I arrived in Wetzlar in the late morning. The weather was a little cool but once I got moving around it felt nice. Wetzlar is located just east of the center of Germany. Like many German towns Wetzlar is quite old and even has Roman remnants.
This is where Wetzlar is.
I was getting hungry. As luck would have it, I was just in time for the lunch buffet at the Asien Perle. Their buffet runs from 11:30am to 2:30pm and only costs 6,80 €. The buffet was similar to an American Mongolian Grill. They also offer entree dishes but I was hungry. http://asienperle-wetzlar.de/index.php/home
Yummy!
Next I wanted to go see the Wetzlar Cathedral that everyone was recommending to me. The building of the church began in 1230 and is still not totally complete (it lacks a northern bell tower). Because of how long the process of building it has taken, the church reflects many different styles of architecture. During WWII it was partially damaged and had to be repaired. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wetzlar_Cathedral
Wetzlar Cathedral
Inside of the Wetzlar Cathedral
Next I went to the Fantastic Library of Wetzlar. It is one of the world's largest libraries that focuses on fantasy literature. The library has over 150,000 items including books, magazines, and other rare collections. The library is open to the public as well as the academic world. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantastische_Bibliothek_Wetzlar
The Fantastic Library
It was kind of nerdy.
It was an interesting side of Germany that I hadn't seen much of yet.
Suddenly... I woke up. I was in a hospital bed. I didn't know what was happening. Doctors and nurses were running into my room shouting orders. They asked me if I could remember anything. All I could come up with were these flashbacks of a trip I took to Germany. One of the doctors had a concerned expression on his face.
-"Mr. Burch,you never made it to Germany. Your plane crashed over a field in Pennsylvania in an act of terrorism. You were the only survivor. You've been in a coma for nearly twelve years."
I didn't even know what to think. None of this made any sense. And then suddenly I saw my nurse's nametag:
Frankfurt is a beautiful city with lots of personality.
Parts of it look very modern
Other parts look more traditional
Frankfurt is sort of a birthplace to the stars. Many recognizable faces were born here.
Martin Lawrence
Nicole Brown Simpson
Anne Frank
Ruben Studdard
I was hungry so Iwent looking for a place to eat. A local helped me find a vegan restaurant nearby. It is called Savory. Savory is a sort of fast food restaurant/cafe for vegans. They use all natural products and stress positive environmental practices.They serve things like sandwiches and pizza.I got a vegan burger for 4,40 €. It was delicious. http://www.savory-frankfurt.de/
Outside of restaurant
Hilda was a doll.
Next I decided to see the Frankfurt Zoo.I figured where better to see 4,500 animals in the middle of a big city than at the Frankfurt Zoo. It is one of the oldest zoos in the world. It was opened in 1858 and then was reconstructed in 1944 after it was bombed. Admission was 8 €. http://www.zoo-infos.de/set-en.html?/zoos-en/120.html
That kid with the hat was a grade-A asshole!
They had so many kinds of animals and all of them were happy to be there.
All of this exploitation was making me tired. It was time to start thinking about where I was going to stay for the night. Thankfully, Frankfurt has plenty of options.
A part of me was also thinking about staying somewhere a little more fancy. I found a hotel called Hotel Cult. One night costs upward of 79 €. It includes the room with a flat-screen tv, air conditioning, Wi-Fi, a bathroom, and a breakfast buffet. http://www.hotelcult.de/en/
If you have lots of money
One of the rooms
I finally decided to stay at the Pension Aller. Hotel Cult was too expensive but at the same time I do like my privacy. Pension Aller seemed like a good balance. Plus I wanted to meet the infamous Frau Kraus.
This is what I think she looks like.
After my stay at Pension Aller, I'm going to head north to Wetzlar.
Before hopping on the bus to Heidelberg I decided that I had better experience a spa while I was in one of the most famous spa towns in Europe. I received a recommendation for a place called Caracalla Spa (http://www.carasana.de/en/caracalla-spa) It cost me 17€ for a 3hour admission ticket. This place was massive. It consists mainly of a large pool and a complex of saunas.
Here's a picture I or someone else drew showing the complexity of it.
Even clean pools are dirty, you just can't see it.
