Friedrichsbad—The Utimate Badding Experience

All you thermal bath aficionados take note—the ultimate bad experience is to be had in aptly named Baden-Baden, Germany, known for its thousands-of-years-old mineral-rich thermal springs. Literally translated the name means bathing-bathing and that is what you can do in Baden-Baden where there are two huge thermal baths.

The modern facility, the Caracalla Spa, has indoor and outdoor pools, sauna, whirlpools and offers a range of spa therapies. At Caracalla, men and women bathe together wearing bathing suits in the pools and saunas, lounging in robes on the deck chairs and solarium.

Not so at the Friedrichsbad where the badding is au naturel—no suits, no nothing, except your own skin. Based on a Roman-Irish tradition, the thermal experience warms and cools your body through seventeen stations or rooms. The rooms are numbered but you do not have to follow them in exact order. In fact you won't  follow the numbers if you pay the extra fee for the soap/brush scrub down—highly recommended.

The grand stone building harkens back to another era, as do the spa rooms. Once your clothes are stashed in your locker, you don a long narrow sheet (called a towel but it is not) and enter the shower room. Here you rinse off and can go into one of two pools, or go through the door into the first warm room. I don't know how they do it, but in the warm-air and hot-air rooms the lounge chairs emanate heat which saturates your body. The protocol is to lay your sheet down on the lounger and then you on top of it for hygiene's sake. And speaking of cleanliness, the lack of chlorine aroma is definitely appreciated (I believe they purify with ozone).

Room number 3—the hot-air room (154ºF)—was my personal favorite—with beautiful tile-covered walls adorned with hand-painted colorful birds. This room is serene and soaks your body with deep heat. The steam room (my second favorite) is where one waits patiently for the scrub down. You can leave and go into the larger pools beyond, but don't miss out on your massage number or you will regret it. I invoked the Kneipp theory of immersing your extremities in cold water by employing the cold water hoses dotting the steam room, which uses natural geothermal heat as its warming source.

The scrub down is all too brief for my liking but wonderful nonetheless. Your sheet is laid down on a stone table and you on it. Soft or hard brush? I chose medium. Expert hands lather you with soap and scrub you from head to toe, both sides, before you are tapped and told to rinse off in the little shower within the massage room.

Then off you go to finish your water therapy. Some people spend three to four hours luxuriating in the spa, others make short order of it and are done in less than two. My advice, don't miss the finale—the resting or relaxation room. This is the cherry on top—a circular room with massage tables where the attendant wraps you in a warm sheet and then a blanket like you are a papoose. The tranquil, nurturing space allows your nervous system to integrate the deep healing of the waters and warmth. Linger here for as long as you want.

The bad is open year-round. Three days a week (Monday, Thursday and Saturday), men and women bathe separately except for the two  center pools which can be avoided by the modest. The rest of the week bathing is fully coed, so the shy and modest should plan accordingly.

The bad is open every day from 9:00 am to 10:00 pm, but you must arrive at least two hours before closing. Prices are 23, 35 or 47 Euros depending on whether you are getting a massage or not.

Friedrichsbad, Römerplatz 1, 76530 Baden-Baden; Tel: 07221 275970

Finally! A Portable Glass Water Bottle

My choice of portable water bottle is a perpetual conundrum for me.

Plastic has the longest list of undesirable features. For starters I honestly can't stand the taste of water sitting in plastic. Then, beyond taste, there is the issue of the plastic chemicals leaching into the water causing all sorts of potential health problems. While bisphenol-a (BPA) is the newest culprit on that list, the issues of plastic-leaching containers has been around for decades. Over thirty years ago I worked for the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) where in the early 1980s a brilliant scientist named Walter Hang (who now works for Toxics Targeting) released a ground-breaking report about HDPE plastic (commonly used in one-gallon water jugs and milk containers) leaching into water and milk. While true that harder plastics seem to leach less than softer plastics, the recent BPA reports have shown that all sorts of plastics have potential problems. As if that weren't enough, there is the perennial predicament of the environmental consequences of plastic manufacturing and disposal. So while plastic bottles are light and seemingly easy, they fail as a good choice on many other counts.

The next light-weight option is aluminum. I do not use aluminum cookware or anti-perspirants made with aluminum—any substance that might contribute to my already challenged memory I try to avoid  as best I can. So needless to say, sipping water from an aluminum bottle is not high on my list.

Then there is stainless steel, or at least what we are told is stainless steel. Some may say I am too picky, but I suspect that a lot of what is sold as stainless steel is not, but rather mixed with metals that I would rather not be drinking from.  That, coupled with the metallic taste, makes stainless steel a tempting but non-option for me.

