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LANA: It is a coed spa and everyone is naked. We came to this spa on our first trip to Wiesbaden 4 years ago so we are pretty familiar with the process, layout and set up :) We sign in and obtain two wristbands with a chip that you use to lock your personal belongings into a locker and pay for any amenities. The spa charges by the amount of time that you spend there. The recommendation is to gradually warm your body temperature via dry or wet sauna, then you immediately cool off either with various cold showers, cold pools, an ice shower (warm water with small chunks of ice that melt on your skin on contact) or the ultimate, a cold dunking tub. They have towels for rent, but the locals bring their own, along with flip-flops and bathrobes.
In between the various hot and cold treatments are lounge areas where you just sit and relax and many patron are reading the paper. How civilized!! Within each treatment area there is a clock while the saunas have a small sand-glass timer that you turn upside down when you enter so you can track the time you've spent. The sauna's even have small cubby holes just outside the door for people who wear glasses to store them before they go in. The wet sauna has a bucket of hot stones that get heated, then canter-levered over to a small cauldron of water where they are lowered twice to create steam. Once completed, the stones go back to other side where they get heated once more.
We do at least 3 cycles of hot hot hot, then cold cold cold. It's refreshing and good for your constitution. When we say everyone is naked, we mean EVERYONE is naked. And quite casual about it all--some people wrap themselves in towel, others generally hold their towel in front of them and some just let it all hang out. Except of course the staff--who are fully clothed. This must seem odd to be wearing clothes while everyone else around you is naked. Even the change room is unisex--only the shower rooms/bathrooms are separate.
The Therme has spa treatments that you can book as well--massages, facials, etc. etc. I opt for a 20 minute facial massage as a bonus. If we lived here, Lana would like be coming here once a week!! Randy loves the cold dunking tub. I love the cold water pool where you can gradually immerse yourself.
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After the fantastic time in the spa, it is now close to 14:00 so we head to the Weinfest for some lunch. There is hardly anyone around, so it must have been raining heavily before we arrived as it was not raining now. Very strange to see so few people, but that is the weather and it is the mid-afternoon. No lineups for the food though!
Most of our lunch was Spiesbraten. This is yummy roasted pork cooked to tenderness with sautéed onion. Came with German potato salad and cabbage salad. Lana loves the roasted pork because they do it so well. More comfort food! Pairs well with a Rheingau Trocken (dry) Riesling wine that we bought at Weingut Künstler.
This is a German goodie Lana found at the Weinfest. Name is Poffertje. They are like mini-pancakes. Puffy on the outside and soft inside with chocolate sauce and icing sugar.
Germans love their käse (cheese) and they have many pastry and other goodies that incorporate käse. The name of this goodie is Käsegeback. Crunchy outside and softness inside with a good blast of cheesy goodness. We would call these cheese sticks. They pair well with Riesling.
This is a picture I took while sitting at our table having lunch. You can see the administrative building and the Cathedral in the background. The Weinfest is situated around these buildings that dominate the skyscape. Umbrellas are needed for certain with all the rain and when hot the sun.
After our lunch and purchase of a bottle of Kabinett Trocken Riesling at Weingut Künstler, we navigated around the Weinfest and side streets. We walked back to the apartment and discovered Philipp's fantastically fast wifi/internet was down. My Mac and Lana's iPad were not working and neither were our iPhones. It is a tragedy! ;-)
The wifi/internet is down for many hours. Philipp returns from his business trip to Berlin and he can't get anything to work on the O2 network. His girlfriend Manu returns from her business trip to Munich and around 8ish we are walking to a Japanese restaurant Mosch Mosch. Kinda weird having Japanese food in a German city, but it is a favourite of our friends and the food is pretty decent.
BBQ pork steam buns.
Pork Ramen with kimchi.
Our friends Tina and Adrian are in town for the weekend (from London) so we meet up at the Weinfest. No longer raining, although fairly chilly in the late night air. We find a spot on the grassy lawn protected by a short fence. We are away from the milling crowd and bumping and jostling. Each couple takes turns buying a bottle of Riesling and we enjoy the conversations and meeting some of Philipp's friends. The wine is excellent and properly chilled. We leave around 12:30 am so it is a late night. No more rain.
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