Spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Last year in the Balkans, we learned that some spa treatment can go a long ways toward restoring tourism morale. So, when I was researching places to go between Melk and Vienna, I was delighted to come across Baden.

“Baden” is German for “bath.” Baden is the home of springs and baths dating back to Roman times, and our hotel connects to a large pool area that has indoor and outdoor pools and hot-tubs. Moreover, the town has a huge park system, and has a large rose garden to wander through as well. It sounded perfect for late in the vacation.

We got to the hotel really early, around 10:30, but they still had a room ready for us. We have been very fortunate that way all trip long. With a home base to work from, we set off to see the old town pedestrian area, which, like most old town areas, was filled with shops and restaurants, and, more surprisingly, a small Beethoven museum in the house he rented here for three summers. The town center was cute, but we continued on over to the main park of the town, which is really really big.

Oh, and it was hot. And I like to climb. So, every chance we had we went up. Then up again. And some more up. I kept expecting to find a vista overlooking the town, but the woods up on the hill did not open up. When I started sweating through my shirt, even in the shady woods, I knew it was time to go back. Then, of course, much lower down, we found a vista. Go figure.

To reward ourselves for a hike well done, we stopped in at a cafe for some pastries, and we got to sit in a little outside nook area that only had two tables in it, so we had a private dining area right where the old town began. It was a fine place to people-watch.

After we were thus fortified, we went to the Beethoven museum. It was very small, with only eight rooms, but they did a nice job of maximizing the material they had to work with. They told you how Beethoven was in Baden to try to improve his health, how he took three rooms in the house, how and whom he entertained, how he liked to take walks in the country around Baden, and how he still worked while in Baden. He composed major parts of the Ninth Symphony here.

By far, the most impressive room was the one dedicated to the Ninth Symphony. You could sit and listen and compare four different recordings of the piece. The final room had four monitors set up, all synced together. The first had Beethoven’s handwritten score on it, and a red line showed you where the music was (as an aside, how does anyone know what music to play? his score seemed illegible to me in places). The second monitor had a visual representation of what music was being played at the time, very much like what you see in music video games like Guitar Hero. That was fascinating to watch. The third monitor had a video recording of the orchestra and choir. The last monitor had commentary in German and English on what the music was doing, which was extremely helpful. It seems as if the most difficult musical technique to write in the 1800s was a fugue, and Beethoven wrote a double fugue into the Ninth. Twice. Easy little piece of music. The Ninth was also the first symphony to include voices. Nifty music.

By now, it was in the early afternoon, and it was hot. So, we went back to the hotel and changed into swimwear and went to the pool area. The main pool was indoors, so I was out of the sun, and the water was very warm. Mer and I sat in a bench area in the pool, and almost accidentally got included in some senior pool-noodle exercises before we went to another spot. We sat in the water jet area, and then we moved to the whirlpool. It all felt really good, and we spent over an hour there.

We changed back into touring clothes, and we headed out to find the rose garden, which we did. I had thought it would be one corner of the park with four or five beds of roses. Not quite. It was about a third of the park, with bed after bed after bed of every color rose imaginable. There were reds and pinks and whites and even purple roses. They were short, and they were tall, reaching to about four feet. They had small, tight flowers, and huge blooms. It was really a stunning display of roses. We wandered there for some time.

After that, we found a Greek restaurant in the old town that had an interior courtyard that was all in shade. We had a mellow diner, and called it an evening, getting back to the room around 7:30. The goal had been a relaxing day, and we even still managed to do a little tourist sightseeing.