The pool was family friendly but the saunas werenot.Besides the pool area, most other places did not necessitate clothes. Children from the age of 7 to 14 are allowed in the sauna areas if accompanied by an adult. This struck me as a very distinct cultural difference from the USA. The spa also offered services such as massages but it was clearly an aside to the pool and saunas.
Feeling reinvigorated, I hopped on a bus north to Heidelberg. I arrived there in early afternoon with plenty of time to explore.
Geographic representation
Heidelberg is one of the many cities around the world that has a US military base in it.Because of that, there is a large portion of Americans in Heidelberg (apporximately 60,000 out of 147,000).
Heidelberg
Much of Heidelberg's old buildings and architecture still exists. This is because we did not level it during WWII like we didwith other German cities.
I was hungry so I made that my first priority in Heidelberg. I managed to find a vegetarian restaurant called Effulgence-Waves (http://www.das-grüne-restaurant.de/).
Restaurant Logo
I got a fantastic tofu and spinach dish for 6.90 €. The staff was friendly and the food was very fresh.
Next I went to the famous Heidelberg Castle. Construction of the castle dates back to the 1300s. The castle is made up of several buildings and a courtyard.
Castle
The castle cost 7 €for a tour. The best part was that it included entrance to the German Pharmacy Museum (http://www.deutsches-apotheken-museum.de/englisch/index-en.php), which was inside the castle. The museum has over 20,000 artifacts about the history of pharmacy.
It was kind of weird.
I had a really good tour guide:
Hilda was a doll.
I was getting tired so I figured I better call it a day if I was going to have any energy tomorrow. I found a hotel called Hotel Kohler(http://www.hotel-kohler.de/index2_engl.htm).
Picture of the outside of the hotel.
My room only costed 49 €, but I had to use a public shower and toilet. It also didn't come with breakfast so I had to eat on the go.
Shabby
I woke up feeling refreshed after a long nights sleep. I gathered up my things and was on my way 90km north to Frankfurt.
I arrived in Baden-Baden with plenty of time to see some of the night life. Baden-Baden is located in southwest Germany near the border of France.
This illustrates approximately where I am
Around 2,000 years ago, the Romans built and used bath houses here. This is the main reason for the city's name. Not surprisingly, modern-day spas are plentiful in Baden-Badenfor those who wish to be expensively pampered. Baden-Baden caters itself to catering to you. Tourism appears to be a large part of their economy. http://www.baden-baden.de/en/index.html
A promotional video for Baden-Baden
As soon as I got into town I headed straight for the Kurhaus. The Kurhaus is one of the main destinations in Baden-Baden. Built in the 1820s, the Kurhaus houses a spa, casino, restaurant, and more. Many famous visitors have come here. Fyodor Dostoyevsky supposedly wrote his novel The Gambler after losing all of his money here.
The Kurhaus
Since it was getting late in the evening Idecided that most of the action would probably be in the casino. Boy was I right! The German acappella group HardTchor was just about to begin a performance. It was a show I'll never forget.http://www.hardtchor.de/
HardTchor FTW!
How have I not heard of these guys
An hour and a half of a cappella had put me in the mood for some gambling. I don't normally gamble since the accident but I decided what the hell. If it was good enough for Dostoyevsky, it was good enough for me (Plus a lot of the money probably goes to the schools anyway).
Casino in Baden-Baden
I had to rent a tie and jacket to even be allowed at the tables. They also made me ditch my Stuttgartian cupcakes I had been schlepping around. It didn't take long at the tables to realize that I wasn't going to be leaving with anymore money than I came in with.It was late and I was tired. I asked around to see if I could find a good hotel. Someone told me about a place called Hotel Am Markt. It was nearby and inexpensive, which was a big deal to me considering how much money I lost at the Casino.
Hotel Am Markt
A room by itself would've costed
€36. I got a room with a shower, toilet, and TV, which costed €50. In a town called Baden-Baden, you have to have your own bathroom. The price also included a breakfast buffet. http://www.hotel-am-markt-baden.de/index.html
My room
As soon as I hit the bed I fell right to sleep. It's a good thing I set my alarm or else I would have slept all day.
