After Di Gong An

After Di Gong An

In Smetana's park in Carlsbad, there's a spa, it's called Spa No. 5, also known as Alžběta's Spa. In it, you can take a bath called Empress Sisi's Bath.

The interior finish is from the Soviet era. You sit there, waiting for your turn with your spouse, because Empress Sisi's Bath is a romantic bath

for two, and in the corridor, there's no one else waiting with you, but you and your spouse, until someone comes to make everything right

and ready, behind closed doors, so that you can get in and ready for romance inside, where you find a big bath with a big faucet

in a room dimly lit by two electric candles, with two portraits of the Empress, one on a small writing table and another on the wall,

both looking at you, while the music starts and, right away, gets stuck on the same and there's a button to press but nobody comes, and you may

think of the Mayerling Incident, with Charles Boyer and Danielle Darrieux, but the water scalds you a bit red, like the semifresh lobster in the restaurant

window from yesterday evening, with its black beady eyes, contemplating the odds.