Abarinhotel Baden-Baden

Featured Excursion: Strasbourg canal cruise
Optional Tour: Haute Königsburg

"See Strasbourg the way it has been seen through the centuries—on a canal cruise. In addition to viewing the town's covered bridges, medieval watchtowers and modern building that houses the European Parliament, you will see "Petite France," a picturesque district that seems as if it has been lifted from the pages of a fairy tale"

(To be continued)

... hotel is a big picture of the little prince AND apparently the rooms are decorated after different themes from the book. I didn't get to go in but someday I will definitely stay there.
I also saw my first movie in a German theatre which was really cool...I saw Up, I liked it but obviously didn't understand much. Anyway, I definitely recommend it...even just for a few hours!

Last leg of the European jaunt and we've decided to try out the Black Forest...the bad weather was the final nail in the coffin and after 3 days of dripping foggy weather, we decided to jack in the caravan and head to Octoberfest, but more of that later.

So a quick trip to a 500 yr old stud farm started by King Wilhelm the 1st, where they breed beautiful Black Forest horses and Arabs then, Baden Baden to take in the sights of this thermal spa town and ...

... guns and ammo. There was also sitting area where you could watch a film about the Natzi's. There was even a cast iron statue of Hitler buried up to his neck. It was all in German so I couldn't understand much of it. And then I walked through another door and found myself staring at a wooden plank with a hole cut in it - the toilet.

Baden Baden. Probally the most famous spa town in all of Germany. Never heard of it? Most westerners haven't. Baden Baden is located at the northern end of the Black Forest and is famous for its spas. Two specifically. The Caracalla Baths and the Friedrichsbad Baths. The Caracalla baths are the more modern of the two. Huge pools to swim in with waterfalls. Pools of varying degrees of hotness and a plethora of steam rooms, saunas and cold pool plunges. We ...

... canal and through picture perfect streets of cobblestone and 500 year old buildings and sat across from our hotel at an eatery specializing in local Alsatian food. Alsace is an odd region because of the even influence of French and German culture – especially Bavarian. We both had spatzle, the boiled noodle concoction with a spongy texture. I wanted the duck confit with pinot noir on mine, but they brought me the meatball version instead ...

I had planned to visit Strasbourg on three separate dates in the past, all with the same friend. Each time we had to postpone it for one reason or another. Today our plan finally came together. We got in a car with our men and drove out to Strasbourg. My friend is even more organized than me and had everyone download audio guides from Zevisit in our own native language beforehand. Once we got to the city we started our audio tour in ...

... to pick up my bag, and off to the train station. During my 80 minute layover in Mannheim, I realized that you could print train schedules from the self-serve terminals, so I planned out my remaining train journeys, and also bought one future ticket (certain routes are significantly cheaper if you book a week or more ahead). It was a beautiful day, so I killed the rest of the time outside - it wasn't the nicest spot to hang out near the train station, but ...

... on this train ride I had a really hard time staying awake. It was about four hours and for Germany pretty flat countryside. I had to change trains 4 times and on the last train I was getting worried I wouldn't find a seat, by the time I did it was pretty much time to get off! Baden-Baden is a pretty swanky town. It's great though to watch all these people coming off the train in their finery. It hits you immediately ...

... girl, and we rented bikes and rode to some ruins outside of town. It was on this day that I decided it's too friggin' hot in the south, I now go north.

Next I went to Metz to see my old friend Sandra Le Petit and her family (who I stayed with for the summer when I was 14). Fun fun fun. We basically just hung out a bunch, and on Sunday night we went to go see Alanis Morissette in concert in Luxembourg (where Sandra now lives). She pit n a ...