Cold feet

Division Street Russian and Turkish Baths
Sweat in a hot room, jump in a cold pool, repeat, repeat, repeat. That’s the routine steeped in centuries of Eastern European tradition at this all-male bathhouse (separate female facilities will open in a month or so). A brief self-dunking in the impossibly icy bath follows multiple sittings in the pleasant dry heat of the hot room (or banya) to provide a cure for winter lethargy. While massages and oak branch scrubbings are available, it was the enveloping steam and ice-water submersion that shocked my viscous blood into pumping again, cleared up my clogged sinuses and had me sleeping like a pampered member of the politburo that evening. $20 admission.
—Patrick Wasser

Herbal wrap at Thousand Waves Spa
Per the spa’s suggestion, I’d arrived 20 minutes before my appointment to work up a sweat—the better to absorb the qualities of the herbs—in the cedar-scented sauna and steam room. By the time I stripped and hit the bed in the treatment room, I was drenched in sweat; the aesthetician deftly bundled me, head to toe, in two sheets steamed in a bath of detoxifying, calming herbs like chamomile, rosehip and orange peel, topped with blankets and towels. For a moment I felt claustrophobic, but after wriggling my arms to get comfortable, I rested peacefully for 20 minutes in solitude. Post-treatment, I was unshakably Zen, glowing from within. 45 minutes for $60.
—Jessica Herman

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