Baden, Switzerland

Yesterday was the first day of real rain since we left England which isn't so bad on a travel day.  More awesome scenery out the window although with it being overcast you often couldn't see the tops of the mountains.  Very easy and quick transfer from Zurich to Baden and by the time we arrived the rain had stopped.

Baden is not very big place and the hotel was a short walk from the train station.  We're here to take in the Blues Festival Baden and were lucky to run into one of the organizers, Thomas,  at the hotel.  He told us where to find Suzanne, who Denis has been corresponding with prior to us leaving Canada.  She had made our hotel arrangements for us and we're staying at the hotel that the musicians are staying at.  Thomas told us how to get the venue and that Suzanne was there for the sound check.  Another 5 minute walk, found Suzanne who was excited to meet us and have people from Canada come to their festival.  She let us know that they were providing us with VIP passes for both Friday and Saturday nights at no charge!  They are worth more than $300 and include all our drinks and some really nice finger food and balcony view of the stage.  Denis had bought her some Ottawa Blues Society trinkets as gifts and we thought maybe we'd get a T-shirt out of them, never expected free VIP tickets.

We were even more appreciative when we realized how expensive Switzerland is.  Crazy!  We went to get some lunch after checking in to the hotel and ended up at Burger King where 2 Whopper meal cost us about $30!!  Today Denis had $20 spaghetti lunch and I had $12 soup. :)  Good thing we're only here for 2 nights.

Last night we saw Whitey Johnson and Delbert McClinton, both excellent.  And we saw them at breakfast as well. :)  Along with one of the performers who is playing tonight!  Very nice guy; he and his wife are from Mississippi.  It's the most English we've heard in weeks!  And I use english loosely with the guy from Mississippi...he was as hard to understand as some of the Germans.

Oh yeah, when Suzanne kicked off the concert last night, of course it was all in German,  but she did give the Denis and the Ottawa Blues Sociey a call out which was really nice.

Today the sun was shining again but cooler, about 20.  We checked out the local market and bought some goodies to eat on the train tomorrow.  Baden is a pretty town and we did a nice long walk following the river.  After lunch we went to the Thermal Baths.  Baden has the richest mineral thermal water in Switzerland and they had pools both inside and outside.  Very relaxing afternoon and a good way to recover from the miles we've walked recently.   www.thermalbaden.ch

We're seeing |Duke Robbillard tonight (as well as our Mississippi buddy from breakfast who's name escapes me right now) from the VIP balcony. :)  Fairly early start tomorrow, passing through Paris on the way to Rouen.  (Normandy Region)

Baden Market