Let’s Git Necked! The Friedrichsbad Spa in Baden-Baden

The imposing Friedrichsbad, dating from 1877.  (Photos are not permitted inside, so all photos are shamelessly stollen from around the internet.)

Toss off those clothes and get your warm, pink body in a pool with strangers?  If you’re American, you’re thinking, sure!  Just as soon as Sports Illustrated asks me to be in the swimsuit issue, or The Chippendales call me to audition.  Poor body image or just unbelievably modest? I think it boils down to mindset.

Europeans simply do not look at nudity the way we Yanks do.  No judgment, just differences in outlooks.  A European says nude and an American’s eyes pop wide, while the mind screams SEX!

The phobia spills over into every aspect of our culture.  Nobody in Germany would consider putting fig leaves over statues, or hesitate before stepping into a mixed-sex sauna.  People don’t protest outside art shows, or insist that unclothed painting be kept in a back room.  Natural to Europeans means natural.  Sex means sex, which to them is entirely different from nudity.

Immediately the question pops like a firecracker:  Can’t I have both?  See, now that’s the disconnect.  You’re still stuck on sex.

I’m not saying that people who also think Italian cars are dependable, dogs belong in restaurants, and 19% tax should be added to every damn purchase are always right in their points of view. But, when it comes to nudity, we need to rethink our outlook.

For Americans, who internalize and dwell on their every bodily imperfection and “should be ashamed of themselves” for parading around au naturel, the very idea of going to the huge Friedrichsbad Roman-Irish spa in the Black Forest city of Baden-Baden becomes a paralyzing hurricane of ethics, morality, childhood fears, cultural mores, and puritanical religious values.  It’s from the “My mother would be ashamed of me” school.

The entryway to the spa.

So how, as an American, do you weather that perfect storm of doubt and fear?  Exactly the same way you overcome anything else that prevents you from trying something new.  You close your mind and simply do it.  You know exactly what I mean.  It’s what you do when you make your first trip to the gym.  Your heart races, you’re out of shape and won’t be able to do the exercises like an Olympic gymnist.  Damn, you’re fat and everyone else is perfect. Everybody’s going to stare at you and laugh.  Shame smothers you!

Then you get to the gym and the concentrated effort on meaningful exercise leaps over the irrational walls.  Even if you don’t notice, your brain figures it out.  Nobody, but nobody has a perfect body  (without Photoshop and an air brush), and everybody in the gym feels just as you do and is concentrating on exercise.

Your next thought:  You lying bastard!  Don’t tell me you go in a nude sauna and don’t notice the tits!  Yep, you do notice, just as you notice the tits on the Venus de Milo at the Louvre, but I doubt you remember what her tits look like, only that she’s a very graceful woman missing both arms.

I spent over three hours in the Friedrichsbad with my traveling companion.  I didn’t notice people staring and neither did she.  Matter of fact, the main thing on your mind is hot, very hot, or cold, very cold water temps.

First off, this spa, which dates from 1877, is family friendly, but children don’t go in the baths.  Drop them off in the Kinderpradies (Children’s Paradise), and your child will be cared for by trained adults and offered any number of amusements.  Open to children from 18 mos old.  Next door is the huge Caracalla Therme, which is a separate building, and offers a full family experience, with bathing attire required.

Why is the spa listed as Roman-Irish?  Because it is a combination of the traditional Roman bathing pools, with steam room features from traditional Irish baths.

For the Friedrichsbad, here’s the adult regimen (recommended times are posted on the wall of each stage): You start with a shower, in a roomful of a mixture of men and women, all naked and all taking showers. Then it’s time for the warm-air room, then the HOT air-room. Take your time, let your body adjust.  You find yourself pleasantly melting. From there, another quick shower before getting a full body, soapy scrub by a masseuse.  Hard or soft brush?  Your choice.  Either way, you end up pink and re-invigorated.

Here’s a clip of the scrub brush massage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPDHwQFyMcY

Hey, get that soap off with another shower and then, as in the style of the Ancient Romans, you move to a series of warmer baths and steam rooms.

Following that it’s the cool-down phase that take your body in stages of water temp, from overheated to comfortable to the tooth-chatter pool.  

The huge and elaborately domed 'freezing pool'

After the dental check….just kidding, but I had to throw that in…you savor a warm shower, and finish with a relaxing cream-lotion massage.  Did I say finish?  I almost left out the best part, the relaxing room.

Your masseuse wraps you in an oversized towel, about as thin as a bed sheet, and leads you to a darkened room that has maybe room for fifty.  You lay down on a comfortably raised cot, the towel wrapped around you, and she further wraps you in a blanket.  You lay in the dark, so relaxed you’ll probably take a nap, while the lotion sinks in to leave your skin buttery soft.  

The resting room:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5cFsD8PeMA

Need more rest?  There’s a large, airy, window filled, second story reading room, where sunlight recharges you.  Don’t ask me how the hell you ended up with a book in hand.

Three or three and a half hours have silently slipped away during the 17 stages of the spa.  You’re still not thinking about sex.  Matter of fact, just getting into your clothes is an effort, with bones that have turned to rubber and such a feeling of blissful relaxation you’d prefer to stay au naturel for another day or two.

