AAAHHHHH Spa Weekend!

Well I am back from Baden Baden and had a wonderful, if not "eye opening" time. It was a planes, trains and automobile type of trip. I left from Amsterdam and flew to Strausbourg and then took a train to Baden Baden and a bus to the hotel, by this time I was ready to spa. I dropped off my bags and walked around the town, it is a beautiful, cold, snowy town. After some exploring I went to the Fredrichsbad spa-it is billed a Roman Irish bath. When you first arrive you go to the locker room and strip down to your birthday suit-the only suit allowed! You are given a sheet like object, and you can tell all of the non-Europeans, we have that towel wrapped around us as many times as possible! There are 17 stages at the Fredichsbad spa and I was ready for all 17 (on Saturday's the stages mix on stages 7-12)! The first starts with a shower, then on to the "warm air bath" which is a room that is about 129 degrees, so you lay down and relax (towel still firmly in place). Stage 3 is: 154 degrees, towel not as firmly in place. Stage 4 is another shower and they take the towel away from you! Stage 5 is my favorite stage: the soap and brush massage. You get a full massage with either a rough brush or a soft brush, I went for the soft brush. Stage 6 (without the towel-or my security blanket) is a thermal steam bath. Stage 7-is another shower (they like showers) Stage 8 is when the mixing begins, both boys and girls and bday suits is the thermal full bath in hot water water. This is the point, keep in mind I am not wearing my glasses-(after all it is a bit creepy to be wearing nothing but glasses), that I took a wrong turn and ended up in the men's stage 6. The only reason I figured this out is because when I walked in the room it went silent-well there were other issues but they were a bit blurry. So after this awkward turn of events I went back to the whirl pool in Stage 9. The rest of the stages are baths that tend to get colder in nature. The final bath is 64 degrees. I was only brave enough to submerge waist deep, it is obvious I am not a true European. Then on to my second favorite stage, the relaxation room. One of my favorite parts is that you are reunited with your towel! The attendants take you to a quiet, dark room and you lay down on a heated table and they wrap you up like a cocoon and you relax! Of course this was not enough of a German spa experience so the next day I went to the Caracella spa. It is right next to the Fredrichsbad. One of the selling points is the fact that swimsuits are a requirement (on the first floor at least). At the Caracella spa there are more thermal baths, one of best parts is that you can swim from inside the spa to the outdoor pool. It was great fun to be sitting outside in the hot thermal water while it was snowing. There was also an area with sun lamps, you could spend as much time as you wanted under the sun lamps. Since I don't remember the last time I really saw the sun, I spent hours under the sun lamp. Of course I wanted the whole spa experience so I had to go upstairs to the second floor. The second floor is filled with sauna's, whirlpools and sun lamps but no swim suits. I must say I learned quickly to not lay down in the sauna's because if you lay down other sauna goers have to step over you. If you open your eyes at just the wrong time, you could be scarred for life. After venturing outside to the "fire sauna", with towel of course, I decided it was time to join the world of the clothed and I ventured through Baden Baden to the Casino. The Casino in Baden Baden is very well known in this area of the world-men are still required to wear ties and jackets. It is an amazing building, it looks like something out of a James Bond movie. There were a couple of roulette tables and black jack tables going. I bought 40 Euro's worth of 2 Euro chips and took my seat next to the guy with his 500 Euro bill (which I didn't know existed) and his 100 Euro chips. I watched and learned. I learned that if you think you are really going to win at roulette you aren't very smart. I watched my neighbor go through 1,000 Euro's in minutes. I found it all very entertaining and started betting my 2 Euro chips. I was down to 20 Euros and then I won big (as big as you can win when only gambling 2 Euros!!) so I took my 36Euro's and cashed out! I figured 4 Euros for an evenings entertainment wasn't bad! Sadly the next day I had my last spa treatment, last apple strudel and had to head home!!! I have decided that next winter I am planning some trips to places where I can see the sun shine. Sadly we don't have a single 3 day weekend in March. I hope to survive!

Exciting day today

It was a very exciting day today in The Hague-for about 20 minutes the sun shown!! There was frolicking throughout the Embassy, we made plans to have lunch al fresco, I wondered where my sun screen was and then......it started to rain. Sigh....but of course if my biggest worry is lack of sunshine and worry that my umbrella won't last a winter I guess life isn't too bad! We have a three day weekend coming up and I am off to Baden Baden in Germany (hoome of many famous German spas, all of which I will be trying out) I figure if I am going to have to get naked in front of strangers I want to be in another country!

All is well here, I keep wanting it to warm up so I can practice riding my bike. So far bike commuting has been the monkey on my back. When I first arrived I bought a bike from a neighbor, it was stolen (before I could even ride it), so I bought another bike, but it seems to be too tall, so I bought ANOTHER bike. The last bike is my pride and joy. It is a three wheel orange bike with streamers. When I first arrived at the Embassy I spotted this bike from a distance and knew it was the bike I had been waiting for all of my life. The purchasing transaction went something like this: ME: "I have always wanted a three wheel bike as a yard ornament for my house" awkard pause from owner of forementioned three wheeled orange bike "so where is this yard and house that will house my bike" longer even more awkard pause from me "I don't own a house or have a yard, but can't we all have dreams?" very long awkard pause from owner of three wheeled orange bike "just give me fifty euro". So I am now the proud owner of two bikes, neither of which I want to ride! But someday the three wheeled orange bike hopes to grace the cover of home and garden! So my goal when Spring comes (which should be a weekend in April) I will find a bike to call my own and begin riding. I am very nervous about this, I have seen more people get tickets on bikes than I have seen for cars, but biking is a way of life here and when in Rome....

I am hoping I can make it through March-can you believe it is the only month we don't have a holiday? I hope I can make it! In the month of April and May we have 2 or 3 weeks that aren't 4 day work weeks! I love this country.

More after spa time in Baden Baden (no pictures I promise!).