We stayed at a delightful, lovely hotel in Baden-Baden called Batschari Suites Hotel. It is located on Mozart Street. Baden-Baden is a very "touristy" town, known for its baths and casino. We weren't compelled to take advantage of either, by the way. :-)

Our room was located on the upper level with an outside entrance.

Oh, my! A tub in the middle of the bathroom with a shower and no shower curtain (and no washcloths)! Very interesting! ha There was a minor lake on the floor once I had taken the quickest (and most careful) shower of my life, so I used up the towels in the bathroom to try and soak up the water on the slate floor. :-)

The entrance to our "suite" at Batschari Suites Hotel, Baden-Baden, Germany

Looking down into the courtyard from outside our room, Baden-Baden

This lady hung outside the window of our bedroom at the Batschari Suites Hotel the entire four days we were at the hotel. She moved only to capture some meal prospects (ugh!), and then would get right back into her upside-down position to have that meal. When I took the picture below, she was moving her front legs (is that what they're called?) feverishly.

We would leave Baden-Baden late Thursday afternoon, September 24th, in order to drive north to Frankfurt where we would spend the night at a hotel very near the Frankfurt Airport. Our flight would leave Frankfurt Friday, 9/25, at 12:45 PM; we would arrive back at O'Hare about 3:00 PM the same day after a 9-hour flight to Chicago. (Chicago is seven hours behind Germany.)

However, before leaving Baden-Baden, we went downtown for dinner at a restaurant near the huge and very beautiful casino. The photo above is looking out toward a stately building and "yon" mountain.

The Opera House, Baden-Baden

PJ, colorful flowers on a bridge over canal, Baden-Baden

There were colorful flowers on every bridge over the canal.

Opposite direction, Baden-Baden waterway with outdoor restaurant to the right

Gorgeous park, trees, brick walkways, church steeples in Baden-Baden

The church with two steeples, fountain in front

A photo cannot capture the beauty of this brick pedestrian area, downtown Baden-Baden

Lovely building, downtown Baden-Baden

Can you believe the cotton-ball clouds over Baden-Baden on a gorgeous fall day?

We stopped for dinner at Rizzi WineBistro for dinner. We sat in the outdoor area. You can see the huge lawn area, and there were fabulous, huge, green trees in abundance!

We walked down the brick pathway so that I could get a photo of Rizzi from a distance.

After turning in our rental car and walking underground (toward the Frankfurt Airport terminal area) for what seemed like a mile (!), we expected to find an elevator that would take us to the upper level so that we could check our bags and get boarding passes. When we found NO elevator, Phil left me with the luggage and went up the escalator to ask where the elevator was located. He was told that there IS NO elevator in that building! So, being the improvisational individual that he is, Phil created his OWN elevator! These four photos show the sequence, the first picture with him at the bottom of the escalator with the cart that held all our luggage. :-) (And, by the way, there are signs everywhere saying, "Do Not Use Luggage Carts on Escalator." ha!)

Oh, we are so spoiled! We always expect to take a short walk inside a jetway from the gate to the plane. Well, that's not always the case....and it was NOT the case 9/25. We had to walk down (and carry our carry-on bags) down two flights of stairs; board a bus in which we Chicago-bound passengers were like sardines in a can; then line up and walk UP the stairs (carrying our carry-on bags!) into the plane! Like I said: we are SO spoiled! ha It did feel good to finally get to our business class seats and settle in for our 9-hour flight home.

Above: the United 777 aircraft waiting for us to board

United wasn't the only airline with planes parked out on the tarmac in what looks like a huge airplane parking lot. (And there were lots of other United planes parked up near the terminal building with jetways reaching out to them!)

Final four photos -- views from the plane window. Above: interesting cloud formation soon after we reached our crusing altitude.

More clouds

Someplace very cold and frozen - perhaps Iceland?

Ah, the green & tan patchwork of the Midwest. We would land soon in Chicago...and be back in our beloved United States of America. It's always great to visit other places, but there's NO place like home!

From the time Phil and I were married, vacation time was most often spent in Florida. I was raised there; my sisters and other family lived there; and it provided sunshine and water, which have always been the factors that were important to both of us. We continued to head southward from Illinois every year for time with our three daughters, and from the time they were all very young, we went to Sanibel Island off the coast of western Florida, just south of Ft. Myers.

Nothing has changed. We continue vacationing on Sanibel, as we have had a timeshare there for almost thirty years. Now that our Kimberly and her husband, Paul, have a timeshare on the island, we continue to enjoy the tranquility and relaxation that has always been our pleasure at Sanibel Island.

We just spent a week at our timeshare, Hurricane House, the beginning of September. Kim and Paul, Julia and Jason-Paul stayed with us at our timeshare, while Kim and Paul graciously allowed Paul's sister, Andrea, her husband, Adam, and their brand new baby daughter, Corinne, to spend the week in their unit at Surfrider. Since Paul's parents, Bob & Evelyn, have a timeshare at Surfrider also, we all had the pleasure of being on Sanibel the same week.

The photo above, which I took several years ago, was taken from the beach, looking at Hurricane House.

The beach, looking eastward

Looking westward at the Gulf of Mexico, sunset

Hurricane House from the beach

The pool area of Hurricane House. You can see Kim and Phil returning after they enjoyed a long father/daughter walk & talk on the beach. (I just happened to be at the top of the stairway when they came back...thus, the chance to get the photo.) Kim told me, "We didn't stop to pick up *one* shell!" (That's unusual for those two.) :-)

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Landscaping between HH and beach area

Kim & Phil ready to get in the pool and cool off after their long walk

Paul/Kim, Andrea/Adam, Evelyn/Bob

Jason-Paul, Julia Jo, Corinne

Kim's hubby, Paul, and Jason-Paul (18 months)

Little girl cousins, Julia Jo and Corinne

Sweet Jason-Paul

A guy can always enjoy chewing on a girl cousin's pink pacifier!