Blogs from Baden-Baden, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, Europe - page 2

We left at 5.00am in order to make sure that we had ample time to get to Dover to catch our 8.15am ferry, allowing for predictable road-works and other “issues” on the M25. Respect to Sea France in that they sent us a text letting us know about some road-works on the M20 so warning us to allow some extra time to get there. In the end we got there with plenty of time to spare, which meant that we needed to sit in our “lane” and wait until the ferry arrived. There was also an added bonus that the tolls for the Dartford Crossing do not start until 6.00am, so it is free up until then. I know it was only £1.50, but since we crossed the bridge and got to the toll booths at ... read more

woke up this morning to the alarm around 845, but dozed off again to wake up around 930. was super tired after the marathon day yesterday and not getting to bed till around 130 - latest night of the trip by far! i also managed to smash my right thumb in the bathroom door and woke up around 3 with that throbbing so bad i had to take some advil before i could get back to sleep. today the bottom third of the nail is a nasty purple. hope it doesn't fall off! lol anyways got up and went for hotel breakfast, included of course. croissants, breads, ham, cheese, cereal (with warm milk ugh), coffee, tea, juice, yoghurt. the usuals and ate heartily. forgot to bring my bag down so no stealing for lunch hehe got ... read more

Saturday the 11th of July 2009 Distance: 96km ! hours: 7! HAd a big Breackfast We Biked towards Bacharach where a monument wherre Bluchers army crossed for the battle of waterloo (I wouldnt know that if it wasnt for the teachings of Mr Brown) we had to massive Spagghetti icecreams at Bingen that were massive and delicous went to Inglehiem and biked up a massive hill Like kellands hill but way longer to go to the Aurope folk festival i a castle ruin. It was really expensive and there was no avaliable acmmadation anywhere. wrongly Dad dcided to go to Mainz to find some accomadation instead of staying in a little village. we went to the station but the information was closed we found where the Youth Hostel was but it was really far away uphill. ... read more

Today we left France to visit the Black Forest of Western Germany. Germany was much more beautiful than France and the hotel and restaurant we toured was very nice. We received a tour of the hotel, which managed to blend the local atmosphere with a modern twist. The hotel had many of the same features the other hotels we had visited possessed, but it also had a kids play center and even provided cooking classes for its guests. The tour of the restaurant was interesting as it showed the back of the house of the #1 restaurant in Germany. The restaurant has on 12 tables, and a chef for each of those tables. The service I received in the restaurant was hard to compare to what I received in Switzerland and France. Comparably it blew most ... read more

If there were a place that I can be stranded for few days during this trip, I wold pick Baden-Baden with no second thoughts. I love its elegant streets with unique boutique shops (perfect for window shopping). It has a very classy building, Kurhaus, that housed its famous casino. The building was inspired by Palace of Versailles. Its interior decor is also very elegant, quite different from those neon lights in Vegas. Trinkhalle has a long entrance hall decorated with nymphs and romantic legends about the Black Forest. This is where we sampled Baden-Baden's rich mineral water. Oh, boy, it was warm and it tasted "funny". What I love most about Baden-Baden is the abundance of hiking/running/walking trails. We took a "mini Black Forest" hike to the Altes Schloss (old castle). Initially, the hike was quite ... read more