This leaves me with glass or gourds. Sadly, gourds are not practical. Glass would be perfect were it not for it being heavy, highly breakable, and difficult to find the correct bottle shape for both drinking and cleaning (that is, wide enough to clean, but narrow enough to drink from comfortably without dripping everywhere).

You can see why walking out of the house (or lodging when I am traveling) with a water bottle poses such a dilemma for me.

I am happy to report that I have found the answer to my quandary. Based in neighboring Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the Bamboo Bottle Company has designed a water bottle comprised of glass, BPA-free plastic and bamboo.

This is how it works. The actual bottle is made of sturdy glass (made with 51% recycled glass) which can hold hot or cold beverages— a huge advantage over plastic. The mouth of the bottle meets my requirements—wide enough for easy cleaning, while appropriately-sized for dripless drinking. The BPA-free plastic provides the nuts and bolts of the bottle, keeping the glass in its protective and insulating bamboo casing. The components disassemble for cleaning—you can hand wash the glass bottle or put it in a dishwasher (the plastic parts can go in the dishwasher as well, but keep the bamboo sleeve out of the machine and even the sink—simply wipe clean with a damp cloth for the longest life).

The Bamboo Bottle holds just over a pint (16 ounces) of liquid and has a thermos-like feel to it. With the top on, the bottle is 10.25 inches tall and 3 inches in diameter, just making the size-cut for my small hands.

No plastic or metallic after-taste or leaching—check. No exposed, breakable glass—check. Reusable, low-impact materials with a long-life span—check. While close to perfection, I do hold out hope that some day the plastic parts can be made from a sustainable, non-polluting material (the company says they are aiming for plastic-free in the future). Until then, I will be happy with my Bamboo Bottle and cross the search for the perfect water-bottle off my to-do list.

Eggs in Europe

Travelers from the United States may be quite surprised when they are shopping at markets and in stores in Europe to find that eggs are often not refrigerated. In fact they are often not even in cartons, but available for the picking into your own container.

At the markets in Spain you will find stacks of eggs at egg stands - brown, white, ecologico, conventional. In France, Germany and Switzerland the same holds true. Once the eggs are purchased, most people store them in their refrigerators at home, but some will leave them in a cool spot if they will be using them within a few days.

Part of the problem in the United States is that the food is often subjected to what I refer to as "shelf-life syndrome" where the focus is not on nutritional value or freshness but rather on how long the products will last on the shelves minimizing waste for manufacturers, grocers and big-box stores. As consumers, we loose, of course, since we not only get food altered to last far longer than nature intended, but we also miss out on the vitality, the richness and the beauty that fresh, local food offers.

I am afraid that eggs in the United States meet with the same fate, unless you are lucky enough to live where there are small farms, so hence they are refrigerated to help them last a long time.

When egg shopping I would err on the side of organic especially when buying room-temperature eggs since studies have shown that while all eggs run the risk of Salmonella, only about one quarter of organic and free range have the Salmonella contamination found more readily in conventional eggs, with the bonus that organic eggs have been found to contain more Vitamin E, beta-carotene and omega-3 fats with up to  a third less cholesterol than industrial-produced eggs.

Having spent time on a farm when I was a kid and later having had my own homestead-scale farm, I am familiar with the practice of storing eggs on a cool, shaded shelf especially when they will be used quickly.  I think this was, and is, customary for truly farm-fresh eggs. So don't be alarmed or put off by the piles of open-air eggs while you are traveling and be thankful for the culture of fresh.

Thoughts on Traveling, Volcanic Eruptions and Mother Earth

Happy Earth Day - celebrate for a lifetime!

I think it is most appropriate that for the week or so preceding Earth Day that Mother Nature reminded us of her power. While travelers around the world had to deal with flight delays and cancellations as well as commerce being disrupted, the Icelandic Volcano eruption gave the world a pause. What seemed like an eternity to those stuck in airports was really just a few days in an era of constant flights when a part of the globe had a breath of no air traffic. Travel by rail swelled and some people took the cue to change their state of mind and enjoy some extra time wherever they were.

Airline companies have been complaining about how much money per day they lost and about undue flight restrictions, but all would-be travelers I have spoken with agree - as possibly inconvenient or uncomfortable having plans disrupted might be, they would rather be on the ground in one piece than 30,000 feet in the air with a frozen airplane engine - that is what most would call a no-brainer. And if the airlines are wanting to utilize the tenuous risk-assessment model, I suggest they leave that people-unfriendly calculation to the nuclear power industry (where it shouldn't be employed either), and stick to common sense as I am sure anything they have lost is still far less than what a major accident would have cost them.

