Baden Baden

“So nice they named it twice”

Baden Baden has been a holiday getaway for wealthy Europeans for centuries. It is most famous for it’s spas with mineral-rich healing water and the casino where most of recent history’s famous and powerful Europeans have played. Indeed, Dostoyevsky is said to have lost the very shirt on his back under the chandeliered ceilings of this famous casino.

To get there we had to drive an hour into the Black Forest. Twisting roads, trees so dense no sunlight reaches the ground and adorable German cottages enchanted us on the way in. The city is no less charming. Cobblestone streets, fancy shops and outdoor cafes complement rolling hills and castle ruins in the distance.

We started our exploring at the Trinkhalle, where for hundreds of years the wealthy have come to drink the healing waters of Baden Baden and return home cured of various ailments. Perhaps it was the healing waters, perhaps it was the two ibuprofen I took, either way, my flu symptoms disappeared for most of the day.

We moved on to the casino, strolled tree lined shopping streets where old lady shoes retail for upwards of 200 Euro, sat in churches with vibrant stained glass windows, rested in the spa lobby (that water trickling sound always reinvigorates me), hunted down the castle (which turned out to be closed for three years of renovations), wandered through mazes of gardens and made sure to always drink the hot mineral water we found bubbling from fountains throughout the city. To top off the day, I bought a piece of real Black Forest cake made in the Black Forest, probably my most shameless tourist act since I arrived.