Last summer, I had a chance to visit Baden-Baden after my research trip to Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. I was fascinated by the history of this charming spa town (“baden” means “bath” in German) and its deep connection to Russia. The wife of Russian Emperor Alexander I, Elizabeth, also knows as Louise of Baden, was born in Karlsruhe in 1779 and often visited Baden (the double name was given to the town later to distinguish it from other European “Badens”). Over the years, Russian royalty, aristocracy and famous writers, such as Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Gogol used to come and live in Baden-Baden.
Nowadays, the town is once again a popular destination among rich and famous, as well as just rich, Russians. The streets have undeniable charm with their neo-classical architecture in a beautiful setting of the Balck Forest. If I had any doubts whether it was indeed a very posh town or if it was just a tourism media hype, it was gone after I saw a traffic jam consisting entirely of Ferraris.
For a travel photographer, Baden-Baden offers a wide range of subjects. I shot some street scenes at a chalk art festival, architectural details of the buildings and the famous buildings themselves (the house where Gogol wrote his “Dead Souls” is just a few steps from the central square). I also shot close-ups of some fantastic dishes and desserts with familiar names (e.g. Black Forest Ham and Black Forest Cake), but that are aWorld apart from their North-American counterparts. This was my first trip, where I realized that Canon’s Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L USM lens
On my second day in Baden-Baden (the first day I mostly spent at the famous geothermal baths, which are rightly the main tourist attraction, but obviously offer little to a photographer), I took a bus from the central square to the top of Mount Merkur, where paragliders leap off the cliff and catch thermal air currents to soar above the town.
Rick Steeves in his great travel guidebooks