My morning began early again, because our car was still being repaired. I saw my last Russian movie for some time, Alice in Wonderland in 3D. Usually sitting towards the middle or back of the Imax are the better seats, however I find that with 3D it is best to sit right in the front row. I feel much more engaged in the action that way. In Moscow when the movie is listed as starting at 11:40, it actually begins playing at that time, not the previews. A nice change however with Moscow traffic, we were 20 minutes late. Oh well a good excuse to see the movie again in English!

My afternoon could not have been better. Irina met me at lunch and we relaxed for a while and chatted. We chose to skip going to another museum and instead decided to go to the Russian Spa. Fortunately I have had the opportunity to go to many spas in my life, when I am in Los Angeles, I love a visit to the Korean Spa with a traditional body scrub and massage. I was in a Russian spa before in New York, and I enjoyed that very much.

The main difference between this spa and any other I have been in the world is the temperature. I have never in my life been in a sauna this hot. When the staff members were adding water to the rocks it was so hot that no one was allowed to sit. Anyone who chose to stay for this had to lay on the floor of the sauna, on a towel with a towel or sheet wrapped around your head and shoulders, possibly even covering the entire body. It felt like I was in blazing hot sun with a sun, like my skin was melting. Unfortunately I do not think they could have something like this in North America, especially the USA because of risk of lawsuits.

After baking in the sauna I went immediately into a pool of cold water were I remained still for about 5 minutes and enjoyed the sensation of my body cooling and my heart rate slowing. I think this was very good training for my fat cells because when I exited the cold pool my skin looked like a red leopard chicken. I had goose bumps all over and I was bright red with white spots. This routine went on for 3 hours then I went and had a massage.

I missed the training in the pool today, but I didn’t care I was long over due for a spa session.

Two happy women below.