When You're All In, You're All In

The weekend of October 12th it was absolutely wonderful to spend a relaxing evening in the city where we actually live! Friday night we headed out for a nice walk around town and ended up at an Italian restaurant near the Römer. Afterwards we headed out to a jazz club, Jazzkeller and grabbed some drinks. We thought we’d be watching live jazz, however, it ended up being a jazz DJ which was fine by us! Saturday I managed to sleep in until noon, which was very much needed. The travel has finally caught up with me and I refuse to catch another cold. (that’s right germs, I refuse!).

Saturday evening we headed out to a sauna in the town of Bad Hamburg, Tanus Thereme, about 20 minutes away. Germans LOVE to sauna…for its medicinal and relaxing qualities. The sauna is a huge complex that includes an integrated system of indoor and outdoor pools, hot tubs and saunas. Some water is cold, some warm, some HOT. There are water jets all over the place and built in chaises that allow you to relax while in the water. After swimming in the pool for a bit we decided to explore around and headed upstairs to the saunas. Much to our surprise (well not really, since we had heard, although not seen for ourselves) there is required attire – your birthday suit.

So..when in rome. Yes, folks, we are participating in all facets of German culture and you can add this to our list. It was quite humorous to see the textile-free zone of the sauna - it’s not like it is one tiny sauna…it is an entire floor full of people au natural. There were approximately 7 saunas and two pools upstairs. Personally, I enjoyed the Eucalyptus sauna followed by a quick dip in the pool. Of course, there is also a bar (b/c this is Germany)…so to finish off our visit we enjoyed a cold hefewiesen and a foot soak. We’d also like to once and all dispel all myths that there are no overweight people in Europe. Consider it confirmed….by the naked eye. (no pun intended).

Afterwards we headed out for some Thai food..and then crashed super early. I’m not quite sure what was in the water, but I literally almost fell asleep in my bowl of Pad Thai. Sunday I was off to Amsterdam in the morning and Shaun spent the day relaxing at home. Shaun was even able to catch some of the ravens game….go RAVENS!!