Baden Baden

This weekend I went to Baden Baden. I didn’t really know what to expect, having had absolutely no time to have a look and see what there was to do, so I set off with my case and a blank canvas of a mind.

And it was gorgeous. Buildings that you would see in pastel shaded watercolours stood out against the backdrop of blue sky, and tiny flakes of snow fell from the clouds like something out of a film. It was bitterly cold at times, but you almost expected it. After all, it is January.

Saturday was spent meandering around the town, stopping to eat at regular intervals. The food was varied and the atmosphere friendly, the highlight being the thirties style cafe with chandeliers and cameo wallpaper; black profiles against a cream background. The tea came served on little trays with biscuits, and the slices of cake were enormous, and out of this world.

 

 

Come Sunday, exhaustion had set in so the day was spent in the baths. For four hours you can swim inside, head into an outdoor warm pool with the steam vaporising around you, sit in the Jacuzzi or wander into one of the many grotto like rooms; salt inhalation, sauna or a steam room fragranced with vapours of essential oils. Once completely wrinkly and slightly bored or relaxing, more walking was done and ample food was consumed, this time duck with red cabbage and gratin, and of course, lashings of tea and wedges of cake.

And then the time was up. The flight home was short and Monday morning at work was a killer; a combination of the ‘what a good weekend’ blues and the fact that I was functioning on little sleep.

My wanderlust has been sparked again, only ten weeks until Portugal!