Entering the Aqua-Dome

(and the world of Blogs)

Well, here we go - my first blog - I hope you're all as excited as I am!

Who on earth is going to read this? I have no idea (and I wonder if I did a search, how many people's blogs started in a similar way to this?!? One day I will do something truly original...)

So today I went into the Aqua-Dome for the first time (I'm starting out making a completely false assumption that anyone knows what I'm talking about - so first, a bit of background...)

I am a piano bar entertainer - I play piano and sing all sorts of music including pop, rock, jazz, showtunes etc... I play songs by request whenever possible and this can lead to some hilarious contrasts (last night, as an example, I played Don't Cry For Me Argentina, Benny and the Jets and Sweet Child of Mine!). I am currently travelling the world going from gig to gig and this has currently landed me in a tiny town in the Austrian Alps called Laengenfeld, working in the Aqua-Dome Therme and Hotel. No doubt I will write a lot more about this place in the next few blog entries. The aim of my blog, though is to record the funny things and interesting things (and probably outright mundane things sometimes) that occur during my travelling piano player days. Probably more for my record than anyone else's actual interest, but time will tell...

So, back to my original intent...

Today I went into the Aqua-Dome Therme for the first time... (cue suspenseful music)

The Aqua-Dome is a series of pools and spas filled with thermal water and is quite well known throughout the Tirol region, Austria and its surrounding countries. I have been told its the best Therme in the Tirol... I have also been told it is the best Therme in Austria... who knows which is true??? Maybe both?!?

Lucky me has free access to the Aqua-Dome (and yes, i do giggle a little every time I say the name - I expect Mad Max and Tina Turner to pop up at any minute - that's why I'm writing it so often...) as I am an employee for the month. Normally it would cost me 15 Euro for 3 hours, so I think it's quite a good deal really.

They give you an electronic locker key when you enter and you head into the changing rooms. Now, prudish Australian that I am, I was fully expecting separate changing areas assuming that my locker would be in the male area etc... but no, communal, of course (ah the Europeans!). So after a whole lot of hiding behind towels and locker doors I get into my bathers (the flashy short-style Speedo things I bought just before leaving Australia as an incentive to lose weight - very European, and may I say, I am quite impressed with how decent I look in them now! Gotta keep up the Pilates... you'll probably be grateful that there are no pictures, though! No-one deserves to see someone that white in skimpy bathers...)

Heading into the actual pool area was really great. The pools are heated (around 34 degrees) and there are indoor and outdoor pools (I didn't take pics, though so can't post any... you can check some out at www.aqua-dome.at) Outside there are several different types of pool all linked up by a corridor of water, or by a groovy pyramid with stairs up the middle.

The corridor of water stops first at the "Whirlpool" which propels you slowly round and round - kinda fun! Second stop was the Air pool (or something like that - my German isn't quite extending to Thermal Pool terminology yet) which was basically a spa / jacuzzi. Up the pyramid a little further to the Salt Water pool (lots of floating - and a slightly scary sign warning people with sensitive skin to not spend very long in this pool!) and the final stop up the pyramid was the Massage pool, with various rotating air jets on the sides, the bottom and finally a big fountain / waterfall in the middle (called a Sodium shower... not quite sure why, but I suspect it was pure Thermal water, straight from the underground... skin ok so far...) There was also an outside pool with cooler water (a definite shock to the system, but nice) and the indoor pools have waterfalls and fountains to stand under which were quite fun.

In all, it's a really great place - very relaxing and quite fun. Always nice to spend so much time in warm water, though I'm not quite sure how people spend 3 hours and up there. I was in and out in just over an hour and was quite shrivelled up and damp by then, so I probably didn't fully appreciate the experience.

The definite highlight, though is the environment. They market the place with the slogan "The power of contrasts" and it really is amazing sitting in a warm jacuzzi outside with cold air around you and looking at the incredible alps that surround the valley. Cue my first picture!

This place is so breathtakingly beautiful that I have to stop my bike every time I go outside just to enjoy it fully. The Aqua-Dome certainly takes advantage of the beauty of the surrounds, and I am sure to spend a lot more quality time there in my month here.

And maybe one day, Mel Gibson and Tina Turner will pop up. Until then I'll just have to sing "We Don't Need Another Hero" to myself as I float around the pools!

I promise future posts won't be so long... oh well, they probably will be cos I do have a tendency to over-describe, but that's part of my charm... And do I use brackets and ... too much???