I got up early to take Embla to school, after which I had planned go spend a few hours at the Mineraltherme spa. I had packed myself up the night before and was all psyched up to get relaxed, if that makes sense.
After arriving to the spa and discovering they opened on Mondays at nine instead of eight (go figure!) I drove around town and then bought some gas for the first time in Germany. There is no paying at the pump, it's all pay inside. And there are five different kinds of gas. I picked the cheapest one, though I still don't know if I got the right one.
I almost went in Lidls to buy a few things but I decided to put this off until later. For some reason, today was just one of those days where creepy people were staring at me and generally acting creep-ish. Maybe it was because I was by myself and not with the rest of my crew, with my "children" or my "husband," (cause it would seem that is what people assume when I am with my cousin George or with one of his kids.)
As I drove, I was able to locate the German electronica station, which featured primarily German, Dutch and other European artists. I do enjoy the genre, and it was fun to drive around and run errands listening to it.
Siri assisted me with figuring out the name of the songs from the Euro artists that I didn't know. Siri is a good friend and though I forget about her sometimes, she is quite handy.
Since there are no pictures or phones are allowed inside the spa, so you'll just have to imagine the scene:
Yours truly going here and there, trying out all the pools, floating around, going in and out of the cold pool and the hot pool.....along with bunches and bunches of German Grannies and Papas. I could easily bet that I was the only person under sixty at the spa today.
There were some worker dudes with halters on about twenty feet up in a tree nearby, trimming away with long knives on sticks. This seemed to be the chief source of entertainment of those relaxing in the pool.
One older man that joined me in the cold pool pointed at the men perched precariously high in the tree and laughed, saying "nichts fur mich." (not for me!)
This time around, I cheated the system, skirted the policy, did my own thing, etc. as far as the saunas were concerned. Remember my post on the sauna where I got in trouble for wearing a top? You don't? (Well, go find it in the archives if you've got time and brain cells to kill.)
I typically wear swim shorts and a top when I swim. I wrapped up in a giant towel and hid the straps to my swimsuit underneath. My long hair further camouflaged the straps and so it looked to all the pesky sauna Naked Patrol Employees like I only had on a towel.
So essentially, I was afraid to let my towel slip and show, not a lack of clothes, but that I was actually wearing something underneath. Ironic, is it not?
But anyway. I didn't get caught.
I found a sauna that was mostly deserted, with no one policing to make sure you were naked, and as there wasn't anyone there, I made good use of this little sauna. It had some aromatherapy going on inside,
the diffusion was of lemongrass and it smelled very pleasant.
There was also this other sauna room I discovered that was 90 degrees, Celsius. I did the math in my head and then came to this conclusion: That's real, REAL hot.
I was in and out of these two saunas and by the time I was done, I had left a big old sweat print on the wooden slats. Sweating, especially in this manner, feels very good.
(the autocorrect on my iPhone had that as "swearing feels very good.")
If I hadn't lost you yet, you three readers of my blog, I most likely would lose all of you after that sort of declaration.
But, moving along.
The aforementioned old folks were all good natured and friendly. The old fellow that I talked to in the cold pool-the one that joked that the high tree trimming was "not for him"-this same fellow and his wife were making their way out of the pool area the same time as I. He saw I was having trouble with my locker, and he asked if he could help me, then went to get the employee in charge of the locker room area. I never had a chance to properly thank him, as he left while the employee was assisting me, but I was so impressed by his kindness to the poor clueless American (that would be me.)
Quite relaxed and in a good humor (thanks to all the minerals I absorbed, no doubt), I drove back to the house and picked up Rachel. We in turn drove to pick up Embla from school and then the real fun began. We had planned to take her on a shopping trip to purchase her Mom and Erla a birthday gift.
With her help, we located the mall in Böblingen and I managed to park the van in the tiny parkhaus (parking deck.)
It was a jolly old time tooling around the mall together, just the three of us.
We browsed around....
made fun of fashion...
(The Death Eater Sweater, only € 9.99. Not recommended for daycare or kindergarten workers, as it may affect a child's mental well-being.)
....and generally enjoyed each other's company.
Oh.
And did I mention I got engaged?
Poor guy had to sell his house to buy me the ring, so I kinda couldn't say no.
After successfully acquiring the necessary gifts, we treated ourselves to some coffee at the Italian cafe inside the mall.
The mall food here is just like the food everywhere else: fantastic. Where else could you have a slice of cake and sip tea or coffee in a wicker chair as you watch the passerby?
Rachel and I will definitely come back to this mall, because we saw a few
stores that will require Further Investigation- a chocolate store, a German backpack store, and the entire second half of H&M wherin lies the 2€ sale bin.
Imagine my surprise upon my arrival back home to find lots of German made lace doilies, table runners and tablecloths sent over from Guthrun, the landlord's wife next door. She has collected many of them over the years and has no one to pass them on to, as her daughter is a very modern type of girl and doesn't wish to have them. She sent us three entire boxes full of them and said to take whatever we wanted, and I was just floored. These things aren't cheap, and she is giving them to us.
For our dinner, Rachel made some delicious chicken wrapped in bacon, parmesan broccoli, and fruit. I made some GF brownies for everyone to enjoy for dessert.
I cleaned up the kitchen and shortly thereafter documented some shenanigans going on upstairs.
*cough cough*
Ellert, when you are a world famous soccer star, I will have these pictures of you in the makeup your sister so skillfully applied to match your blonde hair and porcelain skin tone.
;)
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