The following day we had breakfast in our cute little hotel above a pastry shop (The Hotel Beeg) and walked around town some more. Most notably, Val brought me to the Freidbrichsbad Baths!
At the Friedrichsbad you lose track of time within 10 minutes and track of the world within 20 minutes
- Mark Twain
Basically you pay a flat fee to progress through the following stations:
1. shower; 2. warm air bath 54 C; 3. hot air bath 68 C; 4. shower; 5. soap and brush massage; 6. shower; 7. thermal steam bath 45C; 8. thermal steam bath 48C; 9. thermal full bath 36C; 10.thermal whirl pool bath; 11. thermal kinotherapeutic bath; 12. shower; 13. cold water bath (immersion bath) 18 C; 14. drying off (warm towels); 15. application of moisturizing cream; 16. resting area
On Thursday, Val and I took the train (actually 3) to Baden-Baden, the famous casino and spa town. We arrived in the afternoon and walked around before having dinner. We ultimately ended up in this bizarre little restaurant filled with smoke and chicken dolls hanging from the walls. This oddity aside, the food was really good and I found my new favorite German dish: maltauschen. Think big ravioli. Kinda.
The big event of the night though was to visit the Casino Baden-Baden. This was unlike any casino I have been to in the States (and was certainly not Vegas). For one, it cost money just to enter and there was a strict dress code of jacket and tie. Once inside, we found ourselves surrounded in a lavish room filled with much older German and Russian men. The atmosphere looked something straight out of a James Bond movie. What was even more unexpected was that the place was quiet, save for the clicking of chips and the spin of the roulette ball. Everyone inside was stoic, walking about gravely. We spotted only 3-4 other women there at most. It was also much smaller than any casino I’ve been to. It being a Thursday night, only 4 roulette tables and 1 blackjack table was open.
Given the grandeur of the place, I was surprised to find that the minimum bets were extremely low (10 euros per hand in blackJack, only 2 euros for roulette). Granted, most folks played much much more than that, which made playing side by side with them even more funny.
We played roulette mainly, which was a little odd without the usual cheers and jeers, but still pretty fun. I played a few hands at the lone Blackjack table which was exciting, despite not doing particularly well. Interestingly, an old man was playing 4 of the 7 positions on the table with 200+ euros per hand and was just bleeding money like crazy. The vein on his temple pulsated as he cursed under his breath, hah. The whole experience was quite surreal and it was actually one of my favorite on my trip. I only wish I could’ve recorded video of it!
My parents arrived to London Saturday morning where we met at their hotel in South Kensington. It was a pretty eventful next 3 days where we went sightseeing and I had the chance to show them around (namely via Tube). During their stay we went to the Natural History Museum, Westminster Cathedral for Sunday mass, Big Ben & the Parliament Building, the London Eye, the Victoria Station area, the Tower of London, and Chinatown. By far, my two favorite places we visited happen to be the most popular tourist attractions in the city: the Eye and the Tower.
The London Eye is one of those attractions everyone should really do at some point during their stay in London. I mean, who can pass up being suspended 500 feet in the air in a bubble overlooking the entire city? The lines were surprisingly speedy too. My Dad also purchased the little guide book that described the buildings in each direction. You really can’t beat the view.
The Tower of London was pretty sweet, in the nerdy history-loving kinda way. It was just neat to walk (sometimes run) around a place that I’ve read so much about. The Yeoman Warden tour was pretty entertaining and insightful, another must-do. However, I was particularly enthusiastic–admittedly, I was the only one in my 100+ person tour group who took notes the entire time.
The Crown Jewels were also a highlight of our visit there. I didn’t think I’d be too interested in that sort of thing, but it’s pretty crazy to actually see them in-person. So much sparkle… As I left the Jewel House all I could think of was how badly I wanted diamonds, hah. Read the rest of this entry »
Six months ago this city was pretty foreign to me, so it was comforting to arrive and actually know my way around, more or less. I spent my first 3 days in London working from our office here and really enjoyed it. Not to mention, my jet lag wasn’t nearly as bad as it was the first time I traveled here (melatonin supplements for the win). It was good to meet with folks, see familiar faces, do project work in-person, and have an overall productive business trip. I was actually a little bit hesitant to leave on vacation because there are just so many things going on right now that I’m excited about. I managed to overcome my workaholic-impulse though and promised myself not to come into the office on my holiday. Instead, I only worked a bit Saturday from the hotel to wrap up things that needed to be done before I left.
Work aside though, I had a couple chances to go out for drinks with some colleagues which was great. Had previously never met the [User] Experience team here and they were a lot fun. Also, on Friday night (after an office-wide gathering at a nearby pub) I had the opportunity to meet up with Jake! We had dinner in Soho and it was nice catching up with him. Overall, it was a good first leg of my trip and I look forward to my next opportunity to go back.
With that, I’ll leave you with a few funny UK-customs I’ve started to get accustomed to:
1) Being asked if I want still water or sparkling (have learned to ask for tap)
2) Drinking on the sidewalks (think pub overflow)
3) When looking for “take out” ask for “take away”‘
4) Everything being terribly expensive
5) Using an Oyster Card
Eh, I’m tired. That’ll have to do for now. I’ve spent the last 3 days sightseeing with my parents who have just come off their two-week European cruise. Tomorrow I leave to Germany. More on both these counts later. In the meantime, check out my Flickr. Later!
So Nielsen says 95% of blog readers don’t comment. I’d agree with that, especially when thinking of my own blogroll. But what if you gave your blog readers another option to share their thoughts in another way than filling out a form?
To give the concept a shot, I installed the ClickComments plugin, where instead of commenting, you now have the option to just click a button based on your reaction to content. I like this idea of passive feedback. Granted, its creative execution isn’t all that hot, but it’s a start. Here’s a video:
