Yesterday when we left Cochem we had a long convoluted day of train changes, mainly to accomodate us taking a Rhine River cruise for a couple hours. We love the German ICE (InterCityExpress) trains - they are definitely a step up from the regional trains, this last one even had a concierge type person to get you snacks and beverages from the CafeCar, and wifi if you were signed up to use TMobile Hotspots (which we sadly were not).
Tony at the Cochem train station
Can you make out the vinyards on the hillside in the background?
Can you make out the vinyards on the hillside in the background?
The River cruise was nice, although waiting in the rain for an hour beforehand was questionable. The cruise was relaxing and a nice vantage point of the river with multiple castles, vinyards, historic churches, etc all visable from the boat.
Baden-Baden has had Tracy's favorite activities thus far - two 'spa' days! The first was an all nude, totally mixed sex, Irish Roman bath with a soapy brush massage (good thing Tony didnt get it since it was a bit brisk even for Tracy). We learned that Tony doesnt care about nudity...while Tracy was a little shocked with strange men walking around towelless. By the end though she even showed someone how to use their locker while both in their birthday suits. See http://www.carasana.de/home/en/roemisch.html.
Today we started at a different mineral sping spa location (same campus, different style) that was more like an adult water park. See http://www.carasana.de/home/en/caracalla.html. Had a great time - would recomend Baden-Baden to anyone visiting Germany just to experience the spas. We're planning to catch a 10'30 train tomorrow, what are the chances that we can go again in the morning???
Besides that we've had a couple nice German meals, and Thai for lunch - Tony wanted a break from pork and potatos and the Thai place was well located. Oh, and gelato three times.
Also walked Lichentaler Allee (long public park - botanical garden) to see the rose gardens and got caught in a giant thunderstorm...not quite soaked to the skin on the way back but it was a close thing. Consquently we had dinner close to the hotel.
The Church Bell Tower from our hotel room window
From here, it's off to Rothenburg ob der Tauber for one night and then the Tirol region of Austria for three more nights...
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