In early September 2009 we decided to spend a long weekend in Baden-Baden. On the motorway A 45 we went to Frankfurt and from there south to Karlsruhe. There was extremely heavy traffic and we have witnessed several accidents. Thus we needed for the 450 km to Baden-Baden six and a half hours. Next to the old town we checked in the pre-booked Romantic Hotel ""Der kleine Prinz", where we were already expected by extremely friendly staff. In order to recover from the long trip, we strolled in the evening in the nearby town. Because of the famous "Big week" gallopp racecourse event, the city of Baden-Baden had organized in the Kurhaus a sort of town festival with numerous food stalls and live music. To our surprise the party was, despite the very warm evening not particularly well attended.

Baden-Baden's name dates only from 1931. To date, the town was named Baden only. The current name came from an unofficial title in the 19 Century: Baden in Baden. The history of Baden-Baden is long. Although there are early signs of settlement already from the Middle Stone Age, influential for the city, however, was the time of the Roman settlement, since the Romans built from about the year 80 AD a settlement and several bathrooms. After a turbulent history during the Middle Ages from 1306 with the permission of the Margrave Frederick II used the hot springs for bathing again. The first tax was levied in 1507 and a spa director took care of the emerging health establishments. In the 17th Century came to a halt operation of the baths, but with the Congress of Rastatt, Baden-Baden was at the end of the 18th Century as an elegant spa rediscovered. Many noble guests made the place the summer capital of Europe, while Paris served as a winter capital. There were luxury hotels, the spa (1821-1824) and the Casino (1810-1811), which was however closed again in 1872 and between 1933 and 1943 reopened. International horse racing takes place since 1858 in Iffezheim. The track had to sign three weeks before our visit to bankruptcy. Apparently the competition was too big through the Internet. As the city of Baden-Baden in the Second World War did not suffer major damage, it is one of the best preserved spas in Germany. The town is of outstanding examples of spa architecture of the 19th and early 20 Century.

The Spa Area, which we saw on the first evening of our visit, is with its architecture and Casino social center and symbol of the city. The building was designed in the 19th Century by architect Friedrich Weinbrenner from Karlsruhe in the classical style and built on the site of the 1766 house built promenade. The white, long building, which limits the spa gardens to the west, consists of three parts: the central block with the supported by Corinthian portico (now the venue), the left wing with public spaces and restaurants and the right wing, which houses the casino. The rooms are in the style of French castles of the 17th and 18 Century.

A bit north of the spa is the drinking hall, which was built between 1839-1842. 16 Corinthian columns support the 90 m long, open porch.

Next to the Goetheplatz the prestigious theater was built. This is where the Lichtentaler Allee begins. It is 2.3 km long and runs along the left bank of the river Oos river to the monastery in the district of Lichtental. The original path from the Lichtenthal monastery to the urban market has by legend been created in 1655 as Oak Alley from the chamberlains Moritz von Baden Lassolaye and redesigned 1850-1870 at the instigation of the casino Bénazet tenant in a large park. About 300 different native and exotic trees and plants such as limes, chestnuts, oaks, sycamores, alders, gingko trees, silver maples, magnolias and azaleas line the road. The time of my visit on Saturday I saw many athletes in the park as well as musicians. Impressive was also the view across the river bank with its stately villas and the world famous Brenner's Park Hotel.

I passed the Museum Frieder Burda (2004), because I'm not so interested in contemporary art. Instead, I went to the nearby located, also in 2004, inaugurated town museum. This is compared to the city museum in my hometown rather small (and one even has to pay an entrance fee), especially considering the long history of Baden-Baden. Still worth a visit if you're interested in the history of development of the village to the "world bath.

