Things to do in Baden Württemberg
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Baden-Baden Casino
Inside the palatial Kurhaus - besides lavish festival halls used for balls, conventions, concerts, dance competitions and weddings - is the opulent Baden-Baden Casino, opened in 1838 and reminiscent of the 19th century or a 1970s James Bond film, depending on your proclivities.
Its décor, which seeks to emulate - indeed, outdo - the splendour of France's famed chateaux, such as Versailles, led Marlene Dietrich to call it 'the most beautiful casino in the world'. After observing the action here, Dostoevsky was inspired to write The Gambler.
You need your passport or European national ID card to enter, and cell phones must be switched off. Games include French and American…
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Caracalla-Therme
The modern Caracalla-Therme, which opened in 1985 and is named for a Roman emperor, has more than 900 square metres of outdoor and indoor pools, hot and cold water grottoes, various whirlpools, therapeutic water massages, a surge channel and a range of saunas, including a new log-cabin sauna. Bathing suits (available for purchase) must be worn everywhere except in the upstairs sauna; towels can be rented. Children are admitted from age three.
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Einstein Fountain & Monument
About 750m northeast of the Münster in front of the 16th-century Zeughaus (arsenal), at the northern end of Zeughausgasse, stands a fiendishly funny fountain dedicated to Albert Einstein, who was born in Ulm but left aged one year. The nearby health administration building, at Zeughaus 14, bears a single stone attached to the wall with the inscription Ein Stein (One Stone).
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Schiller's Café
Whisper quietly about this half-timbered cafe, housed in one of Heidelberg's oldest buildings, where the film Schiller, produced by ARD, was filmed in 2005. Hot chocolates like cannabis-cinnamon, homemade cakes, quiches, and wines are mostly organic and/or gluten-free.
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Brass Monkey
On the Altstadt, at the entrance to the bridge side, is a statue of a Brass Monkey holding a mirror and surrounded by mice: touch the mirror for wealth, the outstretched fingers to ensure you return to Heidelberg and the mice to ensure you have many children.
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Café Gekco
Far from the madding crowd, this groovy cafe has a palmlike canopy of halogen lights. It's great for brunch, lunch (€6 to €7), tapas and cocktails.
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Markthalle
Self-caterers can try the Markthalle, which sells picnic fixings and has Italian and Swabian restaurants.
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Mensa Marstall
A well-liked student cafeteria two blocks north of Universitätsplatz.
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D'Besa am Kelterplätzle
From about October to March, wine growers throughout the region attach a broom (Besen) to the front of their homes to indicate that they're open for business as a Besenwirtschaft, a small restaurant where people can drink and purchase the new vintage. They also serve lunch and dinner.
The meals usually feature typical Swabian dishes like Kartoffelsuppe (potato soup), Gaisburger Marsch (a stew of sliced potatoes, noodles and beef) and the evil-sounding Schlachtplatte (sauerkraut with pork belly, liver, lard, sausage and smoked meat, served with peas and other vegetables). Some Besenwirtschaften open every year, but most don't. D'Besa am Kelterplätzle is open every year, a…
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Weingut Ruoff
From about October to March, wine growers throughout the region attach a broom (Besen) to the front of their homes to indicate that they're open for business as a Besenwirtschaft, a small restaurant where people can drink and purchase the new vintage. They also serve lunch and dinner. Some Besenwirtschaften open every year, but most don't. Weingut Ruoff, in a fabulous house built in 1550 (take the S1 to Obertürkheim), is one of the few that's open every year.
Meals usually feature typical Swabian dishes like Kartoffelsuppe (potato soup), Gaisburger Marsch (a stew of sliced potatoes, noodles and beef) and the evil-sounding Schlachtplatte (sauerkraut with pork belly, liver…
reviewed
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Stuttgarter Weinwanderweg
The Stuttgarter Weinwanderweg is the name given to two walking trails that head through vineyards so lush and pastoral that you'll hardly believe that some of the world's most advanced motorcar factories are just over the hill.
One begins 3km due north of the Hauptbahnhof at the Pragsattel light rail station (on the U5 or U6 line) and goes northeast to the Max-Eyth-See. The other is a circuit that takes you from the Obertürkheim train station (on the S1), 6km east of the Hauptbahnhof, via Uhlbach (served by buses 62 and 65 from Obertürkheim) to Untertürkheim (also on the S1) and, if you like, back to Obertürkheim.
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Deutsches Apothekenmuseum
Infinitely more fun than science lessons, the Deutsches Apothekenmuseum, off the courtyard, explores chemistry and pharmacology in centuries past. Look out for the hands-on kids' pharmacy (healthy tea anyone?) and miracle cures from opiates to, hmmm, unicorn. With a capacity of more than 220,000L, the 18th-century Grosses Fass (Great Vat) is the world's largest wine cask, shaped from 130 oak trees. Describing it as being 'as big as a cottage', Mark Twain bemoaned its emptiness and mused on its possible functions as a dance floor and gigantic cream churn.
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Studentenkarzer
From 1778 to 1914, students convicted of misdeeds, such as womanising, inebriation or freeing the local pigs, were tossed into the Studentenkarzer, behind the Alte Universität, where they were detained for at least three days and fed only bread and water. Delinquents doing more time could interrupt their sentence for critical reasons (say, to take exams). In certain circles, a stint in the Karzer was de rigueur to prove one's manhood. Judging by the inventive graffiti and inscriptions, some found their stay highly entertaining.
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Baden-Baden Theater
The Baden-Baden Theater is a neo-baroque confection of white-and-red sandstone whose frilly interior looks like a miniature version of the Opéra-Garnier in Paris. It forms the gateway to Lichtentaler Allee, an elegant park promenade which follows the flow of the Oosbach from Goetheplatz, adjacent to the Kurhaus, to Kloster Lichtenthal about 3km south.
