European Adventures - 28. Bad Homburg vor der Höhe.

28. Bad Homburg vor der Höhe.

Traffic on the Autobahn

We had a really tough drive towards Frankfurt today. There is so much construction on the A-7 that we got stuck twice. Totally sitting still on the ‘fast’ Autobahn, engines turned off, windows open and reading a book. The first stop lasted for 30 minutes before we eased forward, stop and go and finally gained some speed only to, about an hour later, sit again, continued reading the book for another 45 minutes. Same routine, stopped, windows open. Yes, you can go as fast as you like on the Autobahn in some stretches, no speed limit… Ha!

View of Patio From Our Window

We arrived in Bad Homburg in the afternoon, a bit worn out from the traffic jams and I thought I deserved a better hotel this time. I booked into the Steigenberger Hotel.  

I booked for 2 nights, knowing we just have to drive about an hour to the airport from here. 

Bad Homburg, you know the name from the ‘Homburg’ hat that Winston Churchill wore, that a lot of English Bankers wore. 

Beautiful Apartment Buildings

Bad Homburg is thought by many people in Germany to be the ‘best’ residential town in Germany. Their motto “Champagne Air and Tradition” kind of gives you a clue as to what the town looks like. 

It is a lovely town, declared an Imperial Summer Residence by Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1888; it was and still is ‘posh’.

Russian Orthodox Church, Unfortunately Closed

The town has a casino which is often called the Mother of Monte Carlo, because the owners started here first before they moved to another casino in Monte Carlo. I am talking 1842.

Russian Nobility, during the Czar’s time, loved this town. They even built a small Russian Orthodox chapel here that was visited by the Russian Czar before WW1.

The area was famous for the medically administered mineral waters that were given as a cure to people. The name ‘Bad’ connotes it’s a Spa, a bath.

The houses, the grandeur, the attitude, the parks, the money have always been here and still are.  

Boutique Hotel

Right after WW2 the Allied forces agreed that this town should be a ‘bi-zonal’ area.  It became the financial administration center between the various Allied forces and later the offices of some obscure Government agencies of the Bundesrepublik (the former West Germany).

Ludwig Erhard, the then West German Finance Minister, established the following offices:

Federal Debt Administration (Bundesschuldenverwaltung)

Security Adjustment Office    (Amt für Wertpapierbereinigung)

Federal Equalization Office     (Bundesausgleichsamt)

Apartment Building

I had to list those, because those High End financial institutions give you another clue as to what kind of clientele live in Homburg. I bet you had no clue those offices even exist in a Government, but yes, they do.

Bad Homburg is for the upper class. 

When the King of Siam (Chulalongkorn) took to the ‘waters’ here in 1914 he recovered from a severe health problem.

Colourful Umbrellas

As a thank you for his recovery, he sent a Garden Pavilion to the town which established the Thai Gardens in his Honor.

The town brims with anecdotes of the rich and famous. 

Horex Motorcycles were originally made here in Bad Homburg.

I thought I would see a bike or 2 in Homburg but… no such luck.

Private Housing

We kind of relaxed from here on forward. Repacked, just loafed and did look around the town. The receptionist led us to a must go to Italian Restaurant near the hotel. The food was good the service terrible. Carol thinks the service was so bad because the personnel were watching the soccer match between Germany and Mexico for the 2018 Soccer World Cup, but I am not so sure. Germany lost to Mexico. I saw it differently, I smelled an air of Champagne taste but they looked at Carol and me and thought we only had beer money. The personnel kind of knew we were just passing through; we were not the ‘money’ people they were accustomed to.

Yes, the town puts on Airs!   It’s in their nature!

European Adventures - 27. Landhaus Eden, Soltau

27. Landhaus Eden, Soltau

We had a few days to get back to Germany, and originally I thought of visiting Hamburg but after we got close to this HUGE city, I had 2^nd thoughts.

Hamburg is not a town for just a day; it takes a lot more time to visit Hamburg.

Driving out of Denmark was uneventful, there is no Passport Control, we just drove and all of a sudden the signage changed and we were in Deutschland.

After about 5 hours of driving, with lots of stop and go traffic around Hamburg I had had it. The car we had was a stick shift, so you are constantly on the clutch and you need to shift up, then down again when you encounter traffic congestion. Around Hamburg there was a lot of that.  We found a hotel along the highway and were lucky. It was the perfect place. The hotel, Landhaus Eden, had a Restaurant with it and the room was quiet and large and had A/C. 

Yes, Carol found some spots of mold in the bathroom and, of course, told the reception about it. They said they would fix it once we leave. 

Ha, do you think they will do it?

But they were friendly about the process, no, we did not get another room, there wasn’t another one available, the receptionist said. All was done with a smile and ‘no’ action on the hotel part. 

The breakfast, included, was awesome, though. We had a HUGE spread, with a pat of butter machine. I kid you not, you pulled a lever and a pat of butter popped out. I had never seen one of those before. 

Fountain Was Near a Large Pond

We had dinner at the hotel, too, good food. Lots of people ate there; a neighborhood group was a bit rowdy and boisterous, but just harmless fun with a couple of beers. 

One couple had a ‘cute’ small kid, who had a mind of his own. Every time the parents were about to eat, the child, not being seated in a highchair, left the table and ran away to a small pond nearby. Of course, one parent had to run after the child, the cozy dinner they thought they would have, being now totally taken over by this boy. Ah, am I glad to not have small ‘kids’ any longer. I remember those days when the children were like a bag of fleas, hopping and running around every which way. Phew…. I am glad that is over.

I am turning into a stodgy guy… I like my peace and quiet, like to take my time with things.

I have no problems watching, though. As long as this kid did not come to our table and bother me, I am ok with the parents running after him.

Just let me have my peace…..I will turn into a lion if you interfere with my time.

We just drove that day, found a hotel and that was it….

We are going towards Frankfurt now, time to go back to Toronto.