Holland

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Holland
What a beautiful place! I feel very at home here. On Tuesday, we visited a spa called Elysium. https://www.elysium.nl/) There were so many saunas, steam rooms, whirl pools, reg pools resting rooms, three places to eat, and different themes throughout. We had a half hour relaxation massage and then a mud treatment in a Turkish style room with stone chairs and a rain shower to wash the mud away. It was truly an amazing relaxing rejuvenating day. 11.5 hrs. And we were completely naked for all of it. That’s right. Clothing was not an option here. Naked or go home. Robes were of course ok between therapies, and when eating. But other than that, people everywhere, co-ed, were naked. Inside pools, outside pools, sauna’s, steam, didn’t matter. What an amazing experience. It was incredibly freeing. I was nervous at first as Canada has nothing like this. We are taught very early to cover-up and keep modest. The interesting things is that there was more comfort for me in this spa then at home. Everyone respected everyone. I didn’t feel judged, compared, competitive, leered at. Nothing. It was a beautiful experience to see so many people, body shapes, sizes, colours, injuries etc. There was beauty in the imperfections and differences, making me appreciate myself and others so much more. There was no sexual tension or scoping, at least not in any obvious way that we noticed. Everyone just relaxed and accepted all who were there. I wish we had these in Canada. I think we would struggle a lot less with body image and comparison to others if we just accepted us as is. There is no perfect body. How boring would it be to all look the same? I found healing in this day as I have often had my struggles with body image and always wanting to look ‘better’. There was more advancement in my own beliefs about myself and how bodies 'should' look, in this one day then years of therapy lol. I would recommend this to…everyone. Clothing now seems to me almost a barrier to seeing another. Yes, I can hear you saying, 'ummmm yah, of course it’s a barrier to seeing'.. And it is a way to cover up even on an emotional and mental level. Clothing can cover so many things. Clothing is of course needed in certain environments, but perhaps if we balanced this with times were clothing was not expected to be worn, there were be a more confident society. Clothing can cover up all the areas we believe or have been told, are not right in some way or another. Fashion can be seen as a way to either look good covering up, or look extreme to distract perhaps. It was wonderful to see bodies that were not airbrushed, concealed, altered and see people just walk around unabashedly.

Wednesday we headed into Den Haag. It was so interesting there. There were many diplomatic buildings, history, palaces, and modern architecture of course. We strolled around the designer shops and amazing narrow side streets of stone, after a fresh autumn rain. The buildings never cease to intrigue me with designs, the front windows of apartments at street level, the brick works, the flowers and bikes everywhere! Men in their suits and ties, with their child on the bike with them, women in dresses and long coats, all ridding around town, rain or shine. It was lovely to see. Eventually it was time for a coffee break (about every two hours it about right) We found a very cute outside restaurant to have beer and coffee beside a propane fire and just watched people. We took it in, breathed it in, and soaked in stopping, connecting with each other, and reflecting on how amazing this trip has been so far. There has been such a peace and joy being in Europe and visiting with Jackie’s family as well as having time together. I feel much gratitude for it all. At the end of our afternoon, we headed home via tram for a delicious homemade supper at Ab and Ilse’s and then, the casino. It was quite fun actually and we won a little bit which added to the positive evening. It was a late night and after a few hours’ sleep, we were off to Paris to finish our trip.

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