Germany is a rustic of nice magnificence and tradition, and we Brits do not discover it sufficient.
So off I went with my husband Hugh to Baden Baden, driving by way of Epernay, in Northern France (he’ll go wherever for a glass of champagne).
We loaded the automobile up with strolling gear, golf gear, bathing gear, opera-going gear – stuff for all seasons – and hit the highway.
A fairly kind of place: Baden Baden – with the thirteenth century Stiftskirche at its coronary heart – is massively picturesque
Epernay have to be the one place on this planet the place you’ll be able to drink champagne all over the place at any time of the day and evening.
We toured the 18km of tunnels that Eugene Mercier, the person who put champagne on the map, opened in 1885. We strolled alongside the Avenue de Champagne, house to names synonymous with luxurious – Pol Roger, Moet et Chandon and Perrier-Jouet – marvelling at what a intelligent advertising job previous Eugene had executed.
And we tasted: absolutely this one was higher than that one, other than the drier one, which was higher than the biscuity one, however inferior to…
Then it was time to maneuver on, the automobile now even fuller, due to packing containers of bubbly.
A simple 3½-hour drive via the rolling countryside of jap France introduced us to the Rhine. Crossing into Germany with out a hitch, we reached Baden Baden in time for tea.
Within the nineteenth century, Baden Baden – so good they named it twice – was the summer time capital of Europe.
The record of tourists reads like a Who’s Who of European historical past, from royalty (Queen Victoria, Kaiser Wilhelm) to writers (Dostoyevsky, Turgenev, Mark Twain) to composers (Berlioz, Brahms and Mendelssohn).
They paraded via the Pump Rooms, visited the theatre and took the waters. Twain later proclaimed he’d left his rheumatism in Baden Baden – ‘and Baden Baden was welcome to it’.
Wars and altering habits robbed the city of its attract – however those that knew it nonetheless got here to search out peace and luxuriate in its dense, inexperienced setting on the sting of the Black Forest.
Within the mid-Nineties the city had the good thought of constructing an enormous live performance corridor, the Festspielhaus, to resurrect the cultural glories of the previous. So now, as soon as once more, Baden Baden has all of it.
In a city the scale of Clacton-on-Sea, you may discover thermal baths, a theatre, on line casino, artwork gallery, museum, lovely public gardens, elegant procuring arcades and eating places.
But inside minutes you’ll be able to lose your self within the countryside, tramping alongside forest tracks, visiting native vineyards or, in my case, taking part in Germany’s third-oldest golf course – as lovely as it’s tough. I swear there’s one gap the place it’s important to hit the ball down a hill, not far away and thru a bunch of timber – multi function shot.
In the midst of these delights stands one other landmark: Brenners Park-Resort & Spa. There are good inns and there are nice inns. Brenners falls squarely into the latter class.
Within the possession of the identical household for 40 years, it’s a bastion of excellent style. It has refinement with out flummery – a spot the place folks come to be comfy and the place pleasant, well-trained workers do their utmost to be sure to have all the things you need.
Standing smack in the course of the city, its terrace and gardens lead right down to the Lichtentaler Allee (which interprets as Valley of Gentle) the place Baden Baden locals like to walk within the tender summer time air via a parkland of copper beeches and oak timber.
In 1975 Frank Sinatra secretly wrote on the again of a portray in his room ‘Wherever you go, Brenners is one of the best’. It was discovered years later throughout a renovation.
The lodge affords all of it – good meals, a chic spa and swimming pool, and rooms furnished within the kind of well-bred model that makes you’re feeling cocooned from the world. It is a tough place to depart.
However depart it we did – to look at La Traviata, to listen to Sir Andras Schiff play Bach and to climb out of the city to the attractive previous ruined fort with its magnificent views over the Rhine valley.
And, in fact, we went to the on line casino – all Belle-Epoque gilt and candelabras.
I gambled on my favorite quantity, 14 purple, and got here away with extra euros than I went in with in addition to fairly a buzz.
Dostoyevsky (who wrote his novel The Gambler in Baden Baden) did not have my luck and misplaced his shirt on events. Had I stayed on this enchanting city for much longer, I might simply have misplaced mine.
Baden Baden is not hip: you’d by no means name it ‘cutting-edge’. But it surely has a reassuring air. It offers you a way of well-being.
As David Hockney, a daily customer, has remarked: ‘I can go in on my knees and are available away dancing.’ ‘Would you come once more?’ I requested Hugh as we drove away. ‘Sure,’ he mentioned. ‘And the route by way of Epernay is certainly the quickest method to do it.’
