January 8 - Black Forest

Smart Car in front of Hotel - Our big van in background

 After breakfast in the hotel, we set off for Germany about 10:30 AM. We got off the autobahn and drove toward Freudenstadt. As it was nearing the "cut-off" hour for lunch (2 PM) we stopped in the small spa town of Bad Peterstal at the Hotel Adlerbad. The dining room was very "gemutlich", and we had a nice lunch. Mary and Mike had beef broth with pancake strips (flaedli) and tried a local specialty - maultaschen (pockets filled with a paste which we could not identify - only that it was made from fowl and meat), Ron had potato soup and salad, Pat had potato soup and a delicious pork schnitzel with fries. We all shared in the fries, which were piping hot and so good!

Tureen of potato soup

Flaedli soup

Maultaschen

We chatted with the owner, who said the hotel was 500 years old, and has been in her family for five generations. One of the employees called our "landlady" in Baden-Baden to let her know about what time we would be arriving. 

We continued on the Schwarzwald Hoch Strasse - through the mountains ranging in altitude from about 800 to 1,100 meters, passing several ski areas and mountain hotels. It was terribly foggy and made for a very tense drive.

Along the Schwarzwald Hoch Strasse

Arrival at our apartment in Baden-Baden was not easy either! The road to the apartment was very narrow and blocked by two trucks. We had to wait for them to move, and we had to pull in the side-view mirrors. The parking garage was underground, and the van BARELY cleared the height of the doorway.  We located the parking spot marked with Familie Luthardt, but it was very tight and Mike got out and guided. He is becoming an expert. We took up two spots, thinking because we had two apartments we would have two parking spaces. However, as we were wandering around trying to figure out where the entry to the apartment was, the owner of the second spot drove in and promptly informed us we were in his space. More maneuvering. There was a support beam in the middle of the space, and you can see below how little clearance there was. As I realized from my inquiries, there was an elevator from the garage up to the apartments, so transporting our luggage wasn't a big problem.

Our van - tight parking spot

Baden-Baden is a famous and elegant German spa town, known for its thermal baths since Roman times. It is located on the edge of the Black Forest. There are many luxurious spa hotels, and the grand casino is over 200-years old. The opera/concert hall is the second largest in Europe. The city rose to prominence in the 19th century and was a favorite with royalty, politicians, diplomats, artists and celebrities. The Russian author, Dostoevsky, wrote his novel "The Gambler" here while gambling away all of his wealth. The famous Lichtentaler Allee, along the River Oos, is the site of the Kur Haus and Casino, and has over 300 varieties of trees and plants. There are still major bath facilities here offering all manner of spa treatments, massage, sauna, swimming pools, etc. But, as we Americans are modest (some say Puritanical), we did not wish to participate in the Kur, as the dress code is: Nude. By the way, the German health care system still pays for its citizens to experience the Kur - a sort of de-stressing which sometimes include special places for breathing fresh air, as well as the spa treatments. Don't know the rules about how often one can take advantage of this.

Frau Luthardt and Dutch neighbor, Herr Van Neil

Our living room

More of living room

Kitchen

Bedroom

We settled the paperwork and payment for the apartments, and Herr Van Neil explained various "points" such as how the rubbish needs to be separated for recycling. He also mentioned how expensive Baden-Baden is, and suggested one particular restaurant where locals go and prices are "more reasonable". After we unpacked and rested we set out to walk into the Kur Park area.

Municipal Theater - Built 1860 in the Baroque style of the Paris Opera House

The restaurant did not have a table available, but told us to come back in 30-minutes, so we did some walking. The Rizzi was very chic with beautiful decor. Pat and Mike shared a flammkuchen, the most famous dish of the nearby Alsatian region. It is a rectangular piece of bread dough, rolled very thin, generally with a white base of fromage blanc or creme fraiche - no tomato base (a good thing to my taste) - along with onions and lardons, and is baked in a wood oven.

Restaurant Rizzi (recommended by Herr Van Neil)

Flamkuchen - an Alsatian thin crust kind of "pizza" 

Ron's Wienerschnitzel

We took a taxi back to our cozy pied-a-terre. The apartment is very comfortable and well-equipped. Unlike many places in Europe, the lighting is very good, especially for reading. Frau Luthardt left us a lot of fresh fruit, and even a bottle of gluhwein.