Castles, Casinos and Caracalla

After a busy trip back to the states, Alex and I are back to traveling through Europe. Alex had a 4 day business trip to Nuremberg and I was able to go with him. After our week in Nuremberg, we were headed off for another quick one day meeting in Munich.

Being in Munich at this time of year meant a quick trip to Oktoberfest! Luckily, we had been to Oktoberfest the year before and knew exactly what to do. We got to the fair grounds and surprisingly enough had no trouble finding seats. We sat down and enjoyed a maß, got a giant pretzel, a traditional roasted 1/2 chicken and listened to music. Then we left to go to Baden Baden for the weekend.

Baden Baden is known for their casinos and spas. We of course had to check out both eventually, but first we spent our Saturday visiting two different castles. We started at Castle Lichtenstein. A relatively new and quite small castle but still very beautiful. We took the half hour tour, walked the castle grounds and took some pictures. Then we left for the next castle, Hohenzollern Castle. We walked up the steep path leading up to the castle and did a self guided tour (and had to wear huge slippers throughout the castle to preserve the floor). There has got to be a ‘Baron Von Hempel’ with a Hempel Castle estate somewhere in our family tree, right?

Once we got back to Baden Baden, we ate a quick Italian dinner (complete with an aperol spritz) then walked to the casino. We had no idea what to expect. It turned out to be a little different then what we were used to. First, you are required to pay to just get into the casino. Second, the men had to not only wear a collared shirt but also a jacket (you could rent a jacket if you didn’t have one). And third, the slot machines were in a separate area then the table games. We didn’t have any luck with the slot machines but once we went upstairs to the table games we did pretty well at roulette.

The next day was spa day at Caracalla Therme! Again, we really weren’t sure what to expect. We bought a 2-hour pass, changed into our suits and walked in. The place is huge! It has indoor and outdoor pools and hot tubs, waterfalls, and cold pools for a quick dip. It was really fun and relaxing. We will definitely be coming back.