The key elements to the banya are that you first get super duper clean and then you go into the steam room where you sweat for as long as you can take it. The room is heated to 110 degrees celsius (around 225 Fahrenheit) and it's nearly impossible to stay in there for more than 10 minutes. They even have special felt hats you wear to stop your hair from frying and your brains from cooking.
When you can't take it anymore, you run out and take the coldest shower you can, or you jump into an ice-cold pool. A lot of people build banyas in their dachas (summer houses) and will roll around in the snow after getting out of the steam room.
You repeat this process three or more times. And while you're in the steam room, you beat yourself or others with bundles of birch leaves. It feels great and the smell is lovely.
In all it's typical to spend 3 or 4 hours at the banya, taking time to use the steam room, relax, drink plenty of fluids, and hang out with your friends. The banya I set up for us was a private one, so we had the run of the place, but there are plenty of public banyas in the city where you just go by yourself, but the people are always very nice and happy to beat you with the birch leaves. It's a you-scratch-my-back-I'll-scratch-yours environment. In addition to being social, for a lot of people the banya may be the only bath they take during the week, so they get nice and clean.
Then on Sunday I got together with some family from California. My cousin (actually second cousin, twice removed) Jan and her husband Herb were on a cruise of the Baltics and Scandinavian countries. They were in StP for just over 24 hours and Jan and I managed to walk about the city a bit while Herb took a tour of the czar's summer residence, Peterhof, just outside of StP. Here is a picture of Jan and me in the Summer Gardens.
