about water, treatments and fusion reactors
I went to Bath Spa for my birthday yesterday. This was a big coup for two reasons. First off, I've never been to a spa before of any description and secondly I've never been to Bath before. Which, considering I live in Bristol, about 20 miles away from aforementioned city is unusual.
But Bath is rather nice, and rich. It clearly doesn't allow beggars and poor people, me and my friend KB were walking round these quaint cobbled backstreets commenting on the social situation and whether every local has a chip or a wristband that gets scanned as they cross the city limit and only if they are in a high enough tax bracket are they accepted in. Bath is, in a word, affluent.
which probably explains why I've never gone there.
But the Spa, this is a proper Spa. The city's over a natural hot spring, dates back to Roman times and they've used to spring as a water source for some of the most decadent surrounds I've ever seen in my life. I've lived quite a un-extravagant life so far, so we're not talking 7 Star hotel status a la Dubai but it's impressive none the less.
You get robes, towels and sandals and you can swim for as long as you like in one of 2 big swimming pools which have bubble jets and water jets and everything else that looks shiny.
Your wristband has a chip in it that allows you to lock your locker without a coin or token, and you can bill any extra food/drink to it by scanning it over a pad in the restaurant. This i pretty sci-fi for someone like me and it gets even better when I get to the steam room.
Or should that be steam floor?
Cos the whole floor (or near enough) is taken up by one room that looks like something out of Alien/Star Trek.
The first thing that hits you is the heat as you walk through the door, but this is only residual heat as the room is dominated by 4 HUGE cylindrical pod-like rooms filled with steam, easily able to hold 20 people each, laid out like 4 dots on a die with a 5th dot in the middle acting as a coldjet-shower that comes on periodically. Given the mood lighting and the bubbling foot wells at either end of the room the whole place does look like the engine room of some star ship and I'm walking around 4 huge fusion reactors.
And when you go in a pod, you feel like you're IN a fusion reactor.
HOT. Very, very HOT.
Later, after the best coronation chicken of my life I get my treatment.
First they put the pair of us in more pods with ultra-hot hay-esque air being pumped over us. Apparently the treatment is Austro-German, cue a lot of jokes from us both about Germans and the pumping of weird smelling air into small enclosed spaces. Am I bad? Yep, I am.
Then I got taken alone to the second floor to have my hot stone treatment. This is the best thing I've ever had on my body. The girl was great, I got a facial, and my entire body covered in oil and hot rocks that ease out my muscles. I've just come back from the gym and my hips (which are notoriously creaky) gave me no trouble at all following that treatment. I also purchased some mud to get the lactic acid out of my muscles during bathtime.
And then we were done, following some hot chocolate. 10am-4.45pm seemed to flash by in seconds.
I had an AMAZING time. Really, really good. KB is great, you know how you get some people you can say anything to and not feel stupid? That's her, she rocks!
Which reminds me I gotta wrap her birthday present for Sunday.
She bought me wash products and a journal.
Note to people you can never go wrong with buying me a journal. I've got 20+ of the things but it's always nice to have more.
But Bath is rather nice, and rich. It clearly doesn't allow beggars and poor people, me and my friend KB were walking round these quaint cobbled backstreets commenting on the social situation and whether every local has a chip or a wristband that gets scanned as they cross the city limit and only if they are in a high enough tax bracket are they accepted in. Bath is, in a word, affluent.
which probably explains why I've never gone there.
But the Spa, this is a proper Spa. The city's over a natural hot spring, dates back to Roman times and they've used to spring as a water source for some of the most decadent surrounds I've ever seen in my life. I've lived quite a un-extravagant life so far, so we're not talking 7 Star hotel status a la Dubai but it's impressive none the less.
You get robes, towels and sandals and you can swim for as long as you like in one of 2 big swimming pools which have bubble jets and water jets and everything else that looks shiny.
Your wristband has a chip in it that allows you to lock your locker without a coin or token, and you can bill any extra food/drink to it by scanning it over a pad in the restaurant. This i pretty sci-fi for someone like me and it gets even better when I get to the steam room.
Or should that be steam floor?
Cos the whole floor (or near enough) is taken up by one room that looks like something out of Alien/Star Trek.
The first thing that hits you is the heat as you walk through the door, but this is only residual heat as the room is dominated by 4 HUGE cylindrical pod-like rooms filled with steam, easily able to hold 20 people each, laid out like 4 dots on a die with a 5th dot in the middle acting as a coldjet-shower that comes on periodically. Given the mood lighting and the bubbling foot wells at either end of the room the whole place does look like the engine room of some star ship and I'm walking around 4 huge fusion reactors.
And when you go in a pod, you feel like you're IN a fusion reactor.
HOT. Very, very HOT.
Later, after the best coronation chicken of my life I get my treatment.
First they put the pair of us in more pods with ultra-hot hay-esque air being pumped over us. Apparently the treatment is Austro-German, cue a lot of jokes from us both about Germans and the pumping of weird smelling air into small enclosed spaces. Am I bad? Yep, I am.
Then I got taken alone to the second floor to have my hot stone treatment. This is the best thing I've ever had on my body. The girl was great, I got a facial, and my entire body covered in oil and hot rocks that ease out my muscles. I've just come back from the gym and my hips (which are notoriously creaky) gave me no trouble at all following that treatment. I also purchased some mud to get the lactic acid out of my muscles during bathtime.
And then we were done, following some hot chocolate. 10am-4.45pm seemed to flash by in seconds.
I had an AMAZING time. Really, really good. KB is great, you know how you get some people you can say anything to and not feel stupid? That's her, she rocks!
Which reminds me I gotta wrap her birthday present for Sunday.
She bought me wash products and a journal.
Note to people you can never go wrong with buying me a journal. I've got 20+ of the things but it's always nice to have more.