Europe Day 10 – Rudesheim to Baden-Baden
I didn’t sleep well the past two nights, so waking up was especially hard today. Once we got going we packed our luggage and headed downstairs for breakfast. The room was almost completely empty, but they had a pretty good selection for a German breakfast. They had two types of rolls, rye bread, soft-boiled eggs, two types of cheese, six different types of sliced meat, three types of cereal, orange juice, apple juice, and coffee.
We grabbed our stuff and headed to the car. The original plan was to walk around town for an hour or so before heading off to Baden-Baden. Once I was at the car, I decided we should skip it so we would have more time to look around Baden-Baden. We hopped in the car and started looking for a bank. We got frustrated after a couple of minutes and decided having money wasn’t that important. Vanessa entered our destination into the navigation system and we were off. It was a two hour drive and was 95% Autobahn. It was kind of a stressful drive. I was concentrating on the road signs, my speed, the cars around me, the cars coming up fast behind me. Once we got into Baden-Baden things got a little confusing. The navigation system told me to turn down a street that was a walking zone of the city. I found the nearest parking garage and parked the car.
We grabbed our luggage out of the car and started walking in the direction I thought the hotel was in. We got lucky and after climbing up a damn big hill we found the hotel. I noticed they had a small parking lot outside the hotel. I asked and they said could bring the car up. I still wasn’t sure how to get the car up there, but I knew there had to be a way. We headed back down the hill to find lunch and move the car. We wandered around for about 30 minutes until we found a place that looked good. We ate a hearty lunch and Vanessa finally got to taste a German pretzel (same as in America) and Apple Strudel (good!).
We went back to the car and started the challenge of trying to figure out how to drive to the hotel. We had a map of the town that showed the walking zones and driving zones, so we turned down a cobblestone street. Sure it had a sign showing a mother and child walking, but the map said it was okay. After a hundred feet and a left turn, it became apparent that the map was wrong. I snuck past some large planters while people watched, turned, and drove in reverse until I was on a small street. I was able to turn the car around by borrowing someone’s parking spot and headed up the hill to the hotel. Later I realized the navigation was right.
The hotel room did not have a television, but we knew that before we made our reservations. I had a couple of movies saved on the laptop, so we laid on the bed and watched Spiderman 2. I kept dosing-off during the movie, so about halfway through we stopped the movie and took a nap. After an hour we woke up and decided to walk around town again. Baden-Baden is kind of like Aspen (Colorado), but without the skiing. The attraction of Baden-Baden is the hot springs. Baden-Baden translated is Bath Bath. We found an ATM machine and started walking around the small center of town. It’s a really nice little town with small shops and restaurants. I guess it would be like Old Town Pasadena, but with cobblestone streets, no cars, and calmer.
After walking around for ah hour (and getting kinda lost) we found a place to eat… Chinese food. Hey, at least it wasn’t pizza. We were both a little tired of German food. The food was okay, but not great. Germans don’t use spices in their food and most of it is bland. This Chinese food was obviously made to please Germans. We have actually noticed a lot of Chinese food restaurants throughout Germany. After dinner we went back to the hotel and finished watching Spiderman 2. The movie was okay, but I head so many great things about it, I guess I expected more.
A couple of other things about Europe: In Europe the first floor, is our second floor, the second floor is our third floor. The ground level floor is does not count as a floor. In Germany the pillows are square (about 2 feet x 2 feet). This is kind of nice and kind of sucks. It’s nice because you can fold them to get them thicker. It sucks, because they aren’t that thick to start with. All of the comforters are thick down comforters. I guess it’s more mainstream here, because it gets so cold. Last, I have yet to see any bed larger than a double. If you do find a larger bed, it is always two twin bed mattresses put together. I’m not sure why, but I sure would like to know.
We grabbed our stuff and headed to the car. The original plan was to walk around town for an hour or so before heading off to Baden-Baden. Once I was at the car, I decided we should skip it so we would have more time to look around Baden-Baden. We hopped in the car and started looking for a bank. We got frustrated after a couple of minutes and decided having money wasn’t that important. Vanessa entered our destination into the navigation system and we were off. It was a two hour drive and was 95% Autobahn. It was kind of a stressful drive. I was concentrating on the road signs, my speed, the cars around me, the cars coming up fast behind me. Once we got into Baden-Baden things got a little confusing. The navigation system told me to turn down a street that was a walking zone of the city. I found the nearest parking garage and parked the car.
We grabbed our luggage out of the car and started walking in the direction I thought the hotel was in. We got lucky and after climbing up a damn big hill we found the hotel. I noticed they had a small parking lot outside the hotel. I asked and they said could bring the car up. I still wasn’t sure how to get the car up there, but I knew there had to be a way. We headed back down the hill to find lunch and move the car. We wandered around for about 30 minutes until we found a place that looked good. We ate a hearty lunch and Vanessa finally got to taste a German pretzel (same as in America) and Apple Strudel (good!).
We went back to the car and started the challenge of trying to figure out how to drive to the hotel. We had a map of the town that showed the walking zones and driving zones, so we turned down a cobblestone street. Sure it had a sign showing a mother and child walking, but the map said it was okay. After a hundred feet and a left turn, it became apparent that the map was wrong. I snuck past some large planters while people watched, turned, and drove in reverse until I was on a small street. I was able to turn the car around by borrowing someone’s parking spot and headed up the hill to the hotel. Later I realized the navigation was right.
The hotel room did not have a television, but we knew that before we made our reservations. I had a couple of movies saved on the laptop, so we laid on the bed and watched Spiderman 2. I kept dosing-off during the movie, so about halfway through we stopped the movie and took a nap. After an hour we woke up and decided to walk around town again. Baden-Baden is kind of like Aspen (Colorado), but without the skiing. The attraction of Baden-Baden is the hot springs. Baden-Baden translated is Bath Bath. We found an ATM machine and started walking around the small center of town. It’s a really nice little town with small shops and restaurants. I guess it would be like Old Town Pasadena, but with cobblestone streets, no cars, and calmer.
After walking around for ah hour (and getting kinda lost) we found a place to eat… Chinese food. Hey, at least it wasn’t pizza. We were both a little tired of German food. The food was okay, but not great. Germans don’t use spices in their food and most of it is bland. This Chinese food was obviously made to please Germans. We have actually noticed a lot of Chinese food restaurants throughout Germany. After dinner we went back to the hotel and finished watching Spiderman 2. The movie was okay, but I head so many great things about it, I guess I expected more.
A couple of other things about Europe: In Europe the first floor, is our second floor, the second floor is our third floor. The ground level floor is does not count as a floor. In Germany the pillows are square (about 2 feet x 2 feet). This is kind of nice and kind of sucks. It’s nice because you can fold them to get them thicker. It sucks, because they aren’t that thick to start with. All of the comforters are thick down comforters. I guess it’s more mainstream here, because it gets so cold. Last, I have yet to see any bed larger than a double. If you do find a larger bed, it is always two twin bed mattresses put together. I’m not sure why, but I sure would like to know.
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10:37 AM
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