Trixie Traveler in Alsace-Black Forest: Baden-Baden to Heidelberg

It is still drizzling and overcast when we wake up this morning, but it starts to clear up. We enjoy a delicious breakfast at the beautiful buffet breakfast at our hotel. Jeannie and Frank will be leaving this morning and they join us join Kathy and John and I. After breakfast we get packed up and sit in the lobby of the hotel to catch up on email and such because it is the only place we can get a decent wireless signal It is getting brighter outside so we go out to walk and take the pictures we couldn't take yesterday. Baden-Baden has a six foot wide red carpet throughout the old town to show where to walk. It is easier to walk on the red carpet than on the cobble stones but it also enhances the luxurious, expensive image of Baden-Baden. There is much shopping here but all seems very expensive.

We get a taxi to the train station for our 12:45 train to Heidelberg. We buy sandwiches to eat on the one hour train ride. Google says it is a .1 mike walk to our Holiday Inn Express hotel which seems simple enough. However, the tangle of streets outside the station is confusing. We stop and ask at the tourist office and go the way the man has pointed. However, it is the wrong way and we have to backtrack with all our luggage. Finally, Kathy and I wait with the luggage while John and Dave go to find the hotel. We finally make it to the hotel which is much farther than .1 miles. It is a new Holiday Inn Express and everything is quite nice. Yes, I know. Not quite old world charm, but, hey, the woman at reception is very friendly and efficient, wireless is free, and it works in our rooms, breakfast comes with the room, bathrooms are beautiful, beds comfortable, price is right. We are glad to take advantage of the amenities. There is some construction around the hotel and it's on a big street with the tram line so not a particularly scenic location but our rooms face a courtyard and are perfectly quiet. Goos air conditioning keeps the room comfortable. It is about a mile walk to the Haupenstrasse, the main shopping street that runs into the old town.

We walk to the old town and pedestrian street, Hauptstrasse with all it's many stores, restaurants and shops. Being Sarurday afternoon, it is crowded and filled with people. We walk along the river and onto the famous Alta Brücke Bridge over the Neckar River. It is this bridge that Dave and I remember from our 1981 trip here with Anne and Steve. We eat dinner at the Kulturbroerie Restaurant recommended by our hotel. Typical German style restaurant and they make their own beer so Kathy and John are happy. We sit outside in a beer garden type area and have a delicious meal. We are just a little chilly. We stop for a gelato on the way home.

I have walked 8.47 mikes today! Our legs feel strong after all our biking.

Walking the red carpet in Baden-Baden