Union Square pool

I'm staying at the Parc 55 hotel in San Francisco. It does not have a pool, but the same chain runs the next door hotel, the Hilton Union Square, so guests in my hotel can use their pool. It is up on the 16th floor. Pictured above at night from the 41st floor...

Quite a nice pool area. No changing rooms other than bathrooms. But, there's towels, a large hanging out area and chairs, sunshades, and it is sheltered from the wind. The water is very warm, so it was not a problem to go for this dip at 5am in the morning before my meetings :-) 

The main pool water was maybe 30 degrees, and the Jacuzzi.. too hot. Not sure how hot, but I could not stay more than a minute, if that.

 

Interestingly, it seems both Parc 55 and the Union Square hotels are in some kind of financial limbo... their owner has stopped paying loan payments, and has walked away. At least at the moment the hotels themselves still work though.

For more sauna and swimming stories, check out planetswimmer.com and saunablogger.cool websites! And of course the Planetcaver, and Planetskier blogs for other stories in Blogspot and TGR! The photos and text (c) 2023 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. I never take photos of other saunagoers or swimmers and visit when there is simply no one else or the facility has been closed or booked only for me. 

The REAL Postojnska Jama

 

Riding the train to the inside of the Postojna cave in Slovenia. The ride takes eight minutes through wonderful cave scenery. And then the actual cave tour starts, lasting an hour and a half. Is this the best show cave in the world???

Why is this article called the REAL Postojna Cave? Well, because some time ago we visited another Postojna Cave, in Czech Republic. But that cave, while nice, was tiny. See the old article here.

But back to Slovenia. This cave is massive, truly massive - over 24 kilometers long. And big enough to easily fit train tracks in. 

Postojna is really a major tourist destination, and can take a large number of tourists, yet everyone gets to experience all of the cave. Inside the cave, there's also a shop, world's only in-cave post office, and a concert hall. Once you take the train back to the surface, the village built to house the cave continues to offer more things: there's a hotel, shops, restaurants -- with "cave burger" on the menu - 

I also want to mention the olms living in the cave. A few are also held in a large aquarium that you will see during the cave tour. These are very rare animals. Here's a photo:

Here's the video of the train ride:

For more information about Postojna, the official visitor's site is here and the wikipedia article here.

Let's look at the stalactites:

Straw stalactites in the roof:

People on the tour:

Here's one of the tunnels inside the cave:

And the concern hall:

And views from the beginning of the tour:

Here's the cave's entrance:

Postojna is a wonderfully organized, clean, and well-served tourist location as well. They have the world's only underground post office, there's restaurants, shops, a hotel, expo facilities, etc. in the area. Well done!

The author:

Read more urban exploration stories from theurbanexplorer.net, and other underground stories from planetcaver.net. Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot or TGR. Photos and text (c) 2023 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved.

The Iron Lung Sauna

How about some iron lung therapy to go with your sauna visit?

Hmm... found in the Vila Minka hotel in Ljubljana.... we did not try the iron lung, however. It came with some oxygenation treatment, which also seemed suspect.

But the sauna was very nice, even if just a small infrared one. Still, a bit pricey for 60€ per use.

The control box for the iron lung:

And here's the sauna:

And the hotel lounge next to the sauna:

For more sauna and swimming stories, check out planetswimmer.com and saunablogger.cool websites! And of course the Planetcaver, and Planetskier blogs for other stories in Blogspot and TGR! The photos and text (c) 2023 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. I never take photos of other saunagoers or swimmers and visit when there is simply no one else or the facility has been closed or booked only for me. 

Slovenia lakes swim

 

My personal favorite lake was the Lake Bohinj (above pic). Pristine, clear water, almost no signs of civilization long the lake shores and the green-covered mountains around. Wonderful, just wonderful. But Lake Bled was also good, obviously with more castles and other human structures and services around...

We were swimming here on lake Bohinj, one of the official beaches: N 46.28216 E 13.88040. Parking was a bit scarce, but available and inexpensive.

