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Published: August 17th 2008
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Those folks who know Lynne and I very well, know that we became addicted to hot springs and thermal baths during the 3 years we lived in Japan. We carried this addiction with us to Utah where we sought out every thermal spring we could find. We had a more difficult time when living in Kuwait, but we able to do our weekly spa sessions at the Hilton Resort.
At the beginning of our journey, we had the luxury of soaking in the many geothermal heated pool and springs while we were in Iceland. After over a month of no soaking, we needed a serious fix and Aachen Germany would provide us a much needed fix to our addiction.
On Monday, 21 July, we boarded the train from Brussels to Aachen Germany and were completely ready to put Brussels behinds us. We arrived in Aachen and had to get our bearings. We sought out tourist information at the train station, but had no luck on getting any information except a simple map. Upon leaving the train station, we were greeted by the local panhandlers. I’m beginning to see a pattern here. Panhandlers must be the reception committee in every
town we visit. One gal is dressed in urban garb and begins her sob story about needing 20 cents to catch a bus. I tell her to move on and we make our way to catch the bus to the hotel.
We find our hotel simple enough. It is an older hotel with dated furnishings, but is comfortable enough for us. They do not have access to the internet so we pay for limited us on a nearby WiFi hotspot. After checking in, we go to explore the town and seek out the Tourist Information Center (TIC). The young lady at the TIC is most helpful and loads us up with free information about the city.
We begin a walking tour of the city and quickly notice the abundance of fantastic pastries in the bakery windows. Wow, some of these look like masterpieces and should be admired in lieu of consumed, but I know better. We round the corner and I eyeball the first vendor selling Bratwurst. We grab a brat on a brochen (hard roll) and move along the streets eating our local snack. As we walk the streets, we immediately notice the cleanliness of this little
city. These locals really take a lot of pride in their city and it shows. We spend the rest of the day just checking out this remarkable town
As you will notice, I have very few photos of this town. It’s not that it is not a great town, I just wasn’t in the mood to take a bunch of photos.
Lynne and I decide that we would visit the Carolus Therme (thermal baths) on Tuesday and head back to the room for the evening.
On Tuesday morning (22 July) we took the bus to the thermal baths. As it turns out, there are two areas to the complex. The first area has a huge selection of themal pools to soak in. The main pool inside is a pretty good size. There is also a smaller outdoor pool, hot pots, cold tub, and a steam room. We start out here and determine there are too many people to enjoy a good soaking. We head upstairs to the second section of the complex. This area is known as the sauna section. Once you enter this area, you notice the large sign that states swim suits are prohibited. This was
a completely “natural area”. Americans typically have a difficult time with this because we have been taught that these types of areas are normally for freaks, perverts or hippies. The exact opposite is true. Inside are normal everyday people who enjoy soaking without any hang-ups.
The sauna area is huge. There are half dozen dry saunas with a variety of temperatures and aromas. This main floor leads to an outdoor pool where you pass the foot soaking area. Outside there are several more dry saunas. Downstairs there is a large “relaxation pool” with a huge dome covering it. Lights change colors from underwater as well as above. The coolest thing about this relaxation pool is the underwater music. When you submerge your head underwater, you hear the relaxation music. This was too cool. Surrounding the relation pool were a multitude of steam rooms at varying temperatures, hot pots and a cold dip tub.
We made the complete rounds of this complex and even had a great lunch. Lunch included the best tomato soup I have ever had. We closed out the full day at the sauna and headed back to the room. We had originally thought we were
going to spend 3 days in Aachen, but decided to spend an extra day to be able to go back to the sauna one more time. I will add that while in Japan, we visited many elaborate onsen (hot bath) complexes, but none of them could compare to this facility. This is now at the top of our favorite soaking resorts to date.
On Wednesday (23 July), we had to book arrangements for the next two legs of the trip. As you can tell, we are only booking a few days ahead of time because it gives us the flexibility to stay longer than we originally planned at these magical locations. We spent most of the day firming up accommodations in Switzerland and a visit with friends in Germany. After taking care of accommodations, we headed down to the train station to book our tickets to Interlaken, Switzerland and onward to Germany. With the time left in the day, we headed down to the city square and were able to hit the internet at an outdoor restaurant. We had our first schnitzel dinner and enjoyed this German meal.
On Thursday (24 July), we returned to the sauna to
enjoy an entire day of relaxation in the complex once again. We returned to the same restaurant and enjoyed another meal and took advantage of the free internet service.
On Friday (25 July) we boarded a train to Interlaken, Switzerland. Stay tuned for an update from this magical location.
Now for a note to future travelers, be sure to make Aachen one of your stops and visit the Carolus Therme. I would recommend this destination to anyone who doesn’t have the hang-ups of being buck naked in front of a bunch of strangers. The experience is completely relaxing and those who don’t understand this concept are missing out on a really magical experience.
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jackie
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hey I kind of like that purple hair thanks dad you gave me a great idea for my next hair cut :)