Calw, where Megan and I went on Saturday, is a very pretty town. It's in the northern Schwarzwald about an hour by (slow) train from here, and was where the German writer Herman Hesse was born and grew up. They have a museum dedicated to him now, which I liked. It had a good balance between the writer's life and his writing. This was helped by the fact that he wrote more than 30 000 letters, so they were able to use his own writing to describe the things that he did and saw. At the end of the exhibition, they have a reading room. It's stocked up full of his books, including collections of letters, poems and reviews. There are copies of some of them in English, French, Spanish, Chinese and other languages.

Hesse spent some time undergoing psychoanalysis. His main analyst was a pupil of Jung's, and at one point he got to meet Jung and talk to him about his problems. In a letter he described how at the end of the conversation, Jung had very carefully told him not to spend so much time studying and reading, and to get out more.

The Maitre d'Hotel in Calw was a greek chap who didn't speak a great deal of German, and no English. He was a very nice guy. He welcomed us very enthusiastically when we arrived, and when we came in for dinner on Saturday night, even more enthusatically. Before the meal, he brought three glasses of ouzo to the table to toast to international friendship. After we ate, he brought three glasses of a dark Italian liqueur and made a toast to Megan. All on the house, of course. An exemplary hotelier. And the moussaka was excellent.

It snowed on Saturday night, which was perfect. We made a good sized snowman. The hotel staff also ran out into the snow to chuck snowballs around. They were probably on the ouzo as well. The village looked beautiful in the snow, especially the statue of the writer on the old bridge. All the pictures are here.

On Sunday we went to Baden-Baden and visited the Friedrichsbad, the old Romano-Irish bath. We opted for the full on German bath experience, which includes a vigorous all-over soap and brush massage from an enourmous masseur. There are 16 stages to the bath, inlcuding mineral steam rooms, warm and hot dry air rooms, showers, a whirlpool, mineral baths at different temperatures and a cold plunge pool. At the end is the quiet room, which is a warm, soft lit domed chamber with 20 or so high beds inside. The attendant lays a fresh sheet on the hard bed, and you climb on. Then he wraps the sheepskin blanket around you to make a sort of cocoon, and you stay there for maybe 45 minutes. It's fantastic. The time passes really fast, and your mind is empty but awake. I felt really good after the bath. I recommend it highly. It's expensive-ish but essential.

Eduardo is leaving next Monday. The preparation for his leaving parties is beginning. It's going to be dull here in this office once he's gone.