Delynn is out training for her marathon that comes up the end of the month. She will be joining some staff and parents from school to walk the marathon (42.2 km/26.3 mi). I am so proud of her for sticking to a training schedule that will help her succeed! Today she is scheduled to walk for 5.5 hours - the marathon has to be completed in under 7 hours, so that will be going at a good pace. Go Delynn!

One of the things we love about the Dreiländereck is the way that things are taken care of. Now, we do have graffiti, but it runs the spectrum from useless tagging to really quite well executed works of art. Most of these types are seen from the train as we wiz through the cement jungle around train yards. In Weil a. Rh. the city fills the public spaces with flowers and plants, regularly rotating them out after they have reached their peak. In Basel, they decorate not only the land but the air too. The picture below is of the main tram terminals in front of the Basel Main Rail station. It was a delightful sight after returning home from our visit in the states.



I told you last week that we were going to a Schwingenfest. Well, I have a bit more background thanks to father internet. It is traditionally Swiss with its origins back to the 13th century. It was revived as a sport about 200 years ago to raise Swiss national conciousness during a time of French occupation. What I find fasinating is that the grand prize is a bull! Really, we saw it... They parade it around during the final match so that the opponents can see what they are fighting for. Another nice gesture is that the winner doesn't gloat about his victory but rather whips the sawdust off his adversary's back as they walk out of the ring. Hmmm, there is probably a lesson in there somewhere... For those of you info-junkies about odd facts - you know who you are... here is a link to find out more. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwingen

When Delynn and I returned to Germany, we arrived just a few days before our 13th anniversary. Last year, we were in the midst of transition (getting work visas, moving in, signing up with the Rathaus, drivers licenses, etc. - it makes me tired just writing it...) so we didn't take much time to celebrate our anniversary. I know, poor us. Well, this year we found out that because we had already done all the transitioning last year that we had a few days before school in-service days started. We decided to go off for a couple of days to Baden-Baden to relax and just be us two.

Baden-Baden is found in the Schwarzwald about 2.5 hours north by train from Weil a. Rh. It is near the border with France and the french influence in architecture, wide boulevards, spacious parks and gardens is readily felt. Baden-Baden is a resort town, with natural hot mineral springs that have been a destination since Roman times. They actually have to cool down the water before introducing it into the pools and springs.

There are two main bath complexes in Baden-Baden. One is Friedrichsbad - a so called Roman-Irish bath. Friedrichsbad is attended completely "textile free" except for a towel. The second, pictured above, is the Caracalla Therma which is where we spent an incredible anniversary morning relaxing at the spa. Caracalla lets one bathe in a more modest way - with a bathing suit. The different pools were at various temperatures. Most were in the upper 80's to low 90's Fahrenheit. One grotto had two pools right together, the hot pool at 95+ and the cold pool at 62. It was quite invigorating to go back and forth between them. They had a eucalyptus steam room - what a unique experience. As one enters, the steam is so thick that you can barely see across the dimly lit room, all dark tile and beautiful marble. It reminded me of a Godfather movie where the mobsters sit in steam rooms for nefarious purposes.

The hot mineral springs are piped into the "Trinkhalle" (drinking hall) where for a 30 cents one can buy a cup to enjoy the hot mineral water. Doesn't Delynn look healthier already? Actually, all things considered, it was not too bad. We have been to Bath in England, which is also a Roman mineral spring spa and the water there was nasty with a capital "N"! They advised us there to hold our noses while drinking to make it more palatable. In Baden-Baden, it was good enough that I went back for a second cup (well, I did pay 30 cents for it...)

Here we are in front of the famous Baden-Baden casino. Apparently one needs a tie and jacket to gamble there. (Michael was inappropriately dressed...)

We took a path down to the suburb of Lichtental because there is an abby there. A couple of times it rained so hard that we had to stop and huddle under our single umbrella (but it was very romantic...). Once we reached the abby, everything was pretty much closed up, but we did get a rather nice picture of an abby courtyard wall. Along the path between Baden-Baden and Lichtental are rose and dalia gardens - they must grow well in rain...


Where's Waldo? We had an incredibly good time together in Baden-Baden. We came back to Weil ready for in-service and excited about the coming year. We do ask that as you think of us that you give a prayer for more students this year. Last year saw the transfer of families that made up about 30% of our student body. We do have some new students, but overall, it has been a big change. We are thankful for each student we have, they are all very special to us - and you will start seeing pictures of them soon! School starts Monday!

Love to all