Steamer Room

It has been bitterly cold here in Germany. Our room was fridgid when we arrived and took three days to warm up. So mostly I have painted in our room and taken a few trips to Berlin museums and galleries. I decided that we needed to go to a German sauna and warm up. There are more saunas in Germany than in any other country in the world. After an internet search I chose the Liquidron. It boasted five saunas, including a Finnish one, steamer rooms, hot salt baths and a nice atmosphere.

We paid at the door, got fluffy bathrobes, and towels. The woman behind the desk thought we would need two towels each, but the price was mounting higher each moment so we stuck with one. Did Ed need slippers? She said no. I think he would look geeky was her attitude.

We took our bundles and went to the male and female dressing rooms. However there was no wall between the two locker rooms so I am not sure why they bothered with 2 doors. You could see each other as you dressed. However, everyone was quiet, no one looked and only one person made contact with someone on the other side. We put on our swim suits, took showers and met in the hallway.

Men and women walked about in bathrobes, swimming suits, and wrapped towels. Some were naked. People were coming in and out of steamy saunas, cooling themselves on stone benches, and going in and out of open showers. Everyone was quietly pleasant minding their own business. To our relief we were ignored. For us this was a new experience. We didn’t know the layout, customs and what order to do things. There were comfortable lounge chairs, and people sat or stood at the bar/restaurant. I was a little reassured. Not seeing the big pool I asked a passing worker where it might be. With a smile he pointed to a door at the end of the bar.

We opened a large black steel door into a darker room. We hung up our things and were now in a large pool area. The lights were low and soothing music played. We slipped into the salt water pool. We floated effortlessly on our backs listening to the music which was piped into the water. Blue and magenta lights shone onto the water and the colors were reflected onto the ceiling in a constantly changing pattern.

After relaxing for a while we decided to check out the saunas, steam rooms, and other pools. We became more relaxed. We found a sauna without anyone inside and went in. We probably picked the hottest one and within two minutes Ed had to leave. I stayed a bit longer. By now we were getting comfortable in the setting. We wandered about looking into steamer rooms, went outside in the cold and hung up our robes and went into the warm salt bath on the deck. The steam room was dark except for little lights on the floor. You sat on benches and the steam was so thick you couldn’t see the faces or bodies of anyone. All you could see were knees to feet in the fog. Sometimes little cups of apple juice were set out and we replenished ourselves with that. Outside of the saunas there were stone foot baths and cold baths that you could plunge into. Next to them was a tray that looked like it had apple juice cups. I took one and discovered it was honey! Oh yes, I read something about rubbing honey on yourself somewhere. No one noticed that I had almost drank it. For three hours we went from one sauna, to showers, to steam rooms, back into pools and more showers.

Now that we were finally warmer than I had been in weeks it was time to head home. The night was dark as we headed back to the train. I thought the air was not nearly so cold as when we had arrived. We found the wrong train and took it. After mucking about for a while and standing on various cold platforms my warm glow started wearing off. Berlin really was every bit as cold as I remembered it. Two trains later we reached Potsdam. We had another twenty minute walk up the icey hill to our guesthouse and our cozy beds where we warmed up all over again.