Baden Marathon 2005: Kilometer 37
 

The street surface went from hard to harder as I started running over cobblestones as we started down Kaiserstrasse (Kaiser Street). I must have been in a daze as I don’t remember passing the 37K marker.

Anyone want to go shopping - believe me I would have loved to stop.

One of Karlsruhe’s most interesting street is the long and straight Kaiserstrasse. Lined with shops, fountains, restaurants, and Germany’s famous Konditorei pastry shops, the street has a bustling energy that you can observe from an outdoor café while sipping a cup of robust Tchibo coffee. The street opens onto the Marktplatz, or square, where you will see Margrave Karl’s brown brick pyramid tomb. Tradition has it that the count named the city “Karl’s peace” after falling asleep in the local forest and dreaming of this new, elegant urban center based on French rationalism. However, the square offers little time for rest, as it is the location for weekday farmers’ markets, and weekend festivals in the summer, complete with lively bands and plenty of good local Moninger beer.