The old town of Baden-Baden is characterized by a large pedestrian zone with shops and cafes. Beautiful is the town hall of 1689. Some distance away is the Friedrichsbad in Renaissance style (1875-77), not far are the Roman bath ruins that give a vivid picture of ancient thermal baths. Going up the hill behind the Friedrichsbad one reaches the marketplace on display on the dark markings in the pavement of the Roman Emperor's Spa. Adjacent is the Catholic collegiate church of 1453. From the square you look to the Florentine hill on the New Palace, the residence of the Margrave of Baden (1918). The castle from the 16th Century is in private ownership. In October 2003 it became the property of a Kuwaiti business group and will be converted to an exceptional luxury hotel. So far, however, nothing is seen of any works.

South of the Old City runs the Sophie Street, on the median strip an avenue of plane trees in the southern French style were planted. The road also passes through the so-called "spa district". Also interesting is the in the outer town the southern Russian church, built in 1880 at the time of the large Russian Orthodox community in the city. Especially in the 19th Century, various kings, politicians, artists and business people from the distant Russian Empire for various reasons to Baden-Baden. The most famous are Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky, Rachmaninov, Rubinstein, and Tolstoy. Today, the phenomenon repeats itself, in the city one often hears Russian sounds, many menus are also available in Russian and many a business advertises its goods in the shop window in Cyrillic letters. However, here the impact of economic crisis are felt. Apparently Russian guests don't visit the casino and the city itself as often.

Rastatt Castle

One afternoon I used to visit the city of Rastatt, located about 15 km from Baden-Baden. Unfortunately the weather had turned and it was chilly and rainy. Around the castle there are only parking spaces, where you must pay in advance the parking time. I chose an hour. When visiting the castle I was then told, however, the visit was only with a guide and guided tours would find only place on the hour. How annoying. I had therefore to bridge 40 minutes of waiting time in the drizzly weather and risking a parking fines.

Finally, the tour began. I had to join as the only outsider a Bavarian retiree group. The tour guide struggled to be fair, but I just do not like guided tours, in which also the smallest detail is explained. In addition, my need for guided tours was more than covered since the 3-hour visit to the Marienburg in Poland this year. The tour in Rastatt lasted even 50 minutes.

Rastatt Castle and the Garden were built in 1700-1707 by the Italian court architect Domenico Egidio Rossi on behalf of Margrave Ludwig Wilhelm von Baden. Whose residence had been burned in the Palatine war of succession by French troops. The village Rastatt became a town and the court moved there. The residence in Rastatt is the oldest baroque residence on the Upper Rhine and was created after the French model of Versailles, where the godfather of the Marquis, the Sun King Louis XIV resided.

We went through a broad flight of steps up to the first floor to the Beletage. The largest and most ornate room here is the ancestral hall, it is decorated with many frescoes and alongside images of ancestors many imprisoned Turks. These frescoes and the trapped Ottomans should demonstrate to every visitor that the Marquis is seen as the victorious commander of Christianity that has kept Europe from the Ottomans. His fightings in the Turkish wars got him the nickname "Türkenlouis".

The ancestral hall gives access to various other rooms and sleeping chambers, equipped extremely expensive in the baroque style. Although the castle was not damaged in World War II, is obtained from the original furniture but hardly anything. Efforts are made to the purchase furniture at auctions. Also interesting is the fact that in France is still a company that remakes the old patterns for the fabric walls coverings. For weaving the fabric of the castle it took the company 10 years! What excellent work the conservators had already done, one could see in a smaller room where the work was still ongoing.

The castle is also home to the military history museum, the memorial to the freedom movement in German history and the district court. I gave up the visit and decided to visit Favorite Castle.

Favorite Castle

Between Rastatt and Baden-Baden is Favorite Castle. Building owner was the Countess Sibylla Augusta of Baden, widow of the Margrave Ludwig Wilhelm von Baden. He had already died from a war wound in 1707, just two years after the Margrave family based Rastatt Castle. For his widow the residence in Rastatt was probably too big and she wanted a summer residence in the country for royal entertainment, socializing and game hunting, masquerades, studies and education of children.

Surrounding the castle is a former baroque pleasure garden. Even today, there are the Orangery and an avenue as a line of sight, of course, modeled on Versailles. At the end of the 18th Century baroque gardens became out of style and English landscape gardens became fashionable, even the Favorite garden was redesigned accordingly. It offers vistas of meadows and ponds, vistas and waterways.

