Eden in Oulu

(Varra nyt! = book now!)

(this pic is from their website; however when we went the ocean was ice and covered with snow, along with the surrounding area)


This past saturday (lauantai), I went to Eden with 19 other exchange students. It is a Spa type hotel were anybody can go: young, old, and everybody in between. We paid 6 euros for the "entrance fee" (and another 4 for me, cause I forgot a towel – I should just have gone without one – I should have also kept the towel, grrrr). When everyone had paid their dues, we went to the dressing room to change. Once we donned our bathing suits, we headed for the pool and saunas only to find another changing room area with several open stalls of showers to rinse yourself off before you go in the pool or sauna. But it wasn’t the second changing room area that really shocked me. No, quite frankly it was all the girls/women naked walking around like it’s nobody’s business. I obviously have seen the female body before, seeing as how I have one, but it was just the mere fact that young, old, fat, saggy, skinny, boney, just stood there, talked their in the buff! Oh, ho, ho, and that’s not all . . . the instructions on the sauna specifically stated that you could not wear your bathing suit in them. Ha, well we sure did break that rule. Later on, this part I just find hilarious, the girl “life saver” – as her t-shirt said – came into the sauna and told us that we couldn’t wear our swim suits!! Haha!! Yeah, so instead of telling somebody to put their clothes on, she was telling us that we could not wear our “clothes” – bathing suits. Well, we all just sat their and smiled and nodded at her and said okay. We didn’t budge. Sure it probably was uncomfortable for the other naked people in the sauna to have a row of clothed people, but hey it was weird for us to have a row of naked people across from us. After a few more minutes, we finally left the sauna still fully suited-up and began to dry ourselves for the trip back to Linnanmaa.

(this pic is from their website)

Now for a description of the rest of the “spa” . . . It wasn’t exactly what I thought it would be. Yes the sauna felt spa like, but when we walked out into the main area we were greeted by a huge inside swimming area with a tropical décor. I am sure that if I had gone to the front desk and asked about the different spa activities such as massages, facials, or whatever else you do in a spa I would have found out where and how much those spa activities were. Nevertheless, the pool area was quite entertaining, and we all had a fun time wading around in the water. There were two small slides. On the longer slide you went through a tunnel, much like the ones at water parks in the states. The other one was a little bit steeper, shorter, and the tip of the slide was further up from the water, making for a splashier landing. They had several little kiddy sections with small colorful slides that looked like elephants or other animals.

(book now = varaa nyt)


Eden's Blurb about themselves
"Tropical warmth of Holiday Club Oulu time passes almost unnoticed. The surging waves and soothing bubbles of the indoor pool together with our heated outdoor pool appeal to both children and adults alike. Linger in a traditional Finnish sauna, try out an exotic Turkish steam bath or a Roman-Irish mixed sauna. Refresh and relax!
The pool department has a main pool (30 C), a children's pool (32 C), three jacuzzis (32 C) an all-year-round heated outdoor pool (27 C), water slides, water massage points and massaging waterfalls, water walls and lilos, a contraflow river and a wave machine. There's water aerobics with an instructor and water games too. Saunas include two Turkish saunas, a Roman-Irish mixed sauna and two Finnish saunas. Enjoy also our solarium and bright light treatment.
Spa Opening hours: every day from 10.00 to 21.00. "