Spa

We just went to a spa. It's a rather small Japanese-style one, in a rather beautiful old manor, about three-quarters of an hour's drive from Helsinki.

I didn't use to be much of a spa person, but I've gone about three times over the past few years, and it's sort of growing on me. I still don't think much of the jacuzzi and the (regular) sauna there is nothing to shout about. However, I've learned to like some of the other things -- the steam bath, for example. I also discovered that I'm able to stay in the cold pool for several minutes, once the initial shock wears off, which was kinda exciting, and I figured out what all the cascades and jets in the big pool were for (shoulder, back, and head massage -- very pleasant).

The place also has a small but rather nice gym -- funky-looking machines that all work on the pulley principle, but you can do pretty much everything on them, including bench presses.

Any other spa-goers here? Any ideas on enjoyable stuff to do, or just stuff to do to avoid getting bored? How about great spas around the world worth visiting?

I have my own Spa with massaging jets for every part of the body, including the soles of your feet!!

My dad just recently went to China on a business trip and the one thing he couldn't stop raving about was this spa he was taken to. Supposedly it only had like 150 members, and there was about 50 people on duty working there. To even get inside you had to drive into this little area where it has a speaker and you have to identify yourself. Sounds crazy. He's very high-strung usually - it was the most relaxed I've ever seen him in 22 years when he got back.

Spa is absoluely great, I am a spa traveler myself... I've been to spa in many different countries all over the world, Iceland, Sweden , Belgium , Japan, China, etc etc. The japanese spa's are number one... they are the experts.

I could reccomend a lot of good ones. I reccomend to find one with a natural hot spring..... the hot spring has minerals and makes you naturally relaxed, it takes time to learn though, it can be darned hot inside, last time I went with a beginner..... who could sit for a whopping 10 seconds in the hot spring, and almost fainted when I sat there for 20 minutes without break!

If you feel boring get the variety it is also good for your body... after you relaxed for like 20 minutes in the hot water, go to DRINK something.. very importan, after that get a massage... and after try the steam bath... go back to the hot pool again... etc etc... rotation. Never talk about work related things or other things which would make you feel pressure... after your body is fully relaxed you'll be chocked how time flies...... I had people say darn so boring stay 3 hours in spa.... and after the 3 hours passed they would say, ALREADY?!?!?! but I have done nothing.... exactly that's the point

I often wondered where that short word of "spa" comes from.

The German word for it is - as far as I know - the word "Bad", which doesn't mean it's "bad".

The German "Bad" means "spa", but also "bath". Like in Bathroom, for example.

It sounds to me as if the words "Bad" and "Bath" are closely connected throuigh their sounds, and as if the word "Spa" was a lean-word into the English language. But I never found its origins.

Germany also have spas. A grandmother of mine often used to go to Bad Ems, located near to the river Ems.

German Spas are often connected with wells or/and springs, often with special mineral springs, sometimes even hot ones (which are very rare).

The town of Aachen, the town where Charlemagne/Karl der Große was crowned (I think) and later buried also had hot wells, which are gone or unknown nowadays.

Aachen never received the "Bad" prefix of the name (like many spas have, like in Bad Ems), although it was quite famous for its springs during the times of Charlemagne.

A German spa can often easily spotted by its - how we call it - "gentrified architecture", it's because most of them were built to a spa when the gentry was becoming wealthy.

Me, I have never experinced spa treatment.

And, of course, there's always Baden-Baden-Baden, famous for being the place where P.D.Q. Bach left our mortal coil.

P.D.Q. Bach was born in Leipzig on April 1, 1742[1], the son of Johann Sebastian Bach and Anna Magdalena Bach; the twenty first of Johann's twenty children.[4] According to Schickele, Bach's parents did not bother to give their youngest son a real name, and settled on "P.D.Q." instead. The only earthly possession Johann Sebastian Bach willed to his son was a kazoo.

In 1755, P.D.Q. Bach was an apprentice of the inventor of the musical saw, Ludwig Zahnstocher. In 1756, P.D.Q. Bach met Leopold Mozart and advised him to teach his son Wolfgang Amadeus how to play billiards. Later on, P.D.Q. Bach went to St. Petersburg to visit his distant cousin Leonhard Sigismund Dietrich Bach (L.S.D. Bach), whose daughter Betty Sue bore P.D.Q. a child.

Finally, in 1770, P.D.Q. Bach started to write music, mostly by stealing melodies from other composers.

P.D.Q.'s final words, which were spoken to Betty-Sue Bach, were "Time, gentlemen." The time was exactly eleven o'clock on the evening of May 5, 1807[2] in Baden-Baden-Baden [sic], Germany.[4]

Click to expand...

You realized that this was a parody ?

If you wait a little bit, you will hear Baden Baden Baden Baden...

The only thing I would recommend is a strong massage. If it hurts a bit it's normal. Not too much, but enough for the muscle knots to get unknotted even though that might not be a word.

I had a massage like that and I felt like I floated. My sister thought I was high. I don't think I could even speak properly. It's like all the weight went off my body and I weighed less than a feather.

Massages are the best experiences for me.
Sauna's, steamrooms, hamams, jacuzzi's,... can be relaxing but not for long, at least not for me.

Go for massages everywhere you go is my advice... Try the different ones they have in the different places...

Alrik Fassbauer said:

You realized that this was a parody ?

Click to expand...

What, you mean Gott Sei Dank Dass Es Freitag Ist isn't a real Baroque cantata? I'm shocked, Alrik, I tell you. Shocked! Next you'll be telling me that Wein-am-Rhein doesn't exist either!