41 - 6/10/2015 - Rothenburg to Wiesbaden to Baden-Baden

Wednesday, June 10 (Day 41)

We drove northwest from Rothenburg to Wiesbaden which placed us not that many miles south of Cologne, which we saw on day 23. The reason for driving to Wiesbaden was to visit the Kaiser-Friedriche-Therme built in 1913 on the site of an ancient Roman steam bath. The same thermal mineral spring water source that soothed the Romans is the source used today. The building was completely renovated in 1999, yet gives an impression of antiquity. A nice place to soak. And no bathing suits to get between us and the waters.

Entrance to Kaiser-Friedriche-Therme.

One of the many pools.

Lobby area:

The next heading was due south to Heidelberg to see the famous castle. Norm had seen it in 1962 and quite a ruined ruin it was. The subject line of this e-mail is not quite correct...it should read "Return of the Castle". There is massive reconstruction/renovation of Heidelberg castle and grounds going on and the end result can only be a showpiece. The newly placed red hued stone is from the same quarry used originally. Thus, in a few years the old and new will all blend together. Already some rooms inside the castle have been furnished as they would have been in the day. So Heidelberg castle is certainly worth a couple of hours walking-through time. It can only get better.

This is all original "wreckage" not yet worked on.

Main courtyard inside the castle.

Gift shops inside and out of the courtyard:

Beer, apple strudel, and a schnitzel:

Huge vat of wine:

Lots of new stone here along with some old.

Rebuilding an entire wall.

Part of the gardens being reconstructed  -  fountains have been brought back to life in two rebuilt pools.

Traveling further south, our next three nights will be spent in Baden-Baden, which although it is in Germany is actually only a figurative stone's throw from Strasbourg in France where we spent the night of Day 15 of our trip. This spa resort town is at the north of the Black Forest Road which we'll be seeing the sights of in a couple of days. In the meantime, we are checked into our hotel which is directly across from Friedrichsbad, another opulent thermal mineral bath. As soon as we got settled we walked over and spent three hours going between baths of various temperatures as well as stream baths and saunas. Again, here it's all birthday suit, all the time once you leave the changing room.

Imposing entrance to Friedrichsbad - taken from our hotel.