Max, my friend from middle school in the US, lives in Baden Baden, and he invited many of his friends including his long lost American friend to his home to celebrate his 22nd birthday. I of course agreed to visit, giving me a chance to try out the Deutsche Bahn system again, and to my belief, not everything ran on-time. In fact, my late train out of Tubingen got me to my next connection 10 minutes late causing me to miss every following connection that I had, (a total of 3). I ended up spending 3:30minutes traveling to Baden-Baden when in reality the distance is only 60km the way the crow flies. However, the wonderful black forest is really what separates Baden from Wurtemburg in Baden-Wurtemburg, thus making the journey so much more picturesque, yet longer.
Baden Baden can best be compared to Aspen, Colorado, or some other elite town nestled inside a valley of mountains. Aspen is probably more pretentious and more picturesque, and definitely more isolated, but Baden-Baden offers its visitors enough to look at.
Once I arrived in Baden-Baden, we head straight for Max's house, but Max sort of made a car tour through the town on our way home passing famous places like his old gymnasium, or the Brenner Hotel, or the Lichentaller Allee. Once at home, we started to get accommodated, and our first task with Max's other friends (Richard, Ricky, Ruben and Johannes) was to make a couple salads, since we wouldn't have time on Saturday (the day when everyone was supposed to come). So we peeled 50 potatoes for a gargantuan typical German potatoe salad, and I peeled carrots for another salad with a genuine carrot peeler that must of been from the middle of the last century, but made in Germany, so therefore still useful and German engineered to work and withstand time.
Later on, we all went for a walk around the city, and marveled in the wonderful weather. Stopping at an Italian Gelato Cafe, we got some ice cream, and most people watched as we walked over the tourist filled streets. Baden-Baden is quite a small city, but with the amount of tourism the city gets, the number of shops is numerous. Baden-Baden is also famous with the Russians, and they are plentiful here. Somewhat discouraging to see old Russian women wear clothes the really shouldn't, or to have stores closed because some wealthy Russian wants the store to himself, but it supports their local economy, and so it is welcomed.
Describing what Baden-Baden looks like is quite difficult. It has a very French European feel to it, and that is not surprising given that the town is only 10 km from the Rhein and so has much French influence. After our excursion through the city, we prepared ourselves for dinner, which was in FRANCE at a Flammkueche specialty restaurant, yet since we going to pick up Till (remember from Dusseldorf last weekend) at the train station on our way back into town, and then head straight for the casino, we had to dress up according to the rules for entry. (See pictures below) Doesn't it look like we are ready to go to prom or something?
Going to France was great for me, as i could much better understand everything that was being said, but as always, when along the border, especially in Alsace which once belonged to Germany, inevitably, German is still widely spoken by everyone. I have a flammkueche with mushrooms, onions and bacon. The service was typical french, and we sat outside for the evening. I kept think it was going to rain because of how ominous the sky looked, but to my luck it didn't. We also ordered a dessert flammkueche (sort of like how there are dinner crepes and dessert crepes) with apples, cinnamon, and carmelized sugar which was very good, and I drank french lemonade.
Later on after picking up Till, we all headed to the casino in Baden Baden. Inside the luxurious building, we all gathered at the entrance and paid our way in (4 euro just so that visitors don't walk it to look around). However, my driver's license was not enough ID or actually wasn't considered valid government ID so I wasn't allowed in, as well as Till who didn't bring his ID card, only his furherschein or Driver's License. So luckily, I avoided spending my Euros and thus everyone went with us to to the Trinkhalle. However, since the casino is such a landmark and many of Max's friend had come down from Darmstadt to go, Till and I were left to sit at the bar whilst the others went to gamble. When they came back later, undoubtedly, they had lost their money (20 euros each), and I heard the same story, that they had won a bit, but then lost it all later.
At about 1:30am we all decided to head back to Max's house where to our surprise we found Max's parents up who wanted to have drinks with us. So we all sat down in the living room, and proceeded to have a very intense conversation, but as you may imagine, I was so tired already and my brain just couldn't take anymore German, so I decided to go to bed.
