Tuesday, September 3rd. First full day in Baden Baden

They say here that this place is so good that they had to name it twice.  And we would have to agree with that.  Sun is shining again and the temperatures reached 26 degrees.  It’s a more comfortable 26 than in Amsterdam or Antwerp or anywhere in the Netherlands because the climate here is drier.  So we had a lovely day just wandering the streets of Old Town and through a beautiful park.  It was just nice to be walking on soft green grass for a change.  We have put on plenty of miles walking on cobblestones and cement. The one thing here, that is so far hard to find, is a decent grocery store.  There is a couple of pricey markets close to us and one Asian market that is pretty good.  But there are a lot of things that are hard to find. We did eventually find the spices that I was looking for and some herbs.  Of which fresh basil was one.  You can only get it fresh here by buying the whole plant. When I told the clerk that we were travelling she said that she could cut the basil leaves for me.  Great says I........I only need a few branches.  Oh no says she.  She has to cut all the branches.  How much will that be I ask.  Well the same as buying the whole plant.  So I have a lovely basil plant.  That will, by the way , come to France with me! When we got home Ian googled “where to find a grocery store near us” and found an Aldi only four kilometres away. So off we went.  We have shopped in Aldi lots of times in Britain and they are pretty good.  We both agreed that it was the worst grocery store we have ever been in.  Selection was poor and everything was so mixed up it was hard to find. No such thing as an Asian isle.  Anyway in the end we got enough groceries to put together a curry.  (Ian’s specialty). It only took about four stores.  So tomorrow we are going to search for a “real” grocery store and just do some more exploring.  Tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer.
We needed the assistance of our hostess Susan again this evening as we could not figure out the can opener.  Turns out neither could she.  So she brought us a new one.  She is unbelievable.  She has told us to call her whenever we want all our towels or sheets washed.  Or anything else we need.  I would recommend this Air bob to anyone.