Let your hair down....and your clothes.

I've never been much of a spa guy. In fact, even though I once worked at one in California, it all seemed a little boring to me. The whole massage thing is probably the turnoff. You check in at the front desk, sit and wait for your therapist, who are of course sweet and pleasant for an hour, then bam, you're done. The unspoken words go like this; "You're done, give me a big tip, and move on". It kind of reminds me of a good movie without a good conclusion. You later wonder if it was all worth your time.

Could the spas here be any better? Could be worth checking out though eh?

Let's rewind for a minute. I worked at a California spa. Things are a little different here. The people of Austria aren't hung up on the whole nudity issue. In fact, it's quite normal for me to pass ladies mowing their lawns in their bras coming home from work, which is hilarious to me:) Around here spas are co-ed, and the people are all butt naked...everyone. Let me say that again...everyone is naked..everyone. Fat, skinny, young, old. It doesn't matter. Oh my, this is not in my comfort zone at all.

Yvonne and I stayed at a hotel a couple weekends ago in Burgenland. This is a state on the right side of Austria known for their good wine. Anyway, there was a spa next door to the hotel. Should I check it out, I asked myself?

Heck yeah!

Perhaps I'm a boring guy, but I've never been naked in front of a bunch of women at a public place before. Plus, for those in the 'know', Austrians aren't circumsized. I am. I am an American. My thought was that everyone would be checking out my weenie because it looks different. With all my American 'nudity issues' do I really want the added stress of having an American weenie?

Yes, whatever, I'll deal with it.

I walked into the spa area, with my clothes on, very concious of my surroundings. Were there normal people here, were they all naked, and of course, where was the closest get-away door? To my suprise I saw mostly overweight naked old ladies at the front door. Must've been a knitting group or something on vacation together. The main room was packed full of all sorts of folks. Their one commonality was that they were all proudly naked.

But nobody cared about other peoples nakedness.

My heart quit pounding. It was time to undress. You know, it was as though I was doing something wrong, but 'naturally' I wasn't. It was all a bit normal. After stripping I scooted outside (while nervously holding a towel over my man parts). It was a hot sunny day with tons of oiled up skin laying around a pool - most of them on their backs with all to see. I didn't want to get caught looking so I ditched into a nearby sauna. I'd be safe there right? Well, that depends on your definition of 'safe'. There were only two of us in there - the other being a girl...a german magazine model.

Oh boy.

She was actualy very friendly. She was in town for a magazine shoot and had decided to stop by the spa for some relaxation. We spoke for maybe 20 minutes while laying totally naked next to each other. We later said our goodbyes and went our own ways. This is crazy. Remember, I'm married. Is this considered cheating, I thought? Best thing to do is tell my Austrian wife what happened. "Guess what honey? I layed naked with a beautifull german model today!" Geeeez, perhaps a black eye, or maybe a soon-to-be broken nose? Nope. All she had to say was-

Welcome to Austria.