Even today, it's not hard to imagine the movers and shakers of 19th-century Europe - aristocrats, diplomats, artists and writers - taking leisurely strolls along this fragrant avenue.
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Max-Eyth-See
On warm summer days, Stuttgarters young and old - including Turkish families with portable barbecue equipment - flock to the Max-Eyth-See, a lake and park right on the Neckar (and on the U14 line). The water is hardly pristine, so swimming is out, but there's a great bike path here - in fact it's part of the Neckartal-Radweg.
Along the river, the steep hills still have some older terraced-style vineyards; many of the little Wengerter Häuschen (tool sheds) that dot the hillside are over 200 years old and are protected landmarks.
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Friedrichsbad
If it's the body of Venus and the complexion of Cleopatra you desire, take the waters in the sumptuous 19th-century Friedrichsbad. As Mark Twain put it: 'after 10 minutes you forget time; after 20 minutes, the world'. Modesty, rheumatic aches and the nudity of fellow bathers are soon forgotten as you slip into the regime of steaming, scrubbing, hot-cold bathing and dunking in the Roman-Irish Bath. With its cupola, mosaics and column-ringed pool, the bathhouse is the vision of a neo-Renaissance palace.
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Mannheim Palace
The massive Mannheimer Schloss recently opened to great fanfare after being closed for five years for renovations. Built by Elector Carl Philipp from 1720 to 1760, it was his successor Carl Theodor who saw its completion and fostered fine arts, music, theatre and science and saw Mannheim reach its cultural zenith in the 18th century.
Subsequently host to legal courts, schools and as apartments for government officials, today most of the building, almost completely destroyed in WWII and rebuilt, houses the university.
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Lichtentaler Allee
Even today you can imagine aristocrats, diplomats and celebrated artist types of 19th-century Europe promenading down this fragrant park avenue, planted with vegetation from around the world. Its gateway is at the main theatre, a neobaroque confection of white-and-red sandstone, and the famed street stops at the 13th-century Cistercian abbey, Kloster Lichtenthal.
This promenade cohabits with the Staatliche Kunsthalle (State Art Gallery), the modern art gallery (Museum Frieder Burda), and the Stadtmuseum (City History Museum).
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Münster
Ooh, it's so big…first-time visitors gush as they strain their neck muscles gazing up to the Münster. It is. And rather beautiful. Celebrated for its 161.5m-high steeple, the world's tallest, this Goliath of cathedrals took a staggering 500 years to build from the first stone laid in 1377. Note the hallmarks on each stone, inscribed by cutters who were paid by the block. Those intent on cramming the Münster into one photo, filigree spire and all, should lie down on the cobbles.
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Schloss
Mannheim's trophy sight is the lemon-and-red sandstone Schloss, Germany's largest baroque palace. Soon after completion in 1760, Elector Karl Theodor moved his court to Munich. The recently restored state rooms are a baroque-gone-mad feast of stucco, marble, porcelain and chandeliers. Mythological gods dance across the walls of the frilly rococo Kabinettsbibliothek (library), while gilt-framed ancestors keep a beady eye on the Rittersaal (Hall of Knights).
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Königstrasse
The focus of Stuttgart's commercial life is the pedestrians-only Königstrasse, a spotlessly clean and conspicuously well-heeled shopping precinct that stretches for a bit over 1km southwestward from the Hauptbahnhof. Halfway down (and contiguous with the Oberer Schlossgarten) is the Schlossplatz, Stuttgart's main public square and a showcase for its cultural riches. In the middle stands the König Wilhelm Jubilee Column, flanked by fountains representing the eight rivers of Baden-Württemberg.
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Ruprecht-Karls-Universität
Despite witty observations about boisterous student duels and drunkenness, Mark Twain points out that 'idle students are not the rule' in Heidelberg in his 1880 novel A Tramp Abroad. Indeed Germany's oldest university, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität, established in 1386 by Count Palatinate Ruprecht I, has plenty of gravitas with a student hall of fame starring composer Robert Schumann and chancellor Helmut Kohl. Today it comprises 18 faculties with 32,000 students from 80 nations.
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Bohnenviertel
The boho-flavoured Bohnenviertel takes its name from the beans that Americans introduced in the 16th century. Back then they were grown everywhere as the staple food of the poor tanners, dyers and craftsmen who lived here. A recent facelift has restored the district's cobbled lanes and gabled houses, which harbour idiosyncratic galleries, workshops, bookstores, wine taverns and cafes. The Bohnenviertel's villagey feel is a refreshing tonic to the big-city feel of central Stuttgart.
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Casino
Marlene Dietrich called it 'the most beautiful casino in the world'. Indeed, inside the palatial Kurhaus (besides lavish festival halls) is the flashy casino, reminiscent of a 1970s Bond film. Built in 1838, its decor sought to outdo France's Versailles palace. The Florentiner Saal with its chandelier fleet is also called the 'Hall of The Thousand Candles'.
You need your passport or European national ID card to enter. Games include French and American roulette, baccarat, blackjack and poker.
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Ulmer Museum
It's easy to spend half a day discovering the outstanding Ulmer Museum, which romps through ancient and modern art, history and archaeology. Standouts feature the 20th-century Kurt Fried Collection, starring Klee, Picasso and Lichtenstein works. Archaeological highlights include tiny Upper Palaeolithic figurines, unearthed in caves in the Swabian Alps, including the 30, 000-year-old ivory Löwenmensch (lion man), the world's oldest zoomorphic sculpture.
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