Tour Day 3: Elegant Baden-Baden
We arrived in Baden-Baden in the morning and were dropped off by Jeff at the Casino for a guided tour. After our tour we were given our room assignments, dropped off our luggage, and set out. We enjoyed some cake and coffee and wandered amazed around an awesome grocery story before spending our afternoon strolling along the Lichtentaller Allee enjoying the scenery and relaxing pace. We even found an elderly home where Deb said when the time came she would like to be. I told her I would do my best and that we would even be willing to move closer to make sure she was being treated well:) In the evening our plans were to drink wine on Deb's balcony and relax overlooking the little square below our hotel, but it was raining pretty hard. We had to settle for enjoying the beauty of our room while listening to the rain and drinking wine.
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The entrance, our room, the view from Deb's balcony, and our bath in Baden-Baden (Bath-Bath).
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Baden-Baden's Casino
The casino of Baden-Baden occupies a building called the Kurhaus and is the same as when it was built in the 1850's, so is of the elegant old-world variety. We were definitely not in Vegas! Our guide took us on a tour through the rooms inspired by Versailles and which honored French royalty who never came here. Other French came to gamble here though, as at the time gambling was illegal in France and Baden-Baden was just over the border.
Kaffee und Kuchen for Lunch!Germans do not eat heavy desserts after dinner as we do. If they are going to have dessert in the evening it is usually fruit and parfait. They eat their cake in the middle of the afternoon. Think of it as a sort of German version of the British afternoon tea without the formality. After the casino tour and dropping off our bags in our rooms, we wanted something to eat but not a full lunch before our afternoon activities. Just down the street from or hotel was Bockeler, a cafe. Perfect!! We took our time looking up and down the rows of the many amazing cakes they had and eventually decided on three we all wanted to try. Deb and I ordered some coffee's and we dug in once our cakes arrived! This round of choices included a raspberry, honey custard, and a pumpkin/chocolate confection. All were so good and we had a relaxing time taste testing and chatting. We had our Kaffe und Kuchen time whenever possible on our tour, whether we were in Germany or not.
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Strolling Along the Lichtentaller AlleeAfter our cake lunch we decided to take a stroll along the Lichtentaller Alle and the River Oos. Back in the day this would have been the lane along which to see and be seen. We just wanted to admire the scenery and relax. We walked all the way to the Abbey at the end admiring the houses, gardens and bridges along the way as well as a rose garden that would have been at its' peak about a week or so later than we were there. We also strolled back and came across a bird crouched low over the water. As we were musing about what kind it was it unfurled its' wings and in an instant had caught a fish! It was so cool to see it do that! After gobbling it down we watched it for quite a bit longer patiently waiting for another bite to come along, which did not happen, before continuing on our way.
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One of the beautiful bridges over the River Oos.
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These Are a Few of My Favorite Things!
I loved the cafe where we had our first Kaffe und Kuchen in Germany, the grocery store just down the street from our hotel that had an amazing selection of quality items, our stroll along the Lichtentaller Allee, and watching a bird catch a fish!