Latest place you've visited ?

Personally I prefer sanfran or boston to Seattle. Seattle isn't bad - certainly better than a lot of cities in USA; but to be honest I find it kind of boring. I usually go once every other year to visit friends; so maybe I'll hop back over there this fall of next fall. Hum. oh well.
 
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[Deleted the ad] is the best spa in the world […] you can read more about it [Deleted the rest of the ad and the URL]

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Or you could just try a delightful stay RPGWatch - the home of…


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[Deleted the ad] is the best spa in the world […] you can read more about it [Deleted the rest of the ad and the URL]
I sincerely doubt it is the best spa in the world.

In my country for instance we have several places called ‘wellness centers’ that have multiple saunas (with degrees varying from 65C to 90C). An interesting experience is the ‘pouring session‘ performed by a ‘pouring master’ (really don’t know what the english terms are), who pours water on the hot stones so the hot sauna gets moist making it even harder to be in it. These session are always held at set hours in one of the saunas on the parc. In that moisty heat the ‘master’ starts waving his/her towel at the individuals attending the session, so all of a sudden you get very hot air on your skin to which the skin reacts with goose bumps :) while having it so hot you are giving ice cubes to put on your wrists/ankles.
Some people do not make it till the end of the session and leave the sauna to cool off.

Apart from the saunas every center has at least one or two huge bubblebaths, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, a hamam, a large steam room, some infrared ‘saunas’. Some saunas offer salt baths where floating is easy, or herb baths as well.

You can always sign up for some massages, or special facial/body treatments, both of which will cost you extra.

Of course, unlike your hotel no bathing suits or underwear are allowed, but some wellness centers have started to have one day in the week where a bikini or a swimming short is allowed. Of course these are the less hygienic saunas for those of us who are truly in for getting the real sauna experience (Wearing a swimming outfit you simply can not clean your self in the shower at every spot of your body after each sauna, or after going to the loo, which normally you are expected to do).
Only in the restaurants you are expected to wear a bathing gown. In the rest of the area you can walk naked, but some wear a towel around them, that is when walking from one sauna to the other of course.

To give you an idea, here are photos of just three centers:

https://www.elysium.nl/faciliteiten/

http://www.devarana.nl/_module/photo_album/5
http://www.devarana.nl/_module/photo_album/2

https://www.thermenbussloo.nl/nl/sauna/saunas/
https://www.thermenbussloo.nl/nl/sauna/baden/
 
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If I could recommend one place to visit on your next trip to the US, I would recommend Zion Park in Utah :) Heaven on Earth.
Had a family reunion on a mountain just north of there. Unfortunately, it was a BRUTALLY hot summer so we all just hid on top of our cool mountain. There were some bristlecone pines to see, though, which were pretty impressive. (At least to me.)
 
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Do you run naked through the snow after your sauna, @Eye;? I have Finnish relatives. My grandfather built a sauna in his house for my grandmother. (He did a nice job. I loved that thing.) When they visited, the first thing my Finnish relatives wanted to do after their sauna was run naked through the snow. They brought a photo album, and about a quarter of the pictures were of them running naked through the snow.
 
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Do you run naked through the snow after your sauna, @Eye;? I have Finnish relatives. My grandfather built a sauna in his house for my grandmother. (He did a nice job. I loved that thing.) When they visited, the first thing my Finnish relatives wanted to do after their sauna was run naked through the snow. They brought a photo album, and about a quarter of the pictures were of them running naked through the snow.
Hahaha. Snow after a sauna, running in freezing cold air, would be great.
Alas, we do not often have snow in my country, but getting a stroll outside after a sauna is the first thing I do. No towel or bathing gown wanted then, I need to cool off. After the stroll a cold shower and ending the cooling down with immersing myself in the ‘ice’ bath for a couple of seconds. :) Your skin starts to tingle afterwards, in a nice way.

I have heard that in Scandinavian countries and Russia you only visit the sauna amidst relatives. In The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany that is not the case. Men and women are mixed and people of all ages (16-80) visit the place. So you are amidst strangers.
First time everybody feels akward, but after 5 minutes that discomfort has passed.
I can highly recommend the experience. So do look for ‘wellness’ when visiting one of these countries. In The Netherlands before starting the hot/cold activities you can ask for a tour where they explain what to do. Because you not only need to warm up and cool off a certain way, but taking a rest, lying down, dozing off (the sauna gets even the youngest visitors sleepy when resting!), is equally important.
Btw most of the wellness centers do not allow kids at a certain age (too noisy).
 
Just went to see Come From Away. It's a musical in London. It's based on the true story of a town in Canada called Gander, with a population of less than 10,000 taking I was over 7,000 passengers when they had closed us airspace due to the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

It is really worth watching if you're in London. It is also being ran in new York.

The story is very well told and is very emotional, at the very least for anyone who still remembers that day.



I also watched Hamilton the musical a few months ago. Its a very different beast and very much more about the music than the one above. I recommend that one too.

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I was gathering reference material for mountain landscapes, and I came across this drone photography of the Dolomites, which I thought was quite stunning. Not the latest place I have been, though I have been before. I could quite happily live up there.


 
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I went across the street. It isn't really a place per sey but it was there and I wasn't and then I was but alas like all things it couldn't last so i left.
 
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I was gathering reference material for mountain landscapes, and I came across this drone photography of the Dolomites, which I thought was quite stunning. Not the latest place I have been, though I have been before. I could quite happily live up there.


I have never been there. Any pics of yours?

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I have never been there. Any pics of yours?

There probably would be some somewhere, but God knows what I've done with them. I'm not a great one for taking photos, TBH.
 
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Me and family made a quick trip to a beach (we live about 340 Kilometers from the nearest beach). We went to enjoy the last week of our holidays.

The sunset. One of the most beautiful spectacles in nature, even if it seems common, ordinary, repetitive.

xx8MBgQm.jpg


(I know the picture itself is not that great, I took it from my smartphone and I had to zoom in the sunset in order to take other people out of the photo, that's because it's blurred.)

This beach is also a good place for kite surfing. People from all over Brazil come here to practice this sport.
 
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Looks really nice to me, man. I have to go to the other side of Florida if I want to see the sun set on the water like that, yet daily I can see it rise majestically out of the sea, every single morning. It's breathtaking!
 
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Very nice @henriquejr;
Forgot this thread existed.

Since we can't travel much, last place I've been is Wales. A place called Porthmadocq. Very nice place actually but its nice because its close to beaches and activities.

It has a few castles nearby too.

I don't have many pics without people in them though.
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Very nice @henriquejr;
Forgot this thread existed.

Since we can't travel much, last place I've been is Wales. A place called Porthmadocq. Very nice place actually but its nice because its close to beaches and activities.

Yeah, I love it up there - right on the edge of Snowdonia National Park, which is beautiful, with loads to do. If you're taking nippers up there, I'd recommend Bounce Below.
 
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Yeah, I love it up there - right on the edge of Snowdonia National Park, which is beautiful, with loads to do. If you're taking nippers up there, I'd recommend Bounce Below.

My kid is only 2 right now, so a few years to go, but if we're both still on this website in 5 years time I'll ask you for recommendations :)

We went to Gypsy Wood park which has tons of activities for younger kids, then a drive-on beach which was fun.
 
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Last year we took a road trip around Tennesee and one of the places was:
127795824_10224615306671781_467202316299441693_n.jpg

a one-horse town (literally like 10 houses) birth place of Tina Turner.

Sorry about the big picture - don't know how to resize in post.
 
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