Day two in wine country

And now for our second day riding around through the countryside north of Jena. We got up at a reasonable time and had a huge feast of a breakfast at the bar below our hotel (which was included in the price, and which was laid out for us when we got downstairs), and slowly made our way out of town. Just outside of Naumburg Marie got to see her first ever field filled with sunflowers, and once we'd convinced her that no farmers were going to come out and shoot her (or even yell at her in German, which might be almost as bad), we convinced that she could go and frolic amongst the flowers.
From there on there was a whole lot of riding in blistering heat, sometimes through lovely shaded areas...
But more often along sun-baked roads with no shade in sight (though with lots of picturesque grape vines along the way).

The ride was also substantially hillier than the day before, which didn't make the heat any easier. When we were only a couple short kilometers from Bad Kösen we found ourselves riding up quite a large hill, which had at its very top a both selling ice cold water and wine. This wasn't along a real road, just along the bike path, and it was really at the top of the hill, so that people coming from either direction were exhausted and sweaty by the time they made it there. That man could have charged us anything for the water really, and we'd have payed it. And once we were sitting in the cool shade it didn't seem that a bottle of nicely chilled rosé could be anything but good. Besides, it was almost noon...
We carried along the trail for most of the day, stopping in Bad Kösen to see the elaborate water wheel apparatus that runs through the town, and even making it by a random castle on the way. (Guess what - it was on the very top of a mountain.)
Near the castle we also came across a really dark memorial from the first world war, with a giant lion crouching over a pile of bones. It's not really clear from this photo how big the lion really is, but I'd say the head is at least 7 m above the ground. And it was in a really unexpected clearing at the top of the hill, at what would have otherwise been a lovely picnic spot. (Since it was at the top of the hill, it acted more as a lie-in-the-shade-and-try-to-catch-your-breath spot for us.)
And our last stop of the day was in Bad Sulza. We didn't actually get any pictures from there, but I'll find one on the internet to give you an idea of where we were. Any town in Germany that starts with the word "Bad" has at least some traditional role as a spa town of sorts. Bad Sulza is no exception, and it's home to natural hot salt water springs, despite being so far from the sea. There's a crazy new-age spa complex built there, with 7 different salt water pools and a variety of saunas. Although it seems odd to go to a hot springs on one of the hottest days of the year, after all our riding it was good to relax and soak our muscles. We didn't take pictures inside the spa, but I nabbed a couple pictures from their website:
This picture only shows the view towards the building, but it's in a really beautiful spot that allows you to float around effortlessly (the water's really salty, so you're really buoyant) while surrounded by a view of the forested hillsides.
The pools (called Toskana Therme) are well known for their "Liquid Sound" programs, where they pipe music through the water. The sound travels really well through the water, and it's actually really relaxing to lie in the water and hear the music. They even have a special round building dedicated just to this, where you're not supposed to talk, and they pipe new age music through the water and project coloured lights onto the domed ceiling. It is very relaxing, but it does feel a bit like they're trying to brainwash you into joining some sort of cult. Still, it was quite a unique experience. (They even have special liquid sound events on full moon nights complete with light shows throughout the whole complex and DJs and the like, but I'm not quite sure it's our cup of tea.)