Sauna

Last night Axel and I went to the Russian Turkish Bath House. It's this dingy old place in the lower east side that is reputed to be the oldest bath house in the city. I went there once with Rachel (old roomie) after Axel suggested it. It was nice, though I think because it was a Saturday, there was more girl-watching on the mens' part, and I sort of...um...got molested by one of the masseuses.
Much better this time. Being a Tuesday night, it was mostly regulars who come for saunas, not for staring purposes. It's nice when it's like that, and people are willing to talk to each other so it's not intimidating like those swooshy spa places.
The basic routine was 1)go into the sauna (we both preferred the russian radiant heat room), 2) quick rinse in shower, 3) go into ICE COLD pool. Repeat 4 times, with a break for carrot/apple/ginger juice (yum!) and stuffed grape leaves. The pool was ridiculously cold, like dipping your toes into ice water. Axel would hop right in and tell me to come join, but I refused every time, so he'd always swim over, grab me and pull me in. I would cling to him in a sad attempt of not freezing to death and then realize he could easily dunk me so I'd swim away fast. I must admit though, after the extreme temperatures, one feels really nice and relaxed.
Afterwards, Axel took me to dinner at a Bavarian place nearby. The owner and some friends were part of a documentary that Axel was working on about punk polka. They were going to apply for a Grammy, but sadly, it was announced not too long ago that the polka category is no longer. When Axel saw one of the guys in the documentary, he went off to go commiserate and I took the opportunity to grab the check and pay. Mwahahah. Bavarian pork roast, even the watered down American version, is most tasty.