a sauna..

Since we don't celebrate nor Christmas nor birthdays we have a tendency to splash out when it comes to our anniversary; the only occurence, in our opinion, worthy of celebrating since it's one we chose ourselves and weren't forced to "enjoy" by society.
So last year we went white-water rafting in Colorado and while there also spent a couple of days at the Indian Springs between Denver and Aspen.
Wonderful setting...amazing natural hot springs bubbling into carved out "tubs" inside natural grottos.....just wonderful and worthy of a story of its own..
so reminiscing over the beneficial effects of warm water, hot springs etc we decided to go for what's available right here in a feeble attempt to thaw our frozen bones.
Some research showed a couple of Spas and even a Japanese Hot Spring...( In Sweden? Don't ask me how that works!)but for just a quick couple of hours without too much fuss we decided on a sports complex just around the corner.

They promised a Jacuzzi and a steam sauna...oh luvvely, we thought...to sit in a serene atmosphere and just relax and warm up!

Anticipating a couple of hours of bliss and tranquillity we arrived and were given locker keys, bathrobe and directions.
Slightly disturbing was the fact there were empty beer bottles in the "social Lounge" outside the sauna..usually one is not allowed to drink alcohol in a setting like that, right? But I guess this is Sweden after all....and they/we are fond of a little pick-me-upper now and then..

Feeling our way through the fog we opened the soor to the Sauna to be greeted by a cacaphony of loud voices...
turns out the sauna was a plastic "igloo" with 4 chairs on each side, close enough to gurantee your knees to intimately rub against those of whoever sat in front of you.
And interesting encounters may be had indeed...
It seemed to be Arab Boys Out that night and we shared the little cozy space with 4 overgrown Nefilims of Iranian descent..or something similar.. who insisted on conversing as if they were separated by miles and not centimeters...coughing and spitting and hawking..and who lovingly kept shifting their personal appendixes from left to right while giving them a quick scratch...!!!!!!!!!

Me and Mike hunkered down in a corner each looking forlorn...this testosterone-filled , hairy, loud ambiance was not what we had envisioned...

And to make things worse my plastic...PLASTIC! AARRGGHH...chair had a cut in it so my butt cheek got caught and as I tried to discreetly wriggle it loose my undulating movements must have been perceived as a shy attempt to a belly dance since I got their un-divided attention for a minute before they went back to harking and manly slapping each other on the shoulders..and shifting thingies some more.

Oh the wonderful variety of cultures.

We gave up...and as the Jacuzzi revelaed itself to be another meeting spot for the Middle East Male Youth Association it was painfully clear we're no longer willing to adapt beyond a certain limit.
I got home, sat on the floor in the shower cabin and let the hot water flow over me as I picked my nose and contemplated the wonderful world of loneliness....