(BY THE WAY, I'M SORRY THAT THIS POST IS SO LONG... SOMETIMES I HAVE TROUBLE TELLING STORIES SUCCINCTLY, IRINA WILL PROBABLY ATTEST TO THIS).
The next morning, I of course, was the first to wake up at 10am. However, I wasn't really the first, as Max and his Dad went to the bakery to pick up 50 rolls for breakfast for all of us. As I was sitting in the living room watching CNN with Richard who joined me slightly later, we heard the doorbell ring. Odd I though, but I figured it was Max or someone who was locked out of the house, however to my surprise it was a bunch of Max's friends saying we are here for the party. Naturally I was shocked as it was 10:15am and I didn't think people were coming until later, and secondly, Max was no where to be found, and so what was I to do? Luckily Richard recognized his classmates, and everything was straightened out.
That day, the whole group of us (12) went around Baden-Baden once again. We went up to the old schloss and looked at the vast panorama that spread in front of us. Much of the voges in France were visible. Later on, we walked through the town again, going to many of the same places, but we also walked by the Caracalla Spa. I really wanted to go there, but since its 13Euro for two hours, many people dissuaded me, so instead we walked around and went into several stores. At 5pm, we were all back at Max's house for the party. He had bought a lot of meet for grilling on the WEBER grill (an American product which is preferred by German's .... that's a miracle or the apocalypse). There was a lot of food from pork chops, to wurst, to steak, add on top the salads and the beer, you have yourself a very typical German meal.
The night went on, and Max wanted to play his favorite drinking game from America, flip cup, except he really didn't know the rules completely, and I ended up having to explain them since I was the only true American. We played a couple of rounds, and it was quite funny to see the girls try to flip the cup. They really didn't understand how to do it, and it was so frustrating to see the lead that one team had lost all because one person took the whole game to flip their cup correctly.
Later on we played musical cheers (this i found really odd, as I haven't played this since I was a little kid, and I don't know whether it is a typical game to play in college or university), maybe it was suggested by a really drunk person.
The night ended with a discussion about the changes in Russia, and the differences between socialist democracies and capitalistic democracies. I was very tired, yet Max's mom was very interested in what we had to say. She went to bed before us, but it was 5:05am and the birds started chirping, and I knew that this was my segue to go to bed.
I do have to say that all of Max's friends were really nice and understanding. Most of them did speak English with me, or were considerate to speak on a dumbed down level for me.
(ASIDE: AS I'M WRITING THIS RIGHT NOW, THE CHURCH BELLS ARE RINGING AT IT'S 2AM. DOES THIS HAPPEN ANYWHERE ELSE. WHO STAYS UP ALL NIGHT JUST TO RING THE BELLS EVERY 15 MINUTES?)
The next day, many of us woke up very late, and others had to leave in the morning. Hence it was just Max, me, Richard, Ricky, and Johannes. It was the last day of the horse races in Iffezheim, one of the most famous horse races in Europe. We went all together there, and watched the races. It was quite spectacular, and the people there just as entertaining to watch as the horses. Women walking around in the clothing from the 19 century with huge hats and brouhaha. Max with his friends, again, wagered their bets on horses, but as none of us had any clue on which ones to pick, other than the information provided there, I decided to keep my money (which turned out to be very sensible). In all we stayed for three races, until it began to rain too hard to continue watching. It was very enjoyable, and interesting to see the horses. In reality, the horses aren't as big as I had expected them to be, and it's amazing how much personality the horses have. If you zoom in on the picture of the them dashing towards the finish, you'll see their mouths and their struggles to push themselves to the limit.
Afterwards, I sat on the train and headed back for Tuebingen. It was a most enjoyable weekend. Thank you Max for your hospitality.
1 comment:
nice entry...typical henry...lots of details haha...hope things are going well
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