A slender blonde sitting next to me on a bench in Karlovy Vary's Spa III got up, tossed off the white sheet she was wearing and jumped naked into a pool 20 feet away. I sat there, paralyzed, wondering how to discreetly grab my clothes and find an exit.

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I was more than a little amused reading this article on the Czech spa town Karlovy Vary in the Washington Post. First, the opening paragraph shows nicely how different the European and American sense of modesty is. There is nothing peculiar for two Czechs of the same gender to see each other in the nude. Americans seem to engage in a much more intricate dance of modesty.

But even more enteretaining was the way the article contrasted two experiences based simply on a mistranslation of the word 'spa' or ' lázně'. In Czech, the word only has medicinal, curative connotations (as it presumably did in English not so long ago, too). You do to a spa for healing not for a day of beauty of treatments. That's why the idea of a 'day spa' is simply not available. A visit to a spa that lasts less than a week sounds strange. Sure you can even be treated in a spa as an 'outpatient' but you will still receive a whole treatment - not surprisingly called 'kůra' (cf. cure). Sure, spas are also a place to socialise but that means getting to know your fellow patients, not to go for a relaxing day out with your friends. In that light, much of what she talks about in the article makes relatively little sense. If the author began by saying 'In Czech the word for spa, means something slightly different' she would have avoided looking rather foolish.

However, in the end, Mary Ellen Monahan had a good time and provided her readers with lots of useful information about a wonderful place to visit. Of course, there are many 'spa towns' in the Czech Republic that would provide just as enjoyable an experience with more authentic Czech feel and a lot fewer Russian nouveaux riche. To name just a few Františkovy Lázně, Mariánské Lázně, Poděbrady, or Lázně Libverda will all repay a visit.

No-Frills Pampering in Czech Spa Town of Karlovy Vary - washingtonpost.com Western Bohemia is rich with thermal springs, and spas began sprouting up around them hundreds of years ago to harness the waters' reputed healing properties. While initially available only to European royals, aristocrats and the literati, the masses began arriving for rest or medical treatment following the Iron Curtain's descent after World War II.