Baden Baden

Isn’t it great – I worked for one day and then back to the traveling gig! This am Mom, Curt and I piled in the little Jetta and set off for Baden-Baden. It is mostly known for its bathhouses and casino. Two hours into the journey, Lola (the GPS), sent us up a pedestrian street to get to our hotel. It is so much easier to ride the train in Europe because parking spaces are sparse and costly. After a bit we found a spot and the hotel, Hotel Colmar on Lange strasse. It was a cute hotel at first glance and right on a busy street. After meatloaf sandwiches we set out to explore.

Right down the street was the Trinkhalle which is beautiful from the outside but just has a TI, café and ticket office inside.

The view from the hall back on the houses and mountain covered in snow was beautiful.

A few steps away in front of the Kurhaus casino was a christkindlmarkt which spent up a bit of our afternoon shopping around. A jaunt thru town led us by the baths and back to our hotel. Baden Baden is a great place to watch fancily dressed people parade around or shop.

A break was in order before dinner at a Chinese restaurant. I got some really spicy fried rice that I couldn’t eat but I had some of Curt’s buffet  Afterwards we thought we would try our luck at the casino. According to Rick Steve’s we didn’t need a passport to go to the slot machines in the basement. This was a lie, indeed we did need a government issued id so our military ID worked but not a drivers license. The entry fee was 1 euro each but we were allowed in free.
So we didn’t really last long at the slot machine. I just don’t get excited about dropping tons of coins in a machine and watching it disappear. So instead we shopped our way home and to bed.