Scandinave Spa -Collingwood Ontario

If you've been up straight for 9 days and need a spa day, this is the place for you! The Scandinave Spa is open all year round, rain, snow or shine. They offer typical spa services, and have an outdoor oasis of hot and cold plunge pools, a sauna and a steam room.

The atmosphere is very relaxing, as harp ballads, Native American flute, and pan pipes play softly through hidden speakers, guests can relax on Muskoka chairs, hammocks, or in front of one of the warm chimineas on a cooler day. There is an indoor solarium as well. 

Guests can visit to simply enjoy the pools, or have a massage, or other service, which also includes access to the pools. We always go for the couples massage. Lately they have been pairing us with a male and female. Shay didn't want the dude, so he had the grouchy lady. My guy was younger, and he had my file from previous visits, which was nice because he didn't waste anytime asking questions I had already answered. Shay's went through the questionnaire again, asking him questions that he had already answered. I like a head, neck, and shoulder focus, and my guy obliged. Worked out all the knots. 

Shay's experience was more like Ross from 'Friends' and the wooden spoons massage. He even stopped her and asked for more pressure (something she told him to do), but she claimed that she couldn't give more pressure because he had too many layers of muscle?? He wasn't impressed, and probably shouldn't have tipped her, as she was completely miserable and had a bad case of RBF (resting bitchy face) the entire time.

Two hot plunge pools, a warm 38.3 degrees C.

One of the cold plunge pools, a cool 14 degrees C.

The cool pools are easier to get into when the air isn't as cool, but it is part of the process here.

We've come on days when the crowd is younger. This visit was a little older, which meant a lot of hairy backs, perfume, and bouffant hair styles. Spa etiquette is that you shower before you enter the baths. This needs to be more thoroughly enforced. Usually when we go, it's warmer and people spread out in the various areas. This time it was cooler, and there weren't enough chimineas going, so everyone would crowd around you. That's one thing I dislike about this kind of place. I don't want to feel crowded. It's not as bad in the summer, and the lack of speaking is nice.

Inside there is a little snack bar with some prepared foods. 

We decided to skip lunch and hold out for an early dinner. Very good choice. We were deciding between Azzurra and Tesoro restaurants. When we drove through the parking lot of Tesoro, we remembered that it was the place that turned us away last summer because they only sat people during scheduled seatings. They had tonnes of empty tables, but would rather turn us away, so we weren't going to even go back there just out of spite. We decided on Azzurra, which is across the street. They let us in to have a drink before they were even open. Service and food were good, and they had gluten free options.

The drinks and antipasti were delicious. I had an elderberry lemonade, with St Germain, and lemon and some other mixes. It was very reminiscent of a Soho-like beverage. Tangy enough for me, but too sweet for Shay's liking. 

We overdosed on cheese here, and creme brûlée. The double chocolate chilli spiced cookie had a nice bite to it, and the lemon tart was like a lighter lemon meringue pie.  

After all the eating we needed to take a walk! Shay was trying to convince me to go see Fast & Furious 6, but I definitely would have fallen asleep. We googled a trail that we could walk to, Georgian Trail, which is wheel chair accessible, and headed over. There was a little hill to climb that was littered with snails. They popped and crunched underneath our feet no matter how lightly we treaded. It was awful. We got off the hill trying to avoid contributing to the inevitable massacre, and strolled down to the lake.

Get Out of the Way!!

And now to not pass out on the ride home!