Today was our day of relaxation in Baden-Baden. We slept in late and treated ourselves to a luxurious breakfast buffet that included nougat crepes, raw honeycomb, fresh-baked pretzels, and a unique and delicious assortment of desserts. After partially digesting our morning meals, we started the short walk to Friedrichsbad, where we would be experiencing the spa’s famous seventeen step Roman-Irish bathing ritual.

The spa was fully nude, which was a bit awkward at the beginning, but everyone else also felt awkward, so it wasn’t too bad when you realized you were all in it together. Traditionally men and women would have separate bathing areas, except for in rooms 10 and 11, where they would always bathe together. Nowadays though, the spa commits a few days a week to be combined days where men and women bathe with each other in all of the rooms. Lauren and I chose one of the combined days so we could experience it all together.

After entering the changing area, everyone disrobed together but used the towel that was provided in each locker to immediately cover themselves back up. The temporary safety provided by the towel was quickly taken away once we walked into the first of the seventeen rooms, where we were instructed to hang up our towels and take a shower under one of maybe half a dozen showerheads in a large, open room. The guide sitting outside of the first room showed everyone who came in how to navigate the rooms so that we wouldn’t need to communicate with anyone after this first room unless necessary.

The warm shower poured over our bodies for a few minutes before Lauren signaled she was ready to move on to the next room and we both passed through the glass door into room two. The second room was a hot-air bath, as was room three, but at a higher temperature. It was during step three specifically that I became more comfortable with the nudity.

The third room is kept at 68 degrees celsius, so you are only supposed to stay for 5 minutes before moving on. When I entered the room, I saw a clock and pulled the string hanging from it so it would start keeping track of how long we’d been in the hot-air bath. After laying our towels over the wooden recliners and laying on our backs, a woman in a Freidrichsbad uniform came into the room and looked directly at us (we were the only two in that room at the moment) and asked if we were okay. Lauren and I were both caught slightly off guard, so the woman re-asked in clearer English “You pulled the lever, is everything okay?” We both began laughing and said that we were okay and that I had accidentally tugged the string thinking it was a timer. The lady started laughing with us, and at that moment I felt totally at ease.

By the fourth or fifth rooms, everyone seemed to have set aside their ingrained social norms and taken to enjoying the nudity, the freedom of not having to worry about how they are presenting themselves.

After 3 hours of pure relaxation in the 17-stage bathing ritual, and 2 remarkably intimate yet non-sexual encounters with masseuses, we left Friedrichsbad rejuvenated and feeling very alive. Of all the steps, we found the spa’s two steam rooms the most interesting. They’re apparently the only two naturally heated steam rooms in the world, using only thermal water poured over a small waterfall to encourage steam generation without any external machinery. This means that the temperature varies hour by hour depending on the underlying geothermal activity of the hot springs that have powered Baden-Baden’s spas for over 2 millennia.

The next thing we wanted to do on our relaxation day was to find some German chocolates. We had seen 2 shops while exploring the previous night, so we decided to go to both of them on our way home.

The first was actually a cafe, so we sat down and ordered some food along with our chocolates. After devouring the food, we had a cookie and took some chocolates to go. Then we stopped at our second shop and picked up a Baden-Baden specialty, chocolate truffles wrapped in a thin layer of marzipan and then dipped in more chocolate!

We went back to the hotel to eat our newly acquired snacks and relax. The chocolates from the first shop were incredible! Lauren and I agreed that these were probably the best chocolates we had ever had and vowed to go back the following morning to pick up some more. The other chocolates were unique and exciting to try, but not worth getting again.

At around 5 pm we walked over to the beer garden in town. We started with a meat and cheese plate, but this was not your typical charcuterie, it was a massive German meat and cheese board, with multiple types of salami and sausage, sharp and soft cheeses, and pickles. It was delicious and extremely filling. Of course, we also had to get German beers. Lauren got a Weizen, and I got a Dunkel that I ended up enjoying way more than I would have expected.

After dinner, we went home to change into our fancy outfits… We were headed to the Kurhaus, otherwise known as the casino. The Kurhaus in Baden-Baden is almost 200 years old with high-end decor; the inside looks more like an art museum than a casino. I was given only €50 gambling money by Lauren, but I was able to turn that into €150 within an hour. Then I promptly lost all my winnings when I sat down at the blackjack table… I hate blackjack. Any small amount of money I would have potentially left with at the end of the night, Lauren helpfully tipped to the dealers who were taking all my chips. In the end, I finished with exactly €50, so I guess that means it was not too bad of a night.