Friday, 23 June. Offenburg

There was a spring in my step as I set off for the station this morning. The reason? 19 degrees and a cool breeze. What a relief! After weather warnings about severe rain on my DB app it came to nothing, here at least. I think there were some other places hard hit but we just had gentle rain overnight.

I caught the train to Baden Baden. It was very crowded but a kind man gave me a seat. He probably thought I was going to fall on him. About a half hour trip to Baden Baden but the station is nowhere near the centre of town so then it’s a bus.

I had two choices of bus so I took the first that came but I think that was the one that takes the scenic route. We drove past shopping centres and through suburbs with new concrete-boxy looking houses and eventually came to Leopoldplatz, which is basically the centre of the city. I chose that stop because it wasn’t far from the Faberge Museum. An hour had passed since I got off the train but it was an interesting hour, seeing the suburbs and more modern housing.

The Faberge Museum was upstairs in an old building. After you buy your ticket you go up more stairs into the main part of this small museum. As I was going up I looked out a window and saw a garden with a giant rabbit in it. That was unexpected!

The museum had a few of the fabulous Easter Eggs, lots of jewellery and a huge collection of cigarette cases, the world’s largest according to my brochure. Not all of the items were by Faberge. There were also many little animals which I didn’t get a good look at because a woman was taking her time taking a tour with 3 people. They must have been special because she had only moved a few feet in the time it took me to see everything else. Maybe they were Russians!

Back downstairs was the last room and it had gold items from China and South America. I wonder how they gathered this collection and how legal or ethical it was.

A little way down the lovely boulevard where the museum was located I saw more plaques about the Jewish occupants at the time of the war. These indicated that at least some had escaped and survived. 

There was also a shop specialising in Art Deco items including gorgeous Lalique vases. I looked in the window and drooled for a while but decided not to buy anything today as it would be a nuisance to carry it home. I’d probably have to sell my home to buy something!

The road was divided and down the centre was a wide strip lined with trees and with a number of modern art works, mostly bears but also a gorilla. Not my taste for that beautiful boulevard but interesting I guess. There were some big name shops in this street and everything about the place oozed affluence. So did the clothes of some of the people wandering around. 

Baden Baden is a spa town, a bit like Bath in England. People came here to drink the waters and bathe in the hot springs. They still come for the springs and spa treatments but not the water. I walked down the road and across a stream to the beautiful Trinkhalle. It’s a very impressive building with a wonderful 90 metre long colonnade lined with murals. The pump room still has a tap with water running into a basin but there is a warning that the water is unfit for consumption. It probably always was.

Back up into the main part of town for a little wander and a spring roll at a Vietnamese cafe, then it was back on a Number 201 bus and off to the station, taking a somewhat more direct route this time. If the train was crowded this morning, it was packed this afternoon with no hope of a seat. Hardly anyone got off at the stops on the way but more people (and bikes!) kept squeezing on. Lots of people had luggage too. By the time we got to Offenburg I was boiling hot and had a stiff knee from the way I was standing and hanging on.

Returned to the apartment to cool down before my afternoon ice cream and latte. There has been a bit of a breeze today so even though the sun came out it has been really pleasant, apart from the train which either didn’t have air conditioning or couldn’t cope with the multitude. It’s looking hotter again for the weekend unfortunately.