Now the planning stage... The next adventure.

The three descriptions below are my recollections from the summer of 2011.  In late June / early July 2012, I'm heading back to Europe for more sightseeing, and visiting even more spas, thermes, and saunas is high on my list.  I'm especially looking forward to visiting Therme Erding, one of the largest sauna and swimming complexes in Germany outside of Munich, Watzmann Therme and Rupertus Therme in southern Bavaria, Alpentherme Gastein and Bad Ischl in the Salzburg area of Austria, and Kaiser Friedrich Therme in Wiesbaden - which is similar to the Friedrichsbad in Baden Baden.  There are, of course, many more and I'd like to get to them eventually.  If you, the reader, have every visited these or others, I'd love to hear from you.  Respond with some stories or reviews of your own or any questions you have.  I'll try to update the site with more reviews when I can, once I'm in Europe next weekend!

Sauna Deco - Amsterdam

After leaving Germany, I arrived in Amsterdam.  Still loving my Baden Baden sauna experience, I found a similar, but much smaller, place in a nice area of the city called Sauna Deco.  Again, regardless of Amsterdam's reputation, all the saunas I'm describing here are meant for health and relaxation - nothing more.

Sauna Deco, as the name implies, has an art-deco style interior.  The entrance looks like a standard row house.  Once you enter, you walk down a hall, pay the attendant, then go into the uni-sex changing room.  Unlike Caracalla, both men and women undress in full view of each other. But you're going to see everything momentarily anyway, so it's no big deal.  After leaving the locker room, it's time for a quick shower.  Then the next room, a good-sized sauna.  The same rules as Caracalla apply regarding towels, silence, etc.  After the sauna - you're free to explore on your own.  A cold plunging pool is a bit further down the hall, and feels great after the sauna.  There are chairs, loungers, magazines, books, and a bar with food and drink.  You can book a massage if you wish in a private room (again, no funny business!).  Downstairs, there's a steam room much like Caracalla's, only smaller.  I went on a weekday evening, and there were about eight or nine other people with me at the height.  Mostly men, but a few women came and went.  Again, the goal is to relax - and that's exactly how it feels.  Relaxing.

Carcalla Spa - Baden Baden

The second spa I went to in Baden Baden is the "sister spa" of Friedrichsbad.  Know as Caracalla, after the ancient Roman baths that once existed in the area, this site is totally modern.  It's also a combination clothed / unclothed spa.  But more on that below.  When you enter the glass-enclosed entrance, you take an escalator to the entrance gates, and pay your entry fee.  You then go directly into a unisex changing room.  But it's all very modest.  You enter in one side through a dressing room door, close it, change into a swimsuit in private, then exit out into a locker room area on the other side.  Because it's a combination clothed / unclothed area, be sure to wear you suit and take a towel with you.  The lower pool area is for clothed swimming and bathing.  To get to the texteilfrei section, you climb a steep spiral staircase, then walk over an elevated walkway into the sauna.  The door clearly states this is a nude area, so everyone is forewarned.  Once inside the door, there are cubby holes on both sides of you, and you're expected to strip down, then and there.  If you don't a helpful attendant will come over and remind you.  Again, there is no reason for modesty.  Everyone here - from men and women in their 20s to middle aged people, to senior citizens is in the same state of undress you are.  There's no staring, laughing, pointing, or sexual behavior.  Just equality, freedom, and a sense of relaxation.  The day I was there, there were well over 100 people enjoying it, without a care in the world.

After undressing, it's customary to walk around with a towel, while exploring the sauna landscape.  There are several indoors and out, of varying degrees of heat.  There's also a steam room, whirlpool, several footbaths, and shower areas to rinse off sweat, and dump a bucket of cold water on your head if you're ready for a shock.  Inside the sauna, you undo your towel, and sit down on it, putting it long-wide underneath you, so it's between your legs and the seat - you don't want to foul the wood with sweat!  Don't go in and out excessively, and don't talk.  That's part of the relaxation.  In the steam room, you undress before going in, so your towel doesn't get soaked.  Inside, once the steam clears enough to see, there are seats lining four walls.  There are also hoses you turn on for a quick seat rinse before you sit down and when you leave.  And buttons to push for an extra burst of steam.

Finally - there are two other areas to enjoy.  An outdoor naturist sunning area, and indoors a quiet room with strange plastic beds to relax.  

Friedrichsbad in Baden Baden

This being my first entry, I think it's fitting to describe my first experience in one of the oldest and best - the Friedrichsbad Roman-Irish Bath in Baden Baden, Germany.  This spa has been around since the 1800s.  In fact Mark Twain wrote about it during his grand tour of Europe.  It's essentially the same as when he visited. 

As I walked in, knowing it was a nude / naturist / FKK (as the Germans call it) facility, I wasn't sure what to do or how to act.  So I eavesdropped on the front desk assistant helping another couple in front of me.  When it was my turn, I walked up and asked for a ticket.  After confirming yes, I know it is all-nude, and yes, I know today is a "mixed day" (men and women bathe together on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Sundays and holidays.  On other days, men and women follow separate, generally identical tracks, and meet up in the center bath together.)  She sent me upstairs to "the right" which turned out to be the women's changing room.  But again, on mixed days, there's no difference.  After getting a bit turned around in the locker room, an English-speaking attendant took pity on me and explained: go into a stall, undress, grab a sheet, and come back to the entrance to the bath.  Once I arrived, feeling a bit awkward to be wearing just a sheet surrounded by attendants in white shirts and pants, she told me to put the sheet in a cubby hole, take a shower, then follow the 17 stages.

The first stage was the shower, in a room with nine or ten powerful (really powerful) shower heads.  There was a woman in her 50s there as well, but as we were both naked, it didn't seem that odd.  Basically - you get over the "I'm naked and so is everyone else!" thing quickly.  After a shower, it was on to a hot room, when you laid your sheet down on a wooden bed and relaxed.  There was already a couple in there, a man in his 50s and a woman in her 20s, but there were plenty of beds.  After the hot room - there was the even hotter room behind a curtain.  I couldn't stand that one for long, so I went to the next step.  After explaining, and later regretting, not getting the optional massage, I went into the steam room.  It had a pyramid where about three or four other men and women were sitting.  The higher you went, the hotter it was.  At this point, you'd discarded your sheet, so there were disposable pads for sitting on.  After the steam room was a warm pool, large enough to swim across in four or five strokes.  At this point, a few more people (men and women, including one family from Asia) came in and out, but people had long since given up caring about our state of undress.  All that mattered was relaxation, and this was it. 

After a few more pools, you reversed your trip and ended up in the shower room again, only this time you were *supposed* to go into a freezing cold tub to cool off.  I got a foot in and decided to take another shower to rinse the sweat off.  When you're finished, an attendant gives you another sheet to dry off, and points you to a lotion area to sooth your skin.  Finally, it was time for the cocoon stage.  You go into an oddly 1800s hospital-ward looking room and lay down on a table.  The attendant then wraps you tightly in a sheet and blanket, mummy-style, and lets you drift off to sleep.  When you're ready to go, you can grab some tea in an adjacent room, then re-dress and rejoin the world.  It's really amazing how relaxing and wonderful it is.  Don't be nervous, afraid, or bashful.  Just do it - you won't regret it.