"Start spreading the news..."

My first full day in NYC! I was on my own today. I walked to 32nd street to visit a spa. That was a really wild experience. The spa was tucked away in the Korean section of town, not visible from the street. I had to take this rickety elevator up to their floor, but once I got there it was lovely.

In the center of the facility is a giant jade igloo. Yes, I typed that correctly. It is a very large sauna, shaped like an igloo, and made of rough-hewn chunks of jade. (Jade is supposed to have some type of healing power. Whatever. I just like rocks.) So my first stop was there... after a quick shower.

After the sauna, I took another shower. I took a lot of showers at this spa. I lost count. I shouldn't need to take another shower for a week. (Kidding)

Then came the bath. Er, excuse me.. "Japanese Style Soaking Tub." It was a giant bathtub, the size of a Jacuzzi, but no jets. Floating in the tub were about a dozen whole lemons. And the tiles on the tub were, of course, made of jade!

Then another shower.

On to the steam room, a glass structure shaped like a hut. There was some type of aroma-therapy going on there, and it was nice. I normally love steam rooms, but my body temperature was pretty high after a sauna and hot bath, even with the cool down showers in between, so I didn't last long. Still, it sure clears out the sinuses!

And then another shower.

Next I was led to the "Baked clay, low temperature sauna," which, as far as I could tell was just a room with low lighting. I tried meditation for a while, but frankly, I suck at meditation. I always have. So I did my stretching exercises, which I hadn't had a chance to do that day.

After a while, they came and got me. I signed up for a "facial and brow shaping."
Next time I will ask a lot more questions before signing up for something. I have had brow shaping at home. Not often, but a few times, and they just put some wax on my eyebrows, pull it off and your done. The sadist who was my... whatever you call them...beauty specialist?... told me that waxing is bad for your eyes and makes them droopy faster. She was a believer in the good old fashioned way -- tweezers. I should have said no, but my pride (and about $100, prepaid) was on the line, so I said "go for it." All I can say is "OUCH!"

After the Eyebrow Torture, she washed my face with a dozen different substances, then proceeded to "detoxify" my skin. I assumed this meant some kind of mud mask. Nope. She proceeded to squeeze each of my pores individually, scraping them out with a tiny little awl. Every time I complained about the pain (every time she did it, it hurt, but sometimes it was particularly painful) she would say (in a deep Ukrainian accent) "you have blackheads, must go." I didn't even know I had these so called blackheads. You would think that they would be, well... black. But apparently these were subterranean blackheads, just waiting to pop out at any time.

Finally she was done. (She even cleaned the inside of my ears. She was that thorough. Wouldn't want to miss and opportunity for causing pain.) She put some type of liquid on my face that was supposed to soothe, but frankly it just stung. But I did get a consolation prize. She gave me a partial massage -- neck, arms, and hands. That was nice.

So I went back to the hotel all nice and shiny. I walked back on 5th Avenue, just to check it out. I took a nice nap, and when Mark was done for the day, we went out to dinner at a Gluten-Free restaurant in Greenwitch Village. More on that in the next post (which you are probably reading backwards, since that is the way they appear on the blog. So really, you've already read that, and you will be reading about my first day next. Oh, well.)