If you read this blog with any shred of envy for the life we are living abroad, maybe skip this post. You may not want to hear about the weekend I had away with two friends to a spa hotel in the South of the Netherlands. Reading about our evening borrels, hours lazing in the spa, the long, leisurely breakfasts, and ventures into the neighboring areas of Maastricht and Valkenburg may just be too much. And it was :)
Alya first floated the idea of a girls' weekend to our "breakfast club" at the beginning of the summer. A group of us (mostly from the Winter Baby Mamas group) have been gathering at each other's homes about once a month on Fridays for breakfast over the past year. There was a lot of interest in such a weekend, but not much planning. In mid September when some of us were out to dinner, the idea was brought up again and this time we made something happen! Our original plan to fly to Geneva for a weekend was scraped when we realized how expensive accommodation in Switzerland would be. We decided we'd rather pamper ourselves and stay local. So the search honed in on spa weekends where bathing suits would be mandatory. You know how I feel about nude spas! And thankfully my friends share my sentiments!
We came across Thermae 2000 recommended in Amsterdam Mamas. Once the trip was planned, we all started to feel a bit apprehensive about leaving the kids (6 between us with one more on the way) and our husbands for a weekend. What great men for giving us this needed time to ourselves!
The spa was just outside of a town called Valkenburg and very close to Maastrict in the area of the Netherlands squished between Belgium and Germany. When we finally arrived Friday evening it was time to pop the bubbly and head in for our first spa session.
This spa was not unlike the one near us in Amsterdam, but the location at the top of a hill (in the Netherlands!) made it special. As we were floating around in the heated pool outside, we noticed a strange light coming from the top of a hill in the distance. It turned out to a be a large, orange, harvest moon rising into the night and was a good omen for a great weekend!
Oh the joys of sleeping in and then enjoying a long, quiet brunch. It was the first breakfast I have had at a Dutch hotel and I enjoyed the selection of hagelslag (chocolate sprinkles) for my toast.
Knowing that we wouldn't need the entire day to sit at the spa, we hopped the local bus into Maastricht. I had been with Pete and Jude over 2 years ago on our first road trip with our "new" car. However, at that time, I was newly pregnant with Maeve and feeling rather rotten. So this was a redemption visit!
One thing that I fantasize about now that I have kids is going to weekend matinee movies. So when I was thinking about what I would want to do if I had a whole weekend to myself, this was high on my list. The very apt movie, Girls Trip, was only playing at night so we saw Victoria and Abdul instead. Afterwards, we saw a bit of Maastricht, including the famous bookstore inside an old church, which we weren't able to visit on our first trip. We refueled with hot drinks (it has gotten cold all of a sudden!) and waffles before heading back to the spa.
There were some rituals taking place in the different saunas at the spa and I decided to be adventurous and try one out. Alya and I walked to one of the charming outdoor huts, which looked like it was plucked right out of Scandinavia. As we were waiting to go in, standing about shivering in our towels, Alya thought better of the experience and headed back inside. So I entered the sauna and found one of the few remaining spots on the top row. A man comes in with two broom-like bushels of branches and gives a lengthy description of what is about to happen. In Dutch of course. I turn to the lady on my left to ask for a translation, but she didn't speak English. So I tried the lady in front of me. Same problem, but she taps her husband and he turns around. "Is this your first time doing this?" he asks me? "Yes." "Well, you know the higher you sit, the hotter it gets?" Oh dear. I was feeling rather anxious about what was going to happen and was considering running out the door, but stayed strong. The bushels were dunked in ice water and the water was thrown on the hot stones. The room got hotter and hotter. My earrings started burning in my ears and I ripped them out, trying not to burn my fingers on the metal. The bushels were dunked in the ice water again and the man starts spraying everyone with the ice water. Then he comes around and one by one, has you lean over and beats your back with the bushels. I was reluctant, but took the beating. Just when I thought I couldn't take the heat any longer, the door is opened and everyone files out, leaving their towels behind. I am still clueless as to what is going on. Everyone stood around on the sauna hut balcony drinking some strange water and then they filled their cups up with ice and started to head back into the sauna. I had had enough and quietly escaped to the much more enjoyable sauna with the crackling wood burning oven!
After some further R & R, we headed to the room for wine and snacks before dinner. We had made reservations at the hotel restaurant. We were presented with the English menu shown below and couldn't get over the translations. Our google translate apps were of no use! What the heck is bonfruid? And Batat? And yes, I would love the lamb with its "herbal gifts," "coin," and "confused celeriac." We pressed our waitress for some help. "Oh, Bonfruid. Ah yes, that is umm.. bonfruid?"
The next morning, after checkout, Alya and I took a walk down the hill to Valkenburg while Melis and her belly relaxed at the spa. On the way, we passed an outdoor church built into the rocks and could see castle ruins on the neighboring hill. The town was really cute and we enjoyed some shopping for gifts of the kids. Check out the fancy building HEMA (like the Dutch Target) was in!
We could have stayed longer exploring the town or visiting the castle ruins, but we wanted a little more time at the spa before we had to head home. Such a relaxing, fun weekend with some really lovely mamas! We were all excited to see our kiddos and to relieve our wonderful husbands!
