Roman Baths

Backtracking again.....



We were in Baden-Baden for just one day. Andy's father was able to trace their heritage back to the area around Baden-Baden and the Black Forest by several generations so we knew that we would have to stop by, at least briefly. The town is famous for its Roman baths- spas that use water naturally warmed by the earth instead of heated in thier facility. Although in the United States we go to spas to be relaxed and pampered, the original concept was that they have curative powers. At this point in the trip we may not have needed any curing, but we were certainly ready to soak in some naturally hot water.

The town had two baths, each run by the same company, but offering slightly different experiences. The first one would give you the authentic Roman bath experience: you are entirely nude throughout the 13 different stations, each in a different room with beautiful archways, domed and frescoed cielings, and Roman statues as decoration. The other option was slightly more contemporary. The same 13 traditional stations were available in a different atmosphere. The Roman architecture was substituted for what I call the "modern bathroom" look (think glass sinks that look like free-standing large glass bowls) and the dress is slightly more conservative- you wear a bathing suit.

After carefully weighing our options, we decided to shed our inhibitions (along with our clothes) and go for the authentic baths. Europeans always talk about what prudes we Americans are, so why not fight the stereotype? It turned out to be a great experience. We were there on a day that men and women were separated for all of the stations except one, a large "bath" under the giant dome, so we parted ways at the dressing rooms for the next few hours. At the first station, you shower in what appears to me to be a boys high school locker room shower, with several heads coming out from the wall in one communal area. After that you head to the saunas, the first one at an enjoyable temperature for about 10- 15 minutes, and the second for just a few minutes at a nearly unbearable heat. Then it's time for another shower before heading off to the steam room. Here, there was a sign explaining that this is the worlds only steam room that is 100% natural. Instead of pumping in hot steam, they use hot water, natural from the earth. It flows down the walls of the room, releasing steam as it fell. You can choose to sit at several different levels: the higher you go, the hotter the steam. You shower again, and then head to a series of pools (baths) of varying temperatures. The first one is the warmest at roughly 95 degrees F. It is followed by four more, each dropping by a few degrees until you reach the last one, a chilling 60 degree two second plunge. Next you are given a fresh hot towel and a few minutes to dry off, then showed to a room with lotions of many different scents to choose from. After lotioning up, you are shown to the "sleeping room". Here, you are wrapped like a cocoon in warm blankets on a tempurpedic-like bed, in a dark quiet room. You can stay for 5 minutes or an hour. The last station is the "relaxation room". After leaving the sleeping room, I wasn't quite sure that I could possibly be any more relaxed, but continued anyway and enjoyed a peppermint tea while reclined in a wooden lounge chair for the last few minutes of the session. We also chose to each add a 25 minute massage to the rotation, which rounded out the experience quite nicely.

We left feeling quite possibly more relaxed and clean than ever before.

For obvious reasons, we will not be adding pictures to this post.