We had a leisurely breakfast as it was raining heavily and we knew we had to pack the car up for our next stage of the trip to the Black Forest. Luckily by the time we had packed up (and it was not very difficult in a smaller place), the rain had gone off but this didn’t really matter as the car was handily parked in the perfect position under the hotel so we could walk to and fro in the dry.
Colin was on driving duty today and the weather improved to sunshine as we headed South West towards the town of Baden-Baden which is the equivalent of Bath in that it is a thermal town and pretty upmarket. It’s Also the location of a number of G20 meetings between World leaders and I can see why. I had earmarked a car park as usual and with a few driving challenges we arrived quite easily - the car park was under the casino and a number of spaces had large black and red numbers like a roulette wheel to mark the cars parking. The town is really attractive and there are some large buildings which are thermal spas. We wandered a little bit and found the tourist information office and were able to collect a large amount of leaflets and booklets about various places in the Black Forest which is where we are headed. I managed to use my Caxton card and take out €100 from Volksbank which usefully did not apply and charges - one to remember. We found good bakery for lunch and sat outside in the sunshine.
Then it was onwards towards Baiersbronn for the second of our Google located apartment. I took over driving and we headed through the start of the Black Forest, stopping by a large dam which we discovered is part of a network producing hydro energy underground and the is the view downstream of the dam.
Eventually we arrived in Baiersbronn which I was quite familiar with as I had studied the maps well before we departed the UK. We found the location of the apartment fairly easily but not the house itself. I ended up jumping out of the car, walking g around various buildings (never noticed), until I saw a man parking and asked in my best German if he spoke English which he did and promptly pointed out that the house was on the opposite side of the road to where I had been looking! We found the correct address with a piece of paper on the door asking us to phone up. Colin in th meantime had driven down their exceedingly steep drive and managed to turn the car around. When our new host Helmut arrived a few minute Slater, he was very surprised that we had managed to get the car down the steep drive and promptly showed us a far easier parking space at the top next to his car! Despite being a ground floor apartment, we had to go down two flights of stairs as the house is set in a hillside. It is a lovely apartment, a little dated but massive and with (like our place in Cochem) with a stunning view over a lush valley towards the trees of the Black Forest. It is well equipped and we have our own terrace and part of the wild flower meadow garden to explore.
We had discovered in the tourist information office earlier in the day that most places would eb closed not only on Sunday but also Monday and so as soon as we had unpacked, we headed to the supermarket Edekas, about a ten minute journey away. This is a very nice supermarket and well stocked. On the way back we stopped by a hotel with a restaurant that Helmut has recommended for dinner one evening only to discover that they are also closed tomorrow so I did a rapid rethink and booked a table for 8.00pm this evening.
We walked down to the hotel and I saw the woman again who had reserved us a table and we enjoyed an excellent meal - one of the best this trip and two large beers which was just as well that we were walking back!!
