BADEN-BADEN – What words can describe such a magical place? Part of its charm lies in the realism that one is confronted with when visiting Baden-Baden for the first time. The town feels lived in, but also has a quality of vacationer’s realm.
The Black Forest borders Baden-Baden. Windmills populate most of Southwestern Germany, but slowly, windmills are replaced by large trees, the manner of which cannot be named. There is a wildness to their face, despite the largess of their size.
The train is quiet as it slinks its way up the mountain pass. You can almost hear the workers chipping away at the granite years before. The evergreen shrouds your eyes, creating a plane of shadow and unseen. The quality is pure, eliciting an excitement of the unknown. It is no wonder that the Grimm Brothers and their literary antecedents were so inspired for their fairy tales in these parts.
Water lapping onto rocky granite is the only sound coming out of this place. Instead, it feels as though all sound is swallowed. A cuckoo clock factory has countless moving parts stacked one on top of the other. This structure stands apart from the rest of red-colored rooftops dotting the quiet village.
Just like that, this place is ingrained. The plaster fountain, the wooden bridges, clean cut lawns bordering small garden plots. Baden-Baden has faded into the wayside, when confronted with the power of the Black Forest.
A few minutes before eight, and the gelato place is still open. Father and son stand as if biding the next customer. The son is generous, even under his father’s watchful eyes. This gelato has sat here all day for this moment.
Cobble-stoned streets wind into an opera house. The scooter swerves by, its occupant gleefully tooting the horn. It is a carefree, summer night, and though the streets are not well lit, somehow everything can be seen. The Casino sits at the end of the lawn, its terrace masking the activities inside. Red carpet covers most of the interior, and few tables and slots line the room. Eyes seem to watch from all sides. The card dealer is all-knowing.
There is the feeling as you are leaving that not much has changed in these parts in the last hundred years. And not much may change in the hundred to come. This is okay.
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