In New England you learn a bit to live with the mentality of succumbing to Mother Nature. When there is a big snow or ice storm and driving is precarious, you hunker down and enjoy the respite. If you try to persevere in spite of it you usually end up in a ditch -- or worse.

Travelers, businesses and most everyone can heed the lesson and open their minds to a more creative way of looking at the world and what we are"entitled" to as a group of world citizens who feel they should be able to travel whenever and wherever they want. In this false world we have created of instant gratification, and the expectation of instant gratification, maybe we need more pauses. Maybe we should have certain weeks in the year when there is no air traffic (I can hear the screams now) and give ourselves and Mother Earth a literal and figurative breather, allowing for the possibility of changing how we treat the planet and each other.

As more of us humans lose touch with the reality of Mother Nature and her forces and are under the misguided notion that we reign supreme over the earth - think again. The Earth has been here far longer than we have and will surely be here long after we have destroyed ourselves. Whether we humans debate it, ponder it, like it or not -  the Earth does have dominion over us, not the other way around. Thank goodness.


Photo courtesy of NASA: http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view_rec.php?id=2429

Natural Body Care on the Road in Europe and Spain

10 days until Earth Day - celebrate for a lifetime! 

If you are "traveling naturally" in Europe you will happily find a large variety of natural body care products in health food stores and pharmacies. High quality cosmetics and body care products  tend to have a special label on them - BDIH Certified Natural Cosmetics. This is a branch of a German association dealing with health and body care. The guidelines for BDIH Certified Natural Cosmetics cover raw materials, animal protection and preservatives, as well as ecological and social "compatibility."

There are over 100 Certified producers - mostly European companies - with a heavy emphasis on German firms including well known names such as Weleda, Dr. Hauschka, and Logona. If you are traveling in Spain and wanting to try some Spain-made natural body care products, you can look for Geoderm Ecological Cosmetics.

Geoderm is the first body care company in Spain to be BDIH certified. Based in Benitachell in the region of Alicante along the Mediterranean, the company offers a variety of products made from organic ingredients including lotions, shampoo, cleansers, creams and mint-free toothpaste for those taking homeopathic remedies.

Look for the Geoderm products in health food stores and drug stores around Spain. Other common Spain-made natural body care products include handmade bar-soaps and Agua de Azahar (orange blossom water). There are also regional artisans making natural products such as La Casa de la Luna Media a cooperative making herbal body care products and natural medicinals from organic herbs in the Castellon area of Spain about one hour north of Valencia city.

Eco-Traveler Alert: Dolphin Shows- Don't Go

Travelers contemplating going to see any Dolphin shows thinking they might be considered "eco" due to the "natural" content - please take note:

These are NOT environmentally friendly and create a horrible (and profitable) trade in dolphins resulting in gruesome deaths for the captured but rejected dolphins.

Please watch the Academy-Award winning documentary, The Cove, to learn more about this issue and the genocide-like horrors that take place in Japan.

Even the best-intentioned facilities require dolphins from the wild. Please do not support this activity. Countries with the highest number of dolphinariums include Japan (34), the United States (31), Mexico (19), Spain (10), Ukraine (7), Turkey (5), Russia (5), Italy (5), Cuba (5), Germany (3), France (3), and Dominican Republic (3).

The Cove - watch it!

Action after Watching The Cove

Some non-profit organizations offering more in depth information about dolphins:
Dolphin Care UK- Information about why "Swim with Dolphins" programs should be stopped

Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society offers plentiful information including why worldwide  captivity programs should be stopped

Cousteau Society

See the list of Dolphinariums around the world so you can know what to avoid and also, if you are so inclined, to write letters expressing your revulsion at Dolphin capture and captivity.


Photo: Bottlenose Dolphin - NASA

Green Travel Bags for the New Year

It is getting easier all the time to make environmental choices when purchasing items as companies get increasingly creative with incorporating recycled materials into their products. If you are in the market for green luggage and packs, you are in luck. Heys and Osprey are two such companies specializing in travel gear.

Heys, a Toronto based company, has been making innovative luggage for over twenty years. They have two green choices in their luggage line. The sturdy EcoOrbis rolling suitcases are made from 100% recycled ABS plastic. These come in four colors (red, black, lilac and beige) in three standard sizes and have 360º wheels and an aluminum handle. Their EcoTex line is made from recycled water bottles and includes duffle-style and accessory bags.

