And they're off!

     We left Charlottesville at about 1 PM Friday afternoon, and arrived, via Charlotte, at Frankfurt Germany at 7 AM on a rainy gray Saturday morning. After navigating the sprawling airport towards the train station, we took the 501 InterCity Express train to Baden-Baden. The ride was smooth and quiet and lasted about an hour and a half. Our Mercedes taxi, the standard cab in much of Germany, dropped us at the Hotel Rathausgloeckl ("city hall bell-tower"), in the shadow of the Stifskirche, around 11 AM.

Our room wasn't ready at that early hour, so we checked in with Oliver Asel, the friendly and garrulous owner, and left our bags at the desk while we walked down the 42 steps to the center of town. Our first stop was for cappucino and fabulous croissants at LaScala on the Leopold Platz, and momentarily revived, we explored the winding, hilly streets for a couple of hours until we could walk no farther and so retired to the hotel for a shower and a nap.
After that short respite we hopped up, showered and headed out the door to explore the town for another couple of hours. We stopped in at a local cafe for a beer and some high-quality people watching, then walked back to the hotel. 

We began our evening in the weinkeller downstairs, where old Roman bath ruins are still visible (the mineral springs under Baden-Baden were first known to the Romans 2000 years ago). The barman Christophe was just opening up and gave us a hearty welcome, and we enjoyed his company until our dinner reservation - early at 6:30, at the hotel restaurant. 

There has been a restaurant of some sort at this location since the 1600s, and the old recipes have been revived in the present-day restaurant. Excellent sausages, spaetzle, potato soup (comfort food for the traveler), and of course kraut, filled us up and were a perfect introduction to the food of the region. 


It had been a long couple of days, and by 10 we waddled upstairs and hit the hay.