits - no cover up. I sort of carried my towel and tried not to wrap it around me. It is just different. In the fancy hotel in Baden-Baden you have these big fluffy terry bathrobes. And people walk around in them naked underneath. They are on their way to the spa, but still, we Americans probably wouldn't do that. After I booked my massage the lady told me to come back in my robe. I said "In my robe with nothing on?" "Of course!" Then she added that it is better for me and will help me be more relaxed. I don't think so. I was a little nervous about the thing flying open or something. On the American modesty scale I am on the very little modestly end of the scale. On the German scale I am in the prude area. Most of my friends wouldn't even make it onto the German scale.

I think a main difference is that we equate nudity with sex and they don't. And they seem to be into sex. The ads and posters in town are very sexual. Also, they seem to be into porn. The hotel in Baden-Baden had about 16 TV stations. Two in English-CNN and BBC, one in Russian (the Russians own lots in Baden-Baden including some big fancy hotels and signs and info are in Russian) one in French, Al Jazerra (sp?) a couple in German and several old American shows (McMillian and Wife, the David Hasslehoff one and a couple of others, dubbed in German) and then 4 hard porn. I was flipping through the channels and then, Hello! oh my gosh! It wasn't even child protected or anything.

After the spa experience I decided to go to the Casino. The casino entrance was about 60 feet from the front door of my hotel. Good thing because it was hailing out. Everything seems to cost something here. You have to pay the lady in the public bathroom, public parking always costs a couple of bucks, you even have to pay a buck 5o to use a shopping cart at the market! So, it was no surprise that I had to pay $4.00 just to go into the casino. It was elegant, grand and quiet. (Think James Bond) No one would yell "yipee" even if they won big. Lots of very elegantly dressed people in there. Even in the slots area it is very quiet. The machines don't make much noise and the people whisper!! It is very different from our casino experience. I found it kind of boring. And I lost $40.00 Euros really quickly. So, I went back to my room. It was fun to lie in my bed of feather pillows and luxurious eiderdowns and listen to the hail outside. Then it started to snow. It was lovely.

Then, this morning I got up to a fabulous breakfast (included) It was so nice. Since the weather was pretty bad I decided to leave Baden-Baden and head back to Schweinfurt. It snowed the whole way home. I found it kind of fun. But gnarly a few times on the road - which leads me to my next blog - More On the Autobahn.