Heys International ships only in Canada. Heys USA ships to customers in the U.S. At Heys USA you can search by state to find stores that carry the Heys bags. In the U.S. EcoOrbis luggage is called EcoCase. The EcoCase is available in more colors and has a different embossed design on the exterior, but the bags like their Canadian counterparts are made out of 100% recycled ABS plastic.

Osprey packs, makers of excellent backpacks in all shapes and sizes, make a line of day-pack and accessory bags out of 100% recycled PET plastic. Their ReSource line uses recycled content in the mesh pockets, binding tape, webbing, buckles and zipper pulls in addition to the overall bag fabric with a commitment to using at least 70% recycled materials in the bags. This means that while the fabric is 100% recycled material, other components of the bags like the spacer mesh may only be 55% recycled material.

These bags made from recycled materials provide great options for the eco-traveler. We can hope that the future will bring  even more options for  ecological products and conscientious travel. Happy New Year.

Toilets and Traveling

I consider myself relatively easy going about toilets and bathroom facilities. That is I have gone backwoods camping and once lived with nothing more than an outhouse for almost four years. So it is not that I require luxury. However, when traveling I am amazed at the state of some toilettes.

I have gotten used to traveling with a package of tissues as I often come upon toilets without any toilet paper – and for that matter sometimes with no seat or even toilet! In some Italian, French and Spanish public toilets you will find the toilet paper in a common hallway, not in the stalls, and mere holes in the floor as toilets. These are not so bad as long as you have your squatting muscles in shape and have remembered to gather your toilet paper prior to entering your stall.

It is the urine saturated sticky floors, with used paper and towels stuck in various places, and unflushed toilets full of merde that send me in to winces and shivers. No one is caring for these bathrooms. 

So when I come upon toilets where you have to pay, and others are grumbling about the audacity of charging for urination, I am delighted to find clean, well-tended bathrooms. I would rather piss on the grass or by a tree anytime than go into the gross, urine and feces saturated cesspools that are often available.

In Spain most toilets are free, or free to customers. Do not be surprised, especially in southern areas, if you see people (admittedly usually men) peeing in the street, or by a dumpster or park tree. I would not recommend this since it only adds to the eau-de-pee often wafting from certain side streets.

I am told that in Paris this will get you a hefty fine. Fortunately in France you have a selection of toilettes - both free and fee. Many of the train station bathrooms charge .50 to 1 euro for entry. You can pay more for a shower if you are in need.

In London, many train stations charge for toilet use, but free ones can be found at most department stores and at the Covent Garden Market. 

Not surprisingly, Swiss bathrooms are notoriously clean. At the Zurich main train station you pay 2 Swiss francs for the toilets, but let me tell you it is worth it – you could perform surgery in those restrooms of gleaming marble. In Germany toilets also are generally very clean.

I am afraid that Italy does not share the same reputation as Switzerland and Germany, in fact quite the opposite. But look for fee-to-pee toilets at train stations, and also make sure you make use of the facilities at any cafe or museum you are patronizing.

In most European countries you can get by with asking for the toilette or WC. In Spain you will also see signs for Aseo. 

There are many helpful and funny links in cyberspace about bathrooms. A very comprehensive site is the Bathroom Diaries where you can search over 120 countries for bathroom locations and commentary - WOW! 

Visitors to Paris may want to part with 3 euros and download the Paris Pause Pipi Guide offering a useful guide to the public Sanisettes in Paris.There are also numerous links to Paris specific toilets with two especially good ones at Slow Travel and Colleen's Paris.

And for those who want to be prepared no matter what, you can try the new German invention Roadbag pocket urinal for men or the Ladybag  for women.

Tis the Season: More Christmas Markets in France and Germany

A bit back in time, the low-key city of Metz in the Lorraine region of France, east of Paris, is a great place to take in the Christmas Market feel without the bus loads of tourists and jam-packed stalls that are more common in the larger Christmas market cities like Strasbourg, France and Nuremberg, Germany - although those too can be magical to visit as long as you have booked ahead for an in-town hotel.

Metz’s Christmas market is spread out over a few large squares that dot the old part of the city. While you can find crafts and trinkets to buy, the emphasis is far more on delicious holiday treats to eat. Chocolate is big here as well as special pastries and candies honoring Saint Nicolas, and Christmas in general. My favorites were the fresh fruit cups or kabobs coated in fresh chocolate, with your choice of dark chocolate, milk chocolate or white chocolate. All I can say is these are not to be missed. Mulled cider and roasted chestnuts are also plentiful and warming, as well as made-to-order crepes- all delicious.

