an old story: Baden-Baden and the Caracalla spa

I'm in a story-telling mood. This morning I had the strangest memory come to me... it was of Baden-Baden, Germany from some 3 years ago.

We didn't actually spend much time in big cities in Germany so I'm convinced that my experience in Germany may have been a little skewed. Most people in the smaller towns didn't speak much English and there weren't that many non-European tourists - again, we stayed in a pretty remote area of Germany. Ordering food in some restaurants was difficult - some people really didn't speak a word of English. Similarly, getting around in taxis was at times very difficult. From what I saw, everything seemed very punctual, clean and organized. The trains were efficient and fast... and running into school groups on the trains was quite the intense experience too. I quickly learnt that "schneller farhen!!!" means drive faster - a school group of kids (maybe in grade 2) kept chanting this for a good 15 minutes on one of the train rides (and by chanting, I really mean screaming.) Intense. Now that I think of it this is the EXACT opposite of what I saw in Tokyo - I saw one school group where the teacher had somehow mastered the ability to keep children completely silent while on the subway.

Anyway I digress: we got to Baden-Baden, found our guesthouse and wandered down the road to see the spas and to decide which would be most appropriate for us. There were two nearby - the Caracalla spa and the Friedrichsbad spa. The second spa was a little intimidating - a strict "no clothing past the changeroom" rule was enforced and I believe the spas may have been separate which would've meant I would be sitting alone in a bath full of naked women unable to communicate with anyone because not a lot of people spoke English there.

We opted for the Caracalla spa. I booked a massage (I wouldn't recommend getting a massage there if you're backpacking - I was left with bruises all over my back and was in serious pain every time I would put on my pack for a good week after that massage) and then wandered out to the main pool area where Ryan had been relaxing waiting for me.

At some point shortly after meeting up with Ryan some man (French - his accent was a dead giveaway) came up to Ryan and speaking to him as if I wasn't there said "she's a little shy one isn't she?" I'm not sure why he was saying this? I don't remember what had happened. He had probably made some stupid remark and I had probably just smiled politely in response.

After maybe an hour of lazing around in the cold air and very warm water we decided to venture upstairs to the adult clothing-free area. We went up mainly out of curiosity unsure whether we would partake or not. You had to step through glazed doors in order to access this area and then had a little area where you could stand and decide whether you were in or out. This allowed us to look around, scope it out and decide whether or not to retreat. After standing there for maybe 15 seconds I realized that it wasn't going to happen if I kept thinking about it so I took off my bathing suit and walked in. Ryan didn't expect this and followed suit. It seemed decent enough - mostly old people but a few "younger" people (I think we were probably the youngest in the place - it was mid-week in the middle of the day.)

It didn't feel weird at all - until the French man who thought I was a little shy arrived with his wife / girlfriend / whatever and decided he would sit in the same hot tub as us. Ungh.... he was annoying. And his girlfriend was old and wrinkly (sorry - it just needed to be said.)

I don't think it lasted very long before we moved to another tub or sauna.

The baths were pretty crazy. In the clothing-free area you could walk through the forest behind the spa to various different saunas (all set to different temperatures).

Wow. Sometimes when I think about this stuff I realize how spoiled I am. I think my style of traveling has changed a little since then. Instead of going to spas, I would rather just go and bathe in the hotel common bath... or instead of getting a massage at the spa, I'd rather just go find the closest female thai prison and have an inmate there give me a massage... (did i ever write about that? That'll be for some other night...)