Somehow I dirtied all my towels up and needed more. Thankfully, the staff at Hotel Am Markt was there to help.
Hilda was a doll
I decided to take advantage of the breakfast buffet. I was hungry and wanted to get on my way.
Superb Value
It was almost time to hit the road again, but before I left Baden-Baden I wanted to see the Roman bath ruins. The weather forecast wasn't exactly promising today. The high was expected to be 14°C which isn't too bad. Unfortunately it was going to be cloudy all day with sporadic rain showers. http://www.wetter.de/deutschland/wetter-baden-baden-18224713.html
Cartoon Depiction of Probable Weather Circumstances
Thankfully the bath ruins weren't too far from my hotel, so I decided a short walk would be nice. On the way there you'll never guess who I ran into. Give up? It was my new favorite German a capella group HardTchor. I went up and congratulated them on a spectacular show last night. Before I knew it, we wereat a nearby park just goofing around. I guess you could say we're homies now.
We had to kick a bunch of kids off the slide for this photo. BTW, totally worth it.
I said my goodbyes to HardTchor and made my way to the bath ruins. It cost me €2,50. I took a guided tour which taught me lots of history. Primarily, that 2,000 years agoa bunch of Romans took baths and hung out here.http://www.carasana.de/de/roemische-badruinen/
I wouldn't take a bath there anymore.
I decided it was time to hit the road again at this point. I hopped on a bus and headed 89km north to Heidelberg.
I arrived in Stuttgart bright and early. Since it is the middle of June, the weather is perfect at 21° C. Stuttgart is located in southwest Germany. It is the sixth largest city in Germany.
Stuttgart on a map!!
View of Stuttgart
I was still stuffed from yesterday's bread, so I decided to start off by sightseeing. Stuttgart is well known to car enthusiasts for having the headquarters of both Mercedes-Benz and Porsche. Both companies also have highly regarded museums here. I, however, am not a car enthusiast so I am not going to those. Instead I opted for the Stuttgart State Museum of Natural History. It has over 11 million scientific artifacts, the bulk of which are fossils and insects. The museum was spread out into two buildings separated by a 15 minute walk. http://www.naturkundemuseum-bw.de/
This part of the museum houses the really old stuff.
This part of the museum houses the newer stuff.
The museum cost
€ 6.00 for admittance. I learned a lot about the evolution of life on this planet and about the urgency to protect the life that still exists here.
I saw dead dinosaurs.
And I saw fake alive dinosaurs.
I knew way more answers than most of these kids.
After the museum I felt like going somewhere a little less touristy. I decided that I wanted to go to a local record store. This wasn't hard to do because Stuttgart has a very lively music scene. It quickly became obvious that there was always something going on. Many successful artists have come from Stuttgart. One hip-hop group called Freundeskreis is actually made up of several separately successful musicians from Stuttgart.
Freundeskreis Music Video
I found about a great record store that specialized in punk a few miles down the road from the museum. It was called called Cheap Trash Records. http://www.cheaptrashrecords.de/
Their logo
Their selection was great. They had everything from the US plus some interesting European punk bands.
I hadn't eaten all day so I decided to search out some food. As a vegetarian I had grown tired of being surrounded by meat everywhere I went so I asked a very nice local named Gügel where I might go. Thankfully he knew a lot about Stuttgart and pointed me to a restaurant called Coox & Candy just across a bridge from the Natural History Museum. http://www.coox-candy.de/
Outside of Coox & Candy
Dining Room of Coox & Candy
Coox & Candy is an entirely vegan restaurant. This meant that Iwas free to choose anything off of the menu. I decided on the Veggie "Chicken"" Ragout. It costed € 9.80. The interior was very stylish in an urban modern sort of way.The atmosphere was a little more laid back than usual and everyone was super polite. I saw this as a good thing as I needed a break from rushing around everywhere.
Hilda was a doll!
On my way out I noticed a nice selection of pastries for sale. I was full from dinner but I couldn't resist taking a few for the road.
Shazam!
It was early evening now but I still had a lot of energy left in me. I decided to take a bus west to Baden-Baden where I could get a chance to explore a new city's nightlife. Good thing I got my cupcakes.
