Greetings all! So apparently last night Google ate our post from yesterday, or at least the part where we detailed out all of the stations at the Roman baths! Bummer! So, we are going to do our best to regurgitate it again here for posterity’s sake, although it is a bit lengthy! Where did we leave off? Oh yes, we were just commenting about how it wasn’t too shocking to be naked after a while because everyone else was too…
After finally getting up the courage to emerge from our dressing rooms without clothes on, we headed off to phase 1 of the 17 bath stations. Phase 1 was a thundering room of showers with super powerful, downpour-like showerheads. After getting over the initial strangeness of showering with multiple other people of both sexes, we made our way to stages 2 and 3, the warm and hot air baths, set at 138 and 166 degrees F respectively. The first warm air bath was actually pretty relaxing, even though it sounds ridiculously hot (it was a dry heat). We were lying in a room full of wooden lounge chairs with a bunch of naked people…there’s definitely a bit of a shock factor. The hot air bath in stage 3, on the other hand, was insanely hot. Kim actually though that the silver pendant necklace she was wearing was either going to melt or physically burn her skin, it was that hot. After completing the recommended time in the hot air bath, we made our way to station 4, which was a quick shower before one of the more uncomfortable stations, phase 5: the soap brush scrub. At this point, we had just gotten used to the whole being naked bit, but now we were to endure an exfoliating brush scrub administered by one of the staff members. As “luck” would have it, Kim was paired up with a guy and Matt was to be scrubbed down by a woman. It was a bit bizarre to be completely naked and scrubbed by another human being with a firm brush and soapsuds, but if nothing else it was “cleansing.”
After being thoroughly cleaned, we had a quick rinse in the shower (stage 6) before heading into the thermal steam baths in stages 7 and 8. Much like the warm and hot air baths, these stages were in order of increasing temperature, at 120 degrees and 126 degrees respectively. Somehow these baths felt incredibly hot compared to the dry heat baths. It almost felt like you were going to suffocate when you took a deep breath! Luckily, we only had 5 minutes in the hotter of the two steam rooms! Onto stages 9, 10, and 11, which were a series of thermal baths of decreasing temperature. Stages 9 and 10 were pretty comfortable at 102 degrees and 98 degrees (body temperature), but stage 11 actually felt pretty chilly, although it was really about 86 degrees! I guess when you’ve adjusted your body to the super hot temperatures of the dry and wet air baths, 86 degrees feels downright cold! This was actually pretty unfortunate because the bath in stage 11 was set underneath a gorgeous dome 60 feet above! We tried relaxing and floating around for a few minutes, but eventually Kim had had enough and had to get out and move on to the next stage, which was again, the showers (with adjustable temperature).
While it was nice to be able to adjust the temperature back to super warm in the showers, it was perhaps a bit unfortunate because coming up next was stage 13: the “cold plunge.” If we thought the previous balmy bath was cold, we were definitely in for a rude awakening on this one, which was set at a chilling 66 degrees F! It felt icy, but luckily it was located right next to the showers, so we took turns jumping into the cold water and running back to the hot shower. After doing it once, we thought it felt pretty good and ended up going back for a few more rounds!
Finally, we had had enough and were ready to dry off in heated towels at stage 14, before making our way to the oddest stage of all: “cream application.” It sounds harmless enough, but imagine, a room of full-length mirrors with jugs of lotion and a group of naked people, all covering their bodies with lotion…yeah, it was bizarre. At least in this station you were able to apply the cream to your own body (although we definitely saw some couples helping each other…eww). Needless to say, we didn’t stay here for long. Next it was off to stage 16, the “resting area.” In this stage, you were cocooned in warm sheets and blankets to “rest” for 30 minutes (or so) in a dimly lit room. It was pretty relaxing, but by this point we were getting hungry and were ready to finish up at the baths. Luckily, stage 17 was a “reading room,” which seemed silly to partake in since all of the reading material was in German! We passed on stage 17 and made our way to the dressing rooms again to change and get on our way.
Looking back on the experience now, we are certainly glad that we did it, although even typing about it and thinking about it seems completely bizarre! It was definitely an experience we will never forget!
Alright folks, there you have it, the saga of the Roman baths (again)….this time we are saving the text in a separate word document, just in case!!
Love,
Matt and Kim
and to think i posted my OMG on the previous posting! i cannot get over this ritual, let alone that you did it:) too funny!! perhaps its a good thing you weren't traveling with any friends from the U.S..... i can see this being even more uncomfortable:) haha!!
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