Baden Baden, Deutschland (Germany)

I started the day off with another hike in the Black Forest.  I managed to get myself up the hill through that first leg from the hostel, it’s the toughest, but an awesome workout.  From there on, it’s not so steep that’s it’s miserable, but enough to keep the heart pumping.  It was a glorious morning again, a bit foggy but I hiked up through most of it and got on top of it.  Still a little bit of fog though in my path and the sunlight starting poking through the trees and created the most amazing beams of light at different angles in the forest.  It was like a shower of sunlight.

I was in search of the castle ruins I saw yesterday on another hill.  Never did find it though.  As I was hiking back to the hostel on an uphill leg, I saw a man behind me in the distance that was gaining on me over time.  He gained enough that I could hear him closing in behind me.    I was just about to turn and greet him when he started yooo hoooing at me.  I stopped and smiled and said “morgen”, he returned the greeting and started talking to me, in German of course.

He was a short stocky fellow in his 60s at least and wore a light blue velvet track suit and a sailor’s cap with the brim all turned down.  He had the happiest face and sparkling eyes, that made me think – Santa Claus.  No beard or anything, but for some reason I thought of Santa.  As I had watched him catch up over the previous 20 minutes or so, I noticed he had quite the sprightly step, a step with purpose, I could tell he probably makes this hike every day.

So he’s talking to me and I interrupt and say “es tut mir leid, Ich versteheh nicht, sprechen sie Englisch?” (I’m sorry, I don’t understand, do you speak English?).  “Nine” he said with gusto.  I was ready to give up and shrugged my shoulders and said “OK, Auf Wiedersehen”, but he kept talking and you know what he did?  He started talking louder and slower, as if that would help.  Just like we are all guilty of when faced with the same situation.  It was rather uncomfortable, but comical too.

I just kept shrugging my shoulders and telling him I don’t understand, but he persisted.  Then, I started to get what he was doing.  He wanted me to tell him the English words for things.  He used hand gestures as well and eventually, some of his German was getting through to me; that year of college German starts to pay off, finally.  So I’m starting to get the gist of what he is saying in German and I’m teaching him some English; crazy.  Eventually we were just walking and talking.  He told me about his sister who lives in England now and I couldn’t figure out why he was making a point of that and then I realized he thought I was English.  Do I sound British?  Anyway, I told him I am from America and he did the “ah so” bit and then he asked me how long I’ve been here and when I go home and where I’ve been and if I was traveling with my family.  So, I gave him my story partly in German but mostly in English and in improvised sign language and I think he got the gist.  We came to my turn off in the road and I said goodbye, he smiled, waved, and went on his way.  Odd encounter, but a good memory.

I got back to the hostel and showered and dressed for lunch and then went to the internet cafe in town to upload the last couple of days of journal entries and then I headed further into town and hung out in the park a little and walked around a little.  During my entire stay here I was seriously contemplating having a spa treatment.  These treatments, the Roman Irish bath they call it, are known ’round the world apparently and consist of 17 stages including all sorts of soaks and plunges in different temperature water, steam baths, scrubs with brushes and a spank (not sure what that’s all about), rub downs, showers, wraps, etc.  It all sounded great, except the part where everyone is naked in the pools and walking around, and men and women are mixed.  I thought about it and thought about it.  I started to realize that no one here would ever see me again and I would never see them again so what’s the big deal?  People of all ages and various states of fitness partake in this ritual, so what’s the big deal?  Yeah….. no.  I chickened out.  I like a little bit of privacy when being spanked thank you very much.

I wound up at the Casino for dinner and some Blackjack with my winnings from a couple nights ago, just to kill some time and enjoy the ambiance and company of others.  I headed back to the hostel around 11:00pm with a few more euros in my pocket thinking perhaps I’ll treat myself to a nice hotel when I get back to Paris.  I got to my door and it opened right up and I said to myself did I forget to lock the door?  Then I noticed someone else’s stuff in there and realized I finally got a roommate.  Cool.  She was in bed and I tried to be quiet.  I thought it kind that she left the light on over by my bed.  She woke up though and called out, I came out from my little cubby hole around the corner and introduced myself.  Her name is Hyo Yung from Korea.  We talked for 30 minutes or more.  She’s on the third of eight weeks traveling solo through Europe.  Seemed like a nice girl.  We then turned out the light and went to sleep.

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