October 29, 2009

Today our first stop was at Fernwehpark. This is a spot in Hof with signs from all over the world. Right away I spotted Austin City Limits, Arlington, and other familiar spots. After more careful observation I also found gems like Sacramento Way, Palm Beach, and Alf (as in the alien).

It was kind of random, but nice to see a little piece of home. From there we went to see a collection of drawing by Reinhart at the Gallery Theresienstein. The highlight was a champagne toast at the end of the tour, complete with exploding champagne all before noon. After that we wandered around some botanical gardens and then stopped for lunch at a castle.  We had a home cooked meal with the family.  From there we went to Bad Steben which is known for its health spa. We first toured a gallery and then went to the spa. Our first offer was to use the saunas. I couldn't think of anything worse. Since we were all sore tired and sore, a massage was mentioned as an alternative option. I was a little shocked to discover co-ed dressing rooms, but at least there were private dressing closets. A couple members of the group tried out the sauna, which ended up being clothing optional and co-ed. Yikes! I steered clear of that area. Unfortunately, the massage didn't really turn out to be much of a massage. The massage therapist used no pressure at all and basically just wiped some massage oil on my back. It definitely wasn't what I was hoping for but at least I got to rest and relax for 30 minutes. We had dinner at the spa restaurant. That night we were invited to a party at the Film Festival we had been to the previous night, but the girls were all to tired to go and just asked to be driven home. The only problem was that our driver didn't know where we were staying and I guess expected us to be able to give him directions. Of course we had no idea and he refused to call someone to ask. Instead he drove us back to the film festival and asked someone there where to take us. So, instead of getting home at a decent hour, we were home late as usual.