Baden-Baden (pronounced "Baah"-den like a sheep) is a city in southwestern Germany and we had the chance to visit it for a couple of days recently. About 50,000 people call it home, but it is a popular tourist destination with about a million tourists per year.
The city is most famous for its hot springs bath houses dating back to the Romans. We decided to forego the Roman baths. It is also famous for a casino which we did not visit either.
I was surprised to see Russian as the one and only second language on menus and signs around town. Of all languages - Russian? Turns out wealthy Russians visit Baden-Baden - a lot - and many own businesses and real estate.
In addition to some pretty ritzy hotels, there are some really nice homes lining the Lichtentaler Allee. That's a paved path through the historic park and arboretum along the River Oos in Baden-Baden. It's about a mile and a half of nothing but a beautiful park.
The weather was beautiful with only one really hard and short rain. It is Europe, after all. An umbrella wouldn't have done much good so we (and a few others) ducked under a store awning and waited it out. I figure Baden-Baden gets as much or more rain than Hasselt because the entire city looked like a pristine park. The grass, flowers, trees, were just beautiful and immaculate.
On the drive back to Hasselt, we stopped at a vineyard or two.
This is German wine country along the Rhine River. Wine production in Germany dates back to 70 AD and Germany continues to be in the top 10 wine producers in the world.
As you can see, we must have arrived the day before harvesting!
Here's a short slide show of my photos of Baden-Baden.
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