Thermalbad Zürich

For weeks and weeks, Susannah and I have talked about (and postponed) going to a thermal bath, located, oddly enough, in the same office park as Google, just a few doors down. 

Thermal baths are quite the thing here, and I've been told over and over that going to one is something I must do before going home. But I've hesitated. Even though most thermal baths allow children, I'm deeply skeptical about how relaxing a thermal bath could possibly be with children in tow. Particularly since, the last time I went to a thermal spring, ages ago in Budapest, I remember a definite odor to the water, and I can only imagine the comments the kids would make.

This particular bath, however, had absolutely no smell. Really, if it weren't for the lack of a chlorine scent, I would have mistaken the bath for a swimming pool. But apparently it is bona fide, fed by an underground hot spring.

I should say straight away that I'm not really a spa person.  I prefer coffee and a book, or maybe a walk, for my relaxation. All the same, sitting in a roof-top infinity pool or the chambers of a centuries-old brewery sounded pretty nice, particularly since it would be with friends.

Stolen shamelessly from the spa website, these are two of the pools: the rooftop pool, and the brewery pool, where you
sit, pickling, in something that looks and feels like giant casks.

Since we went late in the evening, after dinner and kiddie baths, we didn't even glance at any of the spa treatments. We only settled, instead for their standard, everyday "mystical bathing ritual."

Maybe one of the reasons I'm not a spa person is that I get the giggles whenever I enter a spa setting. There's something about the incredibly earnest mood music and careful lighting and oh-so-casually scattered lotus leaves. I can't take it seriously, I just can't, and not even seven years of living in Berkeley could cure me of this.

But I managed to behave myself, mostly, and I had a lovely time with Susannah and another Google wife, with our mystical bathing ritual.  We spent a lot of time in that rooftop pool, which truly was stunning, and probably best at night, with all of Zürich twinkling below us. But I was doubly glad that I had friends there, not just because of the fun conversation, but also because there were couples making out in any given alcove. To be alone there would have felt incredibly awkward.

All the same, we studiously avoided the couples, enjoying the panorama instead. When our necks and noses got too cold from being out in the night air and moved, shivering, inside.  I was hoping the water would be warmer, as well as the air, the water throughout the spa was 35 degrees, just below body temperature.

At least that meant we could stay in the water without risk for a long time, and we did, until the custodian kicked us out at 9:30. Not quite ready to go home, we decided to see what other trouble we could get into, and ended up at a place aptly called The Smokey Bar. We wouldn't have gone in if there hadn't been a nonsmokey section as well: mercifully, the half without the karaoke machine. That place kind of gave me the giggles, too.

Although the company tonight was fantastic, I guess my opinion of the Thermalbad is as lukewarm as the water. I'm totally glad I did it once, but next time I think I might seek out a different bath. I just read about one, about an hour away, that has some features that don't sound half-bad and might even keep the kids amused: a group of steam rooms in which the steam is scent infused (with mint, lemon, coconut, and so forth), a rainforest rain with warm water trickling from the ceiling, and a high-salt-content pool for super-buoyancy fun...not to mention the lazy river. Maybe one fine day?