But, for the cowards, there are also days when bathing suits are worn and men and women bathe in separate sections.  As if I care!  I came here to purge mind and body.

Time to wander slowly, but deliberately back to the comfort of the hotel and another nap.  Sex?  Who needs it?  Sleep…I need sleep.

If you want more details, just select the English option at Friedrichsbad  : http://www.carasana.de/de/friedrichsbad/

An Overnight in Baden-Baden

Be sure to scroll down for scintillating comments and more photos! 

I’ve already heard all the jokes; the town ain’t that bad-en, etc.  Give yourself a few more years before you try to hang with the Single Malt crowd.

No joking matter. We’re chatting about one of Germany’s most famous towns in one of Germany’s most beautiful regions, The Black Forest (Schwarzwald).  Why is it called The Black Forest?  You ask, I answer:  the Romans found the conifers in the forest so numerous and tightly packed they blocked out the light.

Heard of the famous eponymous cake and ham from The Black Forest?  The former’s a delicious meld of chocolate cake, cream, sour cherries, and cherry liquor.  Irresistible! Kinda like sex.  Indulge yourself!

Don’t stop there. The heavily cured ham, salty and smoky, is the perfectly sophisticated match for fresh, nutty bread, cheese, and grainy mustard.  Don’t forget a spicy, fruity gewürztraminer to wash it down. Fragrant and delicious, with a memory-maker flavor that makes you eschew machine generated ham and white air-bread.

Back to the Romans.  One of their settlements, both military and civilian, is now known as the city of Baden-Baden.  The Romans called it something else, but you wouldn’t remember anyway, so I’ll just say it had to do with water.  The waters of Baden-Baden (Bad in German means bath) have drawn visitors ever since.  Today, there are a couple of huge bath palaces; one offers a kiddie play venue and fun for the whole family, while the other (Friedrichsbad Roman-Irish Bath) is more for adults, with a barrage of different pools of different temperatures, hour long massages (brush scrubs, finishing lotions, etc), saunas, and even a room for napping.  After four hours of body-wilting pleasure, you may need it.  The packages range from about $30 to $55, depending on the amount of time and options you choose.  For you guilt ridden, sex obsessed Americans (I happily include myself in that group), yes the saunas are optionally nude.  That must surely be the subject for another blog entry.  To answer your second question, photos are not permitted in the bath palace.

Looking down on the pool from the top of the dome.

Don’t be deceived into thinking the Friedrichsbad Roman-Irish Bath is simply a splash-for-cash kinda place.   It stands as a temple to the art of bathing.  Architecturally amazing, it’s a wondrous array of carved stone and frescoes, with a huge and magnificent dome rising from the center.  Many have called it a sensory treat for body and soul. No wonder it’s been so popular for well over a century.

Besides the promise of knuckle biting titillation, what else does Baden-Baden offer?  Restaurants and bistros galore, most spilling out into the walking streets.  Friendly crowds.  Shopping that begs you to look in just one more window.  Museums, such as the Kunstmuseum Gehrke-Remund (dedicated to the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo), the Frieder Burda (with art that spans the spectrum from old to very modern), the Fabergé Museum (featuring the Russian artist), and the 19^th Century Art and Technology Museum.  All of these are conveniently only a short walk apart.

View from the Löwenbrau Bistro

Asparagus and strawberries are in season! 

Details make the difference

Down the street stands the famous Casino that’s attracted the well heeled since the 19^th Century.  Bring your passport and for men a coat and tie.  Think of David Niven in Monte Carlo and you’ll be on the right track.  Right from La Belle Époche, the Spielhaus has served the adventurous since 1821.  Don’t feel the urge to wager?  I’ve heard the restaurant is excellent.  With a little luck maybe one day I’ll find out!  Reservations!  Don’t miss The Theater.  Stage and Movies.

Then there are the Roman bath ruins.  No photography allowed, which puzzled me.  Old brick tiles, cement, crumbling walls, and a sophisticated heating system that would stand up to modern standards.  But why no photography?  My trigger finger itched.  At no extra charge, you’re given a listening tour that guides you from station to station and takes you back a couple of thousand years.

Even with all those things to do, what do you think constantly makes the top of the tourist list?  The incomparable Lichtentaler Allee.  Stretching for miles beside the Oos River, its bordered by grand, but tasteful hotels, decked out in flowers, towering trees, and flowing fountains. To walk here is to forget the cares of the world and indulge the human need to think and dream.  Stirring, yet restful, the gentle sound of gurgling water, the soft breeze through the treetops, and solitude of the greenery strewn path, always calms and soothes.

The rightfully famous Lichtentaler Allee

One of the grand hotels, The Atlantic sits unobtrusively on the banks of the Oos, a stone’s throw from the Lichtentaler Allee.  They offer weekend getaways that often include extras that help you to get to know this most interesting and beautiful German city.

Baden-Baden is less than two hours from most of the southern part of western Germany.  Don’t hesitate.  Just go!

Just a small portion of the walking streets

Everywhere you turn is a new adventure.

A City of Art, Gardens, Trees 

Even in the private corners, you find beauty

The heart of Baden-Baden: Art, Fashion, Architecture