I accompanied my husband on a work-trip to Bad Homburg last week. Bad Homburg, full name
Bad Homburg vor der Höhe, is located just northwest of Frankfurt. It's reportedly one of the wealthiest towns in Germany, probably because it's home to executives who work in Frankfurt and also because of its mineral water, spas, casino, and the lovely setting at the foot of the Taunus, a low mountain range. There's a fairly decent-sized shopping street and being that it's a tourist-type destination there are plenty of Eis Cafes (ice cream shops) as well as quite a few stores selling bathing suits, jewelry, or decorative house accessories. I did a bit of window shopping and bought a few minor things (no bathing suits, jewelry or decorative stuff) but mostly I spent time walking around and visiting the parks. There are two beautiful, well-maintained parks in Bad Homburg: Schlosspark and Kurpark. The Schlosspark is the grounds of the
Landgräfliches Schloss (Count’s Castle) and has a pond, walking paths and benches in addition to the castle, which I didn't visit. We may go back there for more work-trips so maybe I'll make a point of taking a tour then, when my German is better. I just enjoyed walking the grounds and sitting near the pond. Kurpark is quite large and had many walking paths, benches, a large pond and also contains the mineral spa, casino and a variety of buildings and monuments dating from the early 1900s. Most of these buildings contain taps for accessing the mineral water. The Royal-Kur spa looks like a luxurious place to visit. Maybe next time. I visited this park a few times to escape the muggy heat.
Market Day in Bad Homburg
One of the old, decorative buildings in town
In the early 1900's when the narrow, crooked streets of the old, medieval part of town became a problem for the growing city, they built a bridge over it rather than destroy the old houses.
The "new" (built in 1905) towers at the end of the bridge over the old section of town.
The Landgrave's Castle, built in 1680 on the grounds of a 14th century castle. The white tower is all that remains of the previous castle.
There were lots of baby water fowl in the parks
Some of the structures and statues in the Kurpark. The center, glass cylinder in the two bottom photos display the bubbling mineral water. The lower left photo shows one of the water stations where you could sample the water or fill a container. I tried it and found it quite bubby and mineral-tasting, as expected!
Looks really nice, I feel silly that we never visited much in Germnay, but mostly I travelled there fro work, adn did not have time to sightsee.. Glad you can take the time to do this while Aaron works!
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