Favorite Castle is the oldest German porcelain palace and remains the only one in the original form. Note the large collection of Chinese porcelain and black lacquer and the Schwartz Porcelain.

Unfortunately here too only a guided visit is possible. Since I arrived late in the afternoon, the last tour was already running and I could not see the castle from the inside. According to the description there are on the first floor representative rooms and on the ground floor facility rooms, for example a pure demonstration kitchen.

I use the time remaining for a walk through the gardens, and then returned to Baden-Baden.

Weißenburg / Wissembourg, Alsace (France)

Since we had planned plenty of time for the return home, we decided to make a detour through Alsace. We wanted to visit the town of Wissembourg (German: Weißenburg) right at the German-French border, whose history can serve as an example for the fate of Alsatian cities.

The village of Weißenburg grew out of a settlement around a monastery founded in the 7th century. From 1306 to 1697 the settlement was a free city. After the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia Weißenburg was a large part of the Alsace region of France. On 4 August 1870 Prussian troops defeated in the Battle of Weißenburg, the French and from 1871 to 1918 Weißenburg was again a German city. After the First World War the city along with Alsace went to France again. In the Second World War from 1940 to 1945 the city and the country were again annexed by the German Reich. Since 1945, the city is back to France.

Wissembourg, 64 km from Strasbourg, is certainly one of the most architecturally rich cities of northern Alsace.

On the way to a parking lot, we passed the remains of the old city walls of the 13th century. From the (free) parking lot it is just a few steps to the main street of the town, the Rue Nationale. It is lined on both sides of beautifully preserved town houses in typical Alsatian half-timbered style. Noticeable in the side streets were the restaurants with tables and chairs in front of the houses. This is obviously a centre of tourism! After a few minutes walk we reached the Place de la Republique, were on the present-day Saturday, a small but very well attended market was held.

Right on the marketplace is the classical town hall in a monumental building dating from 1741. Following the road, one soon reaches the bridge over the river Lauter. Right on the left corner is one of the most remarkable buildings in the city: the "salt house" from the 15th century with its striking roof. The Salt House was originally built in 1448 as a hospital and later used for salt storage and slaughter house. Turn right off the street Quai Anselmann with picturesque houses along the Lauter, one of which is the Maison Vogelsberger from 1540.

From here you can already see the abbey church of Saint-Pierre-et-Paul (St. Peter und Paul), it is one of the largest churches in the Bas-Rhin outside of Strasbourg. The mainly Gothic building still has a Romanesque bell tower from the previous building (11th century). Inside are remarkable stained glass windows and wall paintings from the 14th/15th century, including an eleven-meter-high representation of Saint Christopher and obtained an original organ from 1766 with magnificent facilities. From the old monastery of Weißenburg, where the monk Otfrid of Weißenburg worked, only an unfinished high-Gothic cloister is left over, but is regarded as one of the most beautiful in the Upper Rhine. Attached to this is a former Romanesque chapter house, which serves today as a side chapel.

Southeast of the abbey church the Place du Marché aux Choux (coal market square) is reached via the Rue de l'Ordre Teutonique with fountains and lined with picturesque gabled houses. Close is located on the Rue des Dominicans a former Dominican church from the 13th century. Interesting on the Rue Nationale is the Maison Holzapfel, former guild house.

Outside the city wall is the district Faubourg de Bitche, which formerly housed the winery. Their landmark still adorn the doors of old houses.

Conclusion: Baden-Baden is a straightforward, nice and neat little town, which serves primarily as a spa or invited for a visit to the Casino. The sights are seen very quickly. An advantage is the proximity to the two beautiful castles of Rastatt. Surprisingly fast you are by car in neighbouring Alsace. On the French side the road link at present is greatly expanded, so that will shorten the travel time even further. Alsace has a unique charm and should certainly be included in the tour program. Wissembourg is a beautiful town right on the German-French border, and well worth a visit.