Russian banya

Still at the dacha...

After driving around on the river, Julia, her boyfriend and I decided to go to the banya. We wrapped ourselves up in bedsheets and went into the sauna room, which wasn't as hot as it can get, but definitely hot enough. My uncle's friend, Andrey, came in to hit us with a bunch of birch branches, which is first soaked in water or snow, to improve circulation. After a session with Andrey, each of us was running out of the sauna room through the whole banya outside to roll around in the snow. Barefoot and all.

It was AMAZING! The steam from the sauna, the smell of birch trees, the fresh country air, the cold snow.

It was so thoroughly relaxing that after we had dinner, I took a nap on the couch and then when we got home, I went right to sleep at 10:30pm and slept through the night for the first time.