EASY TRAVELER: Strasbourg & Paris France, Baden Baden & Frankfurt Germany, December 2013

Frankfurt

On Thanksgiving day, 2013 we headed off for Strasbourg France with a planned side trip to Baden Baden Germany. We began by taking an 11am flight to ATL. Flight full, one open seat in 1st class, Joni forced me to take it. Flight to Frankfurt is wide open, 25 in Biz and 50 in coach. We got in business and the 8 hr flight to FRA was mostly uneventful. Took an easy train ride to the main Haupbahnhof and a four minute walk to our hotel. It was a pretty nice place with a pool, steam room and sauna. We checked out the Christmas markets, got a Frankfurt magnet, a cup of gluewien, had dinner at an Australian restaurant (Don't ask) and hit the sack. We had a few hours the next day so we just walked around Frankfurt. Frankfurt is a very big, brassy city. Very New York-ish. Kind of a sleeper. The last time we were in Frankfurt it seemed quite drab and boring. No, it's a very vibrant town. After a short walk we got our stuff together and headed to the train station for a two hour ride to Strasbourg, France on the TGV, the fast train. And it is a fast muther. I heard it gets upwards of 200mph. Doesn't seem like one is traveling that fast when you're on it.

Laser Light Show

Got to Strasbourg at around 4 pm. Very short walk to our hotel. It didn't get great reviews, but it was cheap. First room smelled like a chimney. Got a different room. Better. Walked into the old part of town known as "La Petite France" Watched a cool laser light show that was projected onto an ancient edifice. Ate street food, champignons, maybe the best ever and then a champignon and spinach crepe for dinner. Bought beer and wine at the Monoprix and went back to the hotel.

Strasbourg

The next day we walked around the markets and checked out Strasbourg. We strolled around the old part of town, ate a lot of street food, got lost and just had a good time. It was a rather cold and blustery day. We were used to that. Despite living in Florida for the last 27 years our memories of our 30+ years of Chicago winters kicked in as did our cold weather survival skills. No sweat. We returned to the hotel to find that we had no hot water. No problem. They switched us to another room, our third.

La Petite France

We went out for dinner and found a really nice, romantic Italian joint. Here we had another memorable travel moment. The bus boy fell down a short flight of stairs while carrying a stack of dishes. A waiter and the chef laughed so hard that the waiter actually had to leave the restaurant. He returned about 10 minutes later, apologized to us and bought us an after dinner drink. I said there was no need for an apology as we were laughing our asses off as well. BTW, the busboy was ok and the drink the waiter bought us was AWFUL. I drank mine cause I didn't want to hurt his feelings, Joni poured hers into her water glass when no one was looking. OK, I'm a social worker and she deals with the public. Y'know?
Tomorrow, off to Baden Baden, Germany.

Entrance to Caracalla Therme

Got an early train and arrived in Bade Baden around 10:30 am. I was in Baden in 2001 and the highlight of my trip was a visit to the Caracalla Therme. An array of pools, waterfalls, water jets, indoors and out. A very relaxing afternoon. Last time I visited alone, this time Joni accompanied me. We entered the main pool. It is very large with many moving water features. There are also several steam rooms and a cold plunge pool, not for me thanks. We ventured through the hanging plastic blinds (Like going into a walk-in cooler, like the one at Total Wine where I get my cases of Schlitz, yeah Schlitz, The Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous) Anyway, WHAT A FEELING! The air temp was around 35 F and the water was probably around 100F. We got out and walked from pool to pool (They're really like big Jacuzzis) It was Exhilarating, Really.

Baden Baden

I alternated between the pool area and the saunas upstairs. a cool winding staircase leads up to the "Sauna World". Joni didn't accompany me there. She is not real comfortable being naked with strangers. I personally don't care and have done this many times. I find it to be a liberating feeling and I have no hang-ups about my body, nor do the Germans. Most Americans think it's a sexual thing. Nowhere near. I had a friend of mine ask very seriously in a low voice, "Did ya like, ya' know, get excited ??" YOW! Like, that just doesn't happen. It's a totally a-sexual experience. Just regular people enjoying the sauna and being very comfortable with their bodies. That's the beauty of it, there's young and old, saggy and firm, teeny and hung, hairy and shaved.....and nobody seems to judge or even care.

Strasbourg

There are several different sauna and steam rooms. There are rooms with different aromas and temperatures. The eucalyptus steam room was fabulous! After about three hours we left the Caracalla and returned to the city to check out the Markets. They are quite different from the ones in the big cities. Much more subdued, actually, they had a kind of rural feel to them. Oh my god! I had a spicy sausage sandwich. The best ever....in the universe. Washed it down with a nice strong German lager. I was a pig in shit! Now, if I could only figure out how to have that sammich and beer, naked in the sauna with my guitar in a Lazy Boy watching a Blackhawks game....hmmmmm sweet!

Baden Baden

Strasbourg

Got the 5:30 train back to Strasbourg, about a 25 minute ride. We were quite burned out so we got some street food and headed back to the hotel. Baden is worth a side trip if one is in the area. The spas are unique and the town of Baden Baden is cool to just stroll around. There is also the Roman Baths housed in a magnificent old structure. And it is structured as well. You go through different "stations" of water features, saunas, steam rooms, cold plunges etc. It is segregated until the end where there are several large pools, mixed gender on certain days of the week. If you go, try the nude saunas, get over it! within 15 minutes you will forget that you, and everyone else, are nude and I'll bet you'll love it, I DO!

Back to Strasbourg for another day then off to Paris.

Got a flight to Paris, Orly, bussed it to Gare Montparnasse (sp) and then the metro to the hotel. Nice little boutique hotel in the Montmartre area in the shadow of Sacre Coeur. Close, but far enough away from the heavy tourist area. It was a great little neighborhood. Lots of restaurants and boulangeries. Very lively with a lot of nightlife. Street was very noisy. We didn't mind, we loved it. That first night in Paris I caught a nasty cold. Went to the pharmacy and got some French cold remedy. It worked pretty good, but this was a bad boy. Had to suck it up and just do it. Didn't let it bring me down.
We metro'd around town the next two days. We've been to Paris 4 or 5 times so we didn't have to do most of the "touristy" things. We did, of course, go to the Eiffel Tower and also La Grand Arch at La Defence. Very interesting place. Very modern buildings and a decent Christmas Market. But the really nice markets were along the Champs Elysees. As darkness fell the Christmas lights began to take over. A very impressive display. Lots of great street food and Vin Chaud. (French Gluwein). The markets stretched from the Arch de Triompe to that obilesk who's name I can't remember. Oh well. Stopped at a little coffee shop where there were two guitarists playing in the style of Django Rheinhardt. They were fantastic. I feel like going home and throwing my guitars in the trash after listening to them....but I wont.