Day 7 - Rest & Recover
The day
After a not very long sleep and a nice breakfast, I tried the LBS, but alas, no joy. My derailleur seems to be ok but my back wheel is missing a spoke. Let’s see how long that will go well, might have to get a new wheel before long.
After that, a great massage, a haircut by the most meticulous barber I have ever met, feels great! Shout out to Timing Cut Barber. I might have to come to Wiesbaden for haircuts going forward.
Another shout out to Coffeehouse Tesla (Nicola, not Elon) - absolutely epic flat white and carrot cake (yes, some carb loading going on).
The hotel
The Nassauer Hof in Wiesbaden is… a great hotel. Part of me wants to hate it because it falls into that bucket of old grand hotels which are usually primarily old. And there are aspects of this hotel that tick all of those boxes. The physical keys (at least not with a 2kg bronze keyring, as seen elsewhere), the AquaFree tap-mounted filters which indicate really bad - or old - pipes. The carpet (although to be fair it is free of suspicious stains).
But. This is a great hotel. Service is top notch, sometimes a bit too obvious but I guess there are people who like that kind of attention, and they probably also stay here. The spa at the top of the hotel is brilliant, the massage was on point to help me recover and understand why my leg is in so much pain (it is not primarily the cycling but of course that contributes) and generally, you just feel happy to be here. I do. And I don’t have this feeling in all hotels that I stay in, not by a long shot.
So, grand old hotel, yes. But so much better than all other hotels in this category that I have ever stayed at. Doesn’t feel dusty, the people working here seem genuinely upbeat and I am glad I am spending two nights here.
For dinner at the famous Restaurant Ente here in the hotel, I might come back. Currently I do not feel the need to have starred food again but as I wrote in yesterday’s note, food in the Orangerie was nice - and breakfast this morning likewise.
Tonight’s dinner spot is Schwarzbach. Looks good on paper/website, let’s see how it turns out. And it turned out really well. Delicious food, well presented, well executed. Highly recommended.