July 31, 2009

Written August 8

Friends and Families ,

I had been working all week up in Offenbach, but Marianne had issued strick orders that I be home in Pommersfelden by 4pm on Thursday and that I take Friday off. Other than the known fact that my birthday was this weekend, the planning was held as a tight secret. But, I know to follow orders.

Once home, I repacked bags and we headed off on a three-day weekend. Our destination was Bad Elster, a resort community famous for the last three thundered years for their mineral baths. Friends John and Cathy had moved there from Pommersfelden (via Cyprus) and we had a standing invitation to join them in their new German home.

So, after my two hour drive, Marianne took on the two to three hour drive to Bad Elster. We crossed the Chech-German border twice to make it into Bad Elster's corner of Germany. We would learn that almost all routes in and out of this German resort ran through the Czech Republic and indeed, historically, this area had been more German than Czech, no matter which side of the border.

We checked into our hotel and went into downtown Bad Elster to our friends apartment. Cathy served a wonderful "cold" meal that really hit the spot after my five or six hours of driving. That evening and on Saturday, we explored town. Here are our pictures:

Our hotel was the Ambient Hotel Quellenpark. Like most places in the area, it featured medicinal springs, quiet gardens, and various spa services. Marianne used the massage service on Sunday.
Cathy and John's apartment is in an old residence, just across from the "Kurpark" that runs through the middle of town.
	The König Albert Theater, formerly called the Kurtheater, opened in 1914 and has been recently modernized. Alexander Prinz von Sachsen is the theater's patron. It is also an important conference venue for Saxony and the Euro region.
King Albert Bad is the central location for getting mineral water. It offers fountains from a variety of local springs. We tried several. .... Not to our taste.
	There is still a project available in downtown. The old Palace Hotel Wettiner Hof is waiting for someone with deep pockets to return it to its former glory.
	Saturday evening we had a wonderful dinner on the terrace of the Königliches Kurhaus (King's Cure-house) . I am showing two pictures to see if you can tell the difference in the group before and after three bottles of wine.

From Bad Elster we will remember good friends and bad water.

There are couple more diary entries from this weekend so, continue if you wish.

John and Marianne

Town website. German but good pictures.