Night Time Relaxation in Prague
Tyna and I have had our rough patches, we get into it like dogs and cats but we always makeup or just agree that what we were fighting about was trivial. So yesterday we got into it more than usual, nothing big just, "Clothes on the floor" here, "You're such a Nazi" there... the usual bantering. So the day goes by and its right around probably 4 o'clock and at this point, we still have not made amends. Tyna gets up and sternly says, "Put your coat on WE are going out!". I figured what the hell might as well not piss her off more. Little did I know we were about to embark on one of the coolest nights so far in Prague.
So we walk for just about an hour when we arrived at a non-descript looking building that kind of looks out over the city. I can see that it's a Hotel of sorts, but it doesn't look like anything special. So we walk up, its 4 degrees Celsius outside so I am freezing after walking for an hour. She leads past the hotel, still not telling me where we are going. This is until we duck into a place that says Infinite Wellness.
The Step Hotel
The lobby was packed with people and it looked similar to any multi-sport complex. Everything is in Czech so I am just as lost as I could possibly be in another country. A quick glance around and I find a list of what looks like sports available at this complex, Tennis, golfing simulators, racketball, and of course because this is europe they have curling. Tyna mentions something quick to the lady across the desk, She immediately dips down below the desk and reappears with what looks like 2 watches without faces and a stack of towels and what looks like bed sheets. Tyna quickly takes them and shoves them into my arms and then proceeds to take all of our valuables and puts them in a locker across from reception. Great, now all of my communications devices are locked up and if I get lost there is no way to find Tyna.
So just a background on the next part for any of those who have not been to Europe. Taking your shoes off when you enter someone's house is customary and this also applies to any place that bathing is going on. Also, nudity is a fact of life, you may have heard jokes about how liberal Europeans are with just being naked in public places...... all of it is painfully true. This was a health spa that Tyna had brought me to and I was about to experience first hand what a European spa was like.
So after putting our communications devices away, Tyna pushes what again looks like a bedsheet, a towel and this watch with no face thing in my arms and says "I'll meet you on the other side, don't go through the turnstile until I'm there with you and put this on", pointing at the bedsheet. Ooookkkkk I'm a little confused..... I take my shoes off and head into the locker room.
First off it looks just like any other locker room you may find in the States. No big deal; stinks like sweaty guys and bunch of naked old guys walking around. Meh, nothing I haven't seen before. So I get undressed and hold up the bedsheet looking cloth..... my mind drifts to toga parties in college.... how am I supposed to wear this? I hold it up like it examining it like a doctor would Xrays.... hmm it's about the size of a tablecloth and is almost see through.... hmm.... a quick glance around and I got nothing everyone is in towels. Great... So I fold up the bedsheet and wrap the towel around myself and head out of the locker room with the bedsheet under one arm.
I meet Tyna on the other side and I can see she is wrapped in the bedsheet. She quickly looks at me in her "Alex you are an idiot" face. "You are supposed to wear this" she exclaims reaching for the bedsheet. Fantastic, I look around as if to look for someplace to change, Tyna say quickly "common we need to go!" scanning the watch-like device it unlocks the turnstile and we proceed forward into what looks like a pool deck.
Spa World outdoor Courtyard
We walk across the pool deck and up some stairs, I still have no idea what we are doing here. The lighting starts to get dimmer as we get further up the stairs. Finally reaching the top its almost like the lights are off with a few accent lights scattered about illuminating no descript items hanging on the walls. She heads towards what looks like a door leading outside... I think to myself, "You must be crazy its 4 degre"...... she pushes me outside.... holy fuck its cold outside and I'm in a towel.
The outside is also very dimly lit, I can see a wet trail of where others have walked before us. Tyna pushes past me leading the way. Its dark, Its cold, and I'm still in just a towel. I begin to think Tyna is a lot more angry at me than previously thought to bring me to do this torturous activity. We turn a few corners and it opens to an outdoor courtyard, all of a sudden a guy busts out of one of the many doors dotting the surrounding walls. He is stark naked and steaming suddenly I realize what we are doing here. Tyna turns to me and says "Welcome to Spa World".
We duck through a few more doorways and end up in a shower room full of doors with labels on them I cannot read. Tyna looks at me and says, "take off the towel silly" put this on handing me the bedsheet. I look around sheepishly as being naked around others is usually frowned upon in the states. NOPE... a glancing around, naked old ladies, naked young ladies, naked men.... ah... ok well I just strip down and put said bed sheet on and Tyna quickly guide me into a room labeled "Tropical Sauna". We enter a sauna that looks like any sauna you would see stateside, the only difference is the smell and humidity in the room. It's like you stepped into a Fruit smoothie from Smoothie king.... it's just right around 70 degrees Celsius, or 158 degrees Fahrenheit. It's quite refreshing and smells great, we chat quietly about this place and what they offer, massages, aromatherapy, and a few of the sports you can do here. We spend right around 15min in this sauna, the sweat begins.
Dipping Pool in Spa World
The bar/relaxation area between saunas
Tyna then leans over to the waitress and asks her a slew of questions, Tyna is beginning to become visibly excited. She says thank you to the waitress and turns to me "We are going to the towel-waving spa". On a side note for those of you who don't know this is also called Aufguss rituals. We step into another sauna and are greeted by this little woman, inside it is dark, very low lit and extremely hot.
It is at least 75 degrees Celsius in here when she closes the door, the room is big probably 4 meters square. all surfaces are clad in all wood and in the middle of the room is a bar of hot coals. The lighting is so low I can hardly see the people across the way from us, the woman starts speaking in Czech and of course I don't understand. Tyna turns to me and says that there will be three rounds, she doesn't say of what. The music slowly comes on (downbeat EDM) and the lights begin to change colors, the woman breaks what looks like an egg on the coals and whoa the intensity of the smell was enough to knock someone out. Then she begins waving a towel in the air blowing the already hot air in our faces. Holy cow, it goes from hot to incredibly hot in a matter of seconds. The woman is moving around the bar waving the air on everyone in what feels like an Indian ritual you would see out west.
Aufguss Ritual being performed
The egg the woman was breaking over the coals was not an egg at all but an ice ball filled with aroma oils I learned later. The entire ordeal lasted only 10 min and out of all the things I have done in Prague so far, this has been one of the coolest. We exited the large group sauna room and returned to the bar area, I was still trying to comprehend what I had just experienced. Tyna orders a sandwich and we split it. The bar makes great lemonade, not so great sandwiches. We take a few more minutes to regain control of our bodies and then we headed into the Honey sauna.
The honey room or honey sauna is a larger sauna room that feels like you were dropped into a beehive minus the bees of course. Its heavy aroma of honey is at times a bit overwhelming. every few minutes there is a new dose of honey aroma oils deposited onto the hot coals via a tube that leads.... someplace. So for those of you who are not well versed in the ways of the sauna make sure that the hourglass on the wall you choose works before going and sitting down. We did not make sure ours worked and spent a little longer than expected in the honey room. It was a great final sauna as it was not too hot and not too cool, really brought out the last of the sweat to the surface.
The Honey Room
After the Spa, we are feeling less like killing each other
Great!!!
ReplyDeleteGreat story! I think I could skip the towel waving room...
ReplyDelete