Once we got onto Spa Island, the scenery changed entirely. It's beautiful there! The buildings are super old (in a cool castle kind of way), there are huge gardens everywhere and there are little ponds every here and there that smell like rotten eggs, but that's really only because they are natural hot springs. We walked around the island for a bit, taking in the scenery, then headed for the Balnea Esplanade Palace, where we bought day passes to the spa.
Our first stop within the spa was the pool. There was a whirlpool within the pool and the whole thing was heated to a comfortable 34 degrees Celsius. We were just sitting in the whirlpool relaxing when a very large, very hairy man came to join us. He was the first of many very large, very hairy men we would see on the day, all of whom seemed to be wearing bathing suits which were inversely proportional to the size of their guts. Anyway, this man in particular is worth mentioning because he proceeded to sit on top of one of the jets (one of the ones coming straight up out of the ground) and bounce up and down with his eyes closed, seemingly enjoying himself a little too much. We thought he might stop soon enough, but he just went on and on and on. We left the whirlpool.
We swam around the pool a little longer, and discovered the doggy door that would take us outside. Normally, I would say that swimming outdoors in March is for crazy people, but it's really much warmer in Slovakia than it is in Canada, so it wasn't so bad. Basically, your body stays warm while your face freezes. If you have balls of steel (which we do), you can get out of the pool and run to the hot tub, which is even warmer than the rest of the pool and makes you feel better about being outside. Of course, you then have to get back in the (now) cold pool to get back inside, but it seems that no one thought of this before acting. Oh well. We survived.
When we got tired of the pools, we headed inside to take advantage of the multiple saunas. They had given us sheets (literally bed sheets) at the reception when we arrived and said "These are for the sauna". We had no idea what that meant when they said it, but the "No Shoes, No Bathing Suits, Only Towels" signs made it pretty clear. So, wrapped in our bed sheets (which made me feel like I should have been having sex all morning - which, with the selection of men on display, I assure I was not) we started visiting the saunas. The first one was a "Finnish Sauna", which means that there were incredibly hot rocks in one corner over which water had been poured to created some steam. It was soooo hot in there... Shelby and I only lasted about five minutes.
We then decided to try the Steam Room. Shelby stayed a while. I stayed about 30 seconds because I felt like I was drowning. I met Jackie in the hallway and we headed to the "Relaxation Room", which was my favourite. It was utterly silent and full of reclining chairs. You just went in there, sat down, and chilled. Awesome. That is, until the man in the corner started snoring... like a freight train! He was so loud! I think he woke himself up at one point, but then fell asleep again right away.
Anyway, after about an hour in the relaxation room, we decided to head out. We sat in the regular sauna for a few minutes, then headed back to the changing room. On the way there, we noticed something that must have been put there just for me. It was - wait for it - a foot disinfecting station!!!! Wow! Basically, you stick your foot in this little machine and it sprays you with a Purel-type spray. Pretty useless, really, but I enjoyed it nonetheless!
After an exhausting day of swimming, saunas and resting, we headed back to Bratislava, where we will now wait until Rob gets here for another quick jaunt, this time to Prague!