Then on Lake Bled parking was very scarce and expensive, we paid 20€ for few hours at a Hotel Park's (!) parking lot. 

Also, interestingly, there was a 200€ fine for swimming outside the official beaches on Lake Bled. I wonder why?

But never mind, I chose avoid the police and swim at an official beach, the Grajsko kopališč or the "Castle  Swimming Area", as it was right underneath the Bled Castle on top of the steep cliffs rising from the lake side. Here's where the beach is: N 46.36851 E 14.10068.

Below are some pictures from Bled. First my tired feet getting a fresh bath:

The beach as seen from above, from the castle:

And down at the beach it looks like this:

There were some odd structures under the water on lake Bled. Anybody know what these are:

And then to Lake Bohinj. How nice is this?

For more sauna and swimming stories, check out planetswimmer.com and saunablogger.cool websites! And of course the Planetcaver, and Planetskier blogs for other stories in Blogspot and TGR! The photos and text (c) 2023 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. I never take photos of other saunagoers or swimmers and visit when there is simply no one else or the facility has been closed or booked only for me. 

Ljubljana airport

What a wonderful airport and mountainous approach!

For more flying stories, check out the planetflier.com website! And of course the Planetcaver, and Planetskier blogs for other stories in Blogspot and TGR! The photos and text (c) 2023 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved.

Skiing in San Francisco... in a garage... on a treadmill

 

Wow. I did not plan for this. But when I learned that this was possible, I just had to go. One hour of my Sunday.... spent skiing in downtown San Francisco. In what looks like a garage. And a sloping treadmill. But, make no mistake. Contrary to my usual style, this is not a crackpot hobbyist scheme, but a commercial operation, the Adventurous Sports. And a place to spot and correct your technique, for the treadmill gives you no room to be sloppy with your form.

Just wow.

With all this, my July skiing turned out to be quite good, actually. It started out bad, with problems in my feet and knees, then too many things to do and too little time. And while I am in California now, I have no time visit the still open Mammoth mountain. That visit would be great... but instead I got to build and ski a three-turn real snow slope in Leppävaara (article) and then do this turn-practice in San Francisco. Actually, this is the way it should have been. Very nice, I'm so glad I found out about this place!

I do recommend visiting Adventurous Sports; they are nice and it can really help your technique, plus it is a ton of fun to ski. And very safe! The little kid that was in the shop before me seemed to enjoy it too, tremendously, so it is for all ages.

The prices for an hour-long session are a bit over hundred dollars. But it is well worth it!

Here's the video:

And here's where it starts, the garage in a suburban district:

Here's one of my rare ok-ish turns:

And this is THE machine:

Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot, TGR. Photos, videos, and text (c) 2023 by Jari Arkko.

Flying the Marimekko 350

Flying again Finnair's Marimekko-decorated A350, OH-LWL. Nice.

I'm on AY 1, HEL-LAX for a business trip. For the lounge experience before boarding this flight, see the article about the sauna!

Taxiing:

In the air:

For more flying stories, check out the planetflier.com website! And of course the Planetcaver, and Planetskier blogs for other stories in Blogspot and TGR! The photos and text (c) 2023 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved.

The HOT lounge

No, HOT is not a new low-cost airline. It is literally the hottest airport lounge anywhere, ever. True statement! Finnair's Platinum lounge at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport sports a sauna. A dark colored, nice proper sauna. Respect!

My only wish is that I could continue to use it, but due to traveling less, I will not have enough status to visit this again, perhaps ever. Oh well, maybe that's good in other ways.

(And of course, this isn't the first time I'm here. Many good memories. Here's an earlier report.)

For more flying stories, check out the planetflier.com website! For more sauna and swimming stories, check out planetswimmer.com and saunablogger.cool websites! And of course the Planetcaver, and Planetskier blogs for other stories in Blogspot and TGR! The photos and text (c) 2023 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. I never take photos of other saunagoers or swimmers and visit when there is simply no one else or the facility has been closed or booked only for me.