1936 On the Continent

Baden-Baden Festival Week.
    There is a choice of fifty hotels and thirty-three pensions. The Stefanie is one of the most luxurious and splendid hotels in Europe. Its rooms are so appointed that even the most pampered of mortals may feel as comfortable there as in his own home. There is no doubt that the Stefanie and the other two hotels of the Brenner concern are amongst the dearest in Germany. Rooms with bath and full service begin at 20 marks a day. Hotel Bellevue, Europaischer Hof, Badhotel Zähringer Hof, are some of the biggest, but there are also smaller hotels where one can get for 10 marks all that one would expect in a spa such as Baden-Baden.
    On account of the numbers of English visitors Baden-Baden has an English church, and no doubt the strong Anglo-Saxon strain in the visiting public is responsible for the excellent golf course.
    For me, personally, perhaps the greatest experience in Baden-Baden was the Lichtenhainer Alice with its centuries-old trees. A walk in their shade is not easily forgotten.
    I only intended to stay one day in Baden-Baden, but it became three, and I do not regret it. It was even then too short. But I must hurry now. I am travelling direct to Munich via Stuttgart, Ulm, Augsburg. And I have chosen the night train in order to curb my curiosity.
Through Stuttgart and Ulm
    I am aware that this rush through South Germany is a journey of missed opportunities; I shall not see Stuttgart, the capital of the one-time kingdom of Württemberg, but must content myself with drinking a glass of beer at the station, one of the most modern in Germany. In passing I had a glimpse of the sky-scraper, the first one in Germany, built by this enterprising town. I only got a faint idea of the unique position of the town, which is the gateway to the Alps, in the midst of wonderful mountains, the air of which accounts for the vitality and well-being of the population. The famous Swabian cooking, with its many specialities, may also have something to do with this. In addition to the tower-like Bahnshotel I was recommended the luxurious Marquardt Hotel, the beautifully situated Schlossgartenhotel or Banzhaff’s Hotel Royal. Stuttgart is not dear—even in the best hotel one can get a room for 5 or 6 marks. The place would have interested me the more because Queen Mary, as Princess Mary of Teck, often visited the beautiful castle. The one-time Duchy of Teck, from which the Queen’s family came, is not far from Stuttgart: it was incorporated in the kingdom of Württemberg at the beginning of the nineteenth century.
    Through Ulm and Augsburg I did a foolish thing, which however at the time appeared to me most sensible, as in spite of my refreshing visit to Baden-Baden, I was somewhat tired: I slept.
    Thus I did not see Ulm, the historic town on the Danube, with its Gothic cathedral which has the highest tower in Europe—nearly 600 feet. Also I did not see Augsburg, and this specially annoyed me. This town, which was of much more importance in the Middle Ages than it is to-day, became through the Fuggers one of the centres of European commercial life. The Fuggers were kings of finance in the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. From simple citizens they acquired fabulous wealth and rose to be princes of the Roman Empire of the German peoples. There are some Princes Fugger still living, and in addition to a large educational establishment at Augsburg, several fine buildings witness to a time when the Fuggers financed kings and princes from Augsburg, and in this town amassed the greatest wealth of the age.
Bavaria
    Here perhaps may be interpolated a few words on Bavaria in general, on the individuality of the Bavarians and on Bavarian history. Bavaria, after Prussia the largest state in the German Reich, joined the newly formed German Empire after the war of 1871, more from necessity than choice. It remained, however, so independent in spirit, that up to Hitler’s seizure of power, the possibility was often mentioned of a secession from the Empire. In contrast to the overwhelming Protestantism of Prussia, the majority of Bavarians are Catholics. The ruling house (for some time the Wittelsbacher family) was Catholic. The Wittelsbachers, in spite of the peculiarities of some members of the dynasty, were generally popular in Bavaria, and the ex-Crown Prince Rupprecht, who has now quite withdrawn from public life, still lives there, and is widely honoured. Munich entered on a new chapter of her history