Saturday, October 7th 1854 ~ Baden Baden, Germany

Hotel de la Courde Baden ~ This certainly is a charming place. Very beautifully situated, but looking in itself like all watering places. The streets wide and unpaved, rows of trees, wooden houses etc. Baden is surrounded on three sides by high hills covered with deep woods, and having beautiful walks along their sides extending for miles in every direction. Just behind our hotel is a large flower garden filled with bright autumnal flowers, bounded by a high brick wall and behind it rises one of the three hills to a height, which would make its ascent very toilsome. At a distance of about half a mile in front is the hill which forms the opposite boundary of our little valley. It is somewhat higher than the one behind us and is crowned by an old ruin which was the earliest residence of the Dukes of Baden. This ruin is so embowered by the trees, that it is only seen through the foliage and above it, in its iron strength of other days. We attended service this morning at the English Chapel, but Alice was obliged to remain in the house on account of a bad toothache. At four o’clock Lizzie and myself took a walk to the neighborhood of the great club house, which seems to be the favorite promenade; there a band (a large and fine one) was playing polkas in the open air, while ladies and gentlemen handsomely drest were sitting or walking under thee trees. Nurses teaching children to dance to the music etc. Rather a gay scene for the Sabbath! From here we struck off on one of the paths through the hill side woods, taking religious books with us and using them when quite above society and its [voices]. After returning home we started out again to obtain some medicine for Alice and were informed that the apothecary could only sell a small quantity of landanum (too small to take life) to any one person. Baden is a place where gambling is authorized by law, and this perhaps accounts for such a regulation. In our walk before breakfast this morning, we saw a handsome house of peculiar architecture, with long piazzas, etc. which we found covered the chief springs. We went in and were served from the spring which comes up into the midst of a handsome room with frescoed ceiling. The waters are hot, have no decided taste and resemble in color water slightly tinged with milk. They spring from the ground in thirteen places at a boiling heat. I bathed in them this evening and found the bath so warm that cold water was needed to dilute.