The region of Lorraine is full of beautiful green farmland producing glorious local foods. Mirabelle plums, dark yellow fruit that is a specialty of the region, can be found in everything from jams to liquors. These are proudly on sale throughout Metz and can be found, along with organic items at La Ferme Lorraine, 2 place Raymond Mondon, 57000 Metz; Tel : 387 630 909; Web: www.la-ferme-lorraine.com; open Monday 3:30 to 7:00 pm, Tuesday through Thursday from 9:00 am to 1:00pm/2:30 to 7:00, Friday from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm, and Saturday from 8:30 am to 6:00 pm located just a few blocks from the train station. 

The Metz Christmas Market, as well as its larger counterparts, are all magical affairs filled with lights, wonderful food, and good cheer, reminding us of the Christmas spirit past rather than the shopping spirit of the present.

Happy holidays!

Strasbourg Christmas Market – see info on earlier post

Metz Christmas Market - more information on earlier post 

Colmar France Christmas Market is from  November 25 to December 31

Nuremberg Germany Christmas Market has 180 booths with traditional Christmas fare from November 27 to December 24, 2009. Open every day from 9:30 am to 8:00 pm (10:00 pm on weekends).

Munich Germany Christmas Market has a 100-foot tall Christmas tree glittering with 2500 candles from November 27 to December 24, 2009. Open every day from 10:00 am to 8:30 pm (9:00 am to 8:30 on Saturdays, 10:00 to 7:30 on Sundays).

Solar Ulm Germany

The city of Ulm Germany is a green traveler’s delight. It is biker friendly and boasts its own solar energy foundation. My hosts in Ulm live in one of the surrounding towns and they both bike to work every day in the city – in fact they don’t own a car. They have studded winter tires on their bikes and one bike has clocked over 150,000 km in just a couple of years.
My hosts occasionally borrow their parent’s car and between the two families (my hosts and the parents) they have put a whopping 2,500 km on the car in just over a year. This was slightly embarrassing for this green traveler who at home puts between 25,000 and 30,000 miles per year on her car – over ten times what they do. My miniscule off-set was riding a borrowed bicycle to and from the city with them.
Germany has a Solar League – www.solarbundesliga.de - where cities and towns compete to get the highest solar rating in the league. Ulm and Freiborg vie for 1st place in their large city size grouping and they are considered to be the two most solar cities in the country. Freiborg is considered the greenest overall and has a Green party member for mayor.
The city of Ulm leases roofs to companies who want to put solar photovoltaic electric panels on them, and Ulm works with schools to use more solar and renewable energy. The German government also provides generous subsidies to any homeowner or farmer that wants to put solar hot water or electric panels on their property. Many parking garages have photovoltaics on their roofs as well. The largest passive office building in the world is near the Ulm University. And nearby, there is a development of passive, single family homes built during the Project 2000 Expo. Everywhere we were – in the city and in the countryside – solar panels were on many house and barn roofs.
Ulm’s Solar Foundation can be found at: www.solarstiftung.de - Solarstiftung, Muncherstrasse 4, Ulm; 071-161-6080. They offer a self-guided solar tour through Ermingen, which includes 12 houses with solar photovoltaic and/or hot water panels. The Foundation operates a solar ferry and solar-infomobil in Ulm during the summer months.
My last day there – a very foggy day - we went to see the source of the Blau (Blue) river that runs through Ulm and the surrounding villages. It really is Blue at the source and comes from deep underground limestone caves which adventuresome divers have discovered. In the car we went on our own solar tour – easy to do in that area, and then came to six, ghostly, gentle giants in a huge pasture – with the slightest whoosh as the windmill arms turned. It took my breath away. I was thrilled to see the windmills so close through the mist and fog.
My tours of health food stores in Ulm turned up some delicious items including milk chocolate made with organic sheep milk instead of cow’s milk -
www.Chocolina.com ; and the same but with organic Goat’s milk - www.chocolisa.com. Both are made by H&H Chocolade Manufactur in Vienna, Austria.
There were lots of organic wines, and organic and gluten-free beers. Natural cosmetics and personal care products are abundant in Germany with special standards overseen by the BDiH - Bundesverband deutscher-Industrie-und Handelsunternehmen – the certification seal for natural cosmetics in Germany. Websites at: www.kontrollierte-naturkosmetik.de and www.bdih.de.
On a non-green note, I went to the opera in Ulm. The arts are heavily subsidized. The most expensive ticket to the theater is 33 Euros, a far cry from the cost in the states. The audience was incredibly well behaved, punctual and there were no cell phones glowing during intermission – everyone had turned them off for the evening - how refreshing. The opera was Verdi’s Macbeth – thank goodness I know the story since it was sung in Italian with German subtitles.
My three days in Germany went quickly – and now off to Switzerland.