Just another stop on the road to degeneracy.

A good night’s sleep last night, which, we found out, it something of a rare commodity on this trip. The only complaint we both had was the heat – there’s no AC or fans in the room so you’ve got to tough it out. But, up for our breakfast at 8, then our walking about the city until it got to hot. We wandered over to the casino and the tap-house, then up the hill for a view of the city from the top of the hill. There was a nice breeze up there, but by the time we got back into the valley it was muggy and hot and the grumpy bear in Dad gave up. We headed back to the hotel, I hung around for a few minutes, then did the only civilized thing I could do – I headed to the spa at the end of our street. Baden Baden was in Germany what Bath was in England during the Georgian Age, so there is a long tradition of spas in this town.

And, it was the oddest massage I’ve ever had. I got there around 10.30 and had an hour to wait for my appointment. I sat in the spa’s restaurant with a Newsweek I bought that was from March (and I didn’t notice until I started reading an article on the American health-care vote. There was a HUGE group of Russian tourists that showed up shortly after me and, as much as the spa staff tried sushing them, it was super loud with the around. A few minutes before my appointment I headed to the designated floor (the 4th of 5) and had a few minutes to wait when this dude (older dude) came out to get me. I was really hoping he was taking me back to my masseuse – he wasn’t – he was the masseuse. Suffice it to say, the Germans apparently have less concerns about nudity and I think he found it odd that I would diss-robe in front of him. Anyway – an odd experience that required some robaxacet a few hours later. I’m glad I got a discount through our hotel because not only was it cheep, but it wasn’t all that relaxing.

Anywho, after that, I wandered around the old town for a bit, found some lunch at a bakery, then came back to the room to escape the heat. I had a nice cold shower and then got ready for my tour around the gabling hall’s of the big casino. Dad and I headed over there at 7, had dinner, then hit the tables. It wasn’t busy at all, and we were able to find an empty roulette table. On our first spin, I put 5 Euros down on 7 and 35 and won on 7 – translation: that was a take of 175 Euros for me. And that’s when the pit boss changed out the dealer. After that, the table went cold. We played a few more, but I gambled away everything I had except my 100 chip and another 40 Euros. So, I came out 10 ahead. We then went down to the basement where they have electronic games, and we played some more roulette, but without the live dealer. I played with 20 Euros and cashed out at 30. All told, I took the Baden Baden casino for 20 whole Euros! How will they survive!?!?! I’ve had better runs at Hull, but I think Dad’s bad luck – he killed my heater in Hull the last time we were there, and besides that first roll, I didn’t win anything worth while. Oh well – an hour’s diversion and I walked away with 20 Euros.

After that, we headed back to the walking district and sat for a while at a café where Dad had some icecream and I had an iced hot-chocolate. Since Dad lost most of what he played with (in a big bad way) I treated. We then headed back to the room. We’ll be breakfasting at 8 tomorrow, since we’ve got a 2 hour drive up to Frankfurt for our 1.45 flight home. All told, a good trip, but we’re both an