Trip to Weisbaden

It was a grey, foggy day but not raining thank goodness. After our nice German breakfast of eggs, cheese, many homemade jams and fresh rolls we all got in Ange and Oli’s car and headed off to Weisbaden to see the Russian Orthodox Church and to walk in the woods with the dog.

We arrived at a funicular train station and caught the next one up.

Unfortunately the views were not great due to the fog.

It was then a short walk downhill to see the Russian Orthodox Church.

It was small but very spectacular. It had been built by a Russian duke for his 19 year old wife, niece of the tsar, who had died from childbirth with her child but also from tuberculosis.

It’s sad to see the sculpture of her on her death bed as her tomb.

The church is very grand with lots of gold everywhere.

Next to the church is the largest Russian graveyard outside Russia with some notable people including artist Alexej von Jawlensky and a Prince and Princess - both children of Tsar Alexander II.

We then went for a walk in the woods to give Queen Tor a good surface for her to walk on with her wobbly legs. She did very well and managed a good pace that helped her legs work well.

After our walk we went back down the hill on the funicular.

We then drove to the old traditional Viennese cafe Maldaner in Weisbaden for afternoon tea.

There were a few interesting sights on the way, including a little fountain with hot water from the natural springs. Of course it’s a Roman bath town!

The Maldaner Cafe has been going since 1859 and has an amazing display of cakes.

It’s authorized to sell the genuine Sacher Torte chocolate cake - which Glenn had. I had a raspberry cheesecake .

We all enjoyed the comfortable old fashioned setting.

Oli had an interesting dish called Kauserschmarrn - or Emperors Mess. It’s a fluffy pancake served with raisins, almond flakes and a plum compote. The story is that the Austrian emperor liked touring the country and arrived unexpectedly at a house. They cobbled together the ingredients they had to make this dish - and the emperor liked it a lot. So then everyone else wanted it too - so it became famous. I thought it was quite nice - but preferred my cheesecake.

After enjoying all those bad things we headed back to Ange and Olis. Later on we had Oli’s excellent lentil soup with apple vinegar - a very interesting and good combination.

We then had a very close game of card game 5 Crowns - but I luckily won in the end. We were all happy to get an early night - especially the dog Quintor who was exhausted after her big day of running.