Nights in Norderney

For this week, we traveled to the island of Norderney. This excursion specifically was one Dr. Wasser stressed in all the informationals leading up to the program, so I was excited for it to begin. The ferry ride over to the island was fun, but I've been on a ferry several times before. What was really exciting was the island itself.

The first day there, we rent bikes and go on a tour across half the island. We see the dunes that make up the basic structure of Norderney, saw the ocean covering the mud flats we would travel across later, visited the old lighthouse on the island, and just got to see how beautiful the island was. As we were there for medicine, it was pertinent we experience the healing properties of the special mud found on Norderney, so Dr. Wasser arranged for us to go to the Thalasso bath house on the island for the special mud treatment they provide. The mud on Norderney is already essentially clean, as it was passed through the GI tract of worms that digested all organic material present, but the mud is gathered and treated by the people of the spa, and you take it and cover yourself head to toe with the stuff and sit in a steam room for a time before getting rinsed off. It was by far the cleanest I ever felt; I was felt almost reborn after that. After getting exfoliated, I tried several of the saunas they offered. Dr. Wasser told us of the benefits of essentially sweating to such a degree, so I took advantage of the opportunity. The first room I went to essentially featured water that dripped into a heated bronze pot that then evaporated into the loyly (I think that's right). It was nice, but afterwards I went with Dr. Wasser to the room on the roof. This was special because it actually featured a saunameister administering the loyly. He did three rounds of water mixed with grapefruit scents. At first it was awesome, smelling great and feeling the heat sink deep into my being, but after number three I was about to sprint to the door to try to avoid cooking any further. Kind of glad it was cut short by people walking in. That night we took a stroll through the mud flats at low tide. The feeling of mud squishing between your toes was absolutely satisfying. Combine that with the fact we got to dig up some of the special worms and other creatures of the "meat meadow" was also really cool. I had no idea Norderney was so important for migratory birds, but I see now after that small hike.

Part of me would like to go back to that beautiful, quant little island off the coast of Germany, but I probably won't as I've done most everything there. Still, I have the memories, and that's the important part.