I recently returned to Italy for spring break, my first time back since January. The visit has sparked a dose of envy for a life that isn’t mine. I love my little home in France, my roommates, my life. But this crystalline apartment remains a bastion of peace. It glows, as does my life here. As always, a cloud surrounds me here, carrying me away to a simpler world.
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| A taste of the terrace / An obsession with food porn {Photo Credit} |
Friday night, walking home from a pub, I pulled Pepe into a corridor I had seen a hundred times before. The building is imposing, old and impeccably kept. QC Terme. That was all that was written on the sign.
A Google search showed me my near future. QC Terme was a day spa. After watching their promotional video, I was hooked.
- There were napping rooms. Half a dozen of them, spread across the old bath house grounds. There were rooms with water beds, rooms with swings, rooms with blob pillows dotted along the ground.
- There were indoor and outdoor Jacuzzis and a waterfall.
- Chocolate was included in the entrance price. A chocolate experience. Local hazelnuts mixed with dark chocolate. Strawberries to by dipped, pineapple to be covered.
Obviously, there was no option but to go.
Waking up early the day of, I pulled on cutoffs and a t-shirt and filled a borrowed bag with books and a bathing suit. Out the door, I was skipping. Inside the building, I began poking around. My wrist was encircled by a wrist band and we wandered downstairs for our robes and flip flops.
Ensconced in a calf length (on me at least) swathing of white kimono and only slightly shocked by the brave regulars changing in the open air, I wandered out to the start of a wellness adventure. We started by exploring, noting the reactive pool, the turkish bath, and presumably the reserved area for special treatments. The next story led to the café, the massage room, and the terrace. Up again were the aforementioned napping areas and higher still were saunas.
The warmth of the day called us outside, for an hour of relaxing jacuzzi time before a light lunch. The magic of the water napping room lolled us to sleep on a rolling bed hidden in a dimmed room.
Somehow, eight, nine hours passed in a moment. I devoured Perfume, an odiferous story that seemed proper considering the smells surrounding me. I rubbed mud on my face, tingling cream on my legs, salt over my body. I discovered that the reserved section wasn’t reserved at all, but a continuation of the experience. I felt the force of water pressing into my shoulders, the cleansing heat of a sauna purging away my worries. I forgot about the papers to write, the things to be accomplished, and realized the calm that shavasana normally brings.
A daze of comfort surrounded me, egged on by cups of sparkling wine and chocolate covered strawberries, by blood orange juice and bits of mozzarella. As the sun set and the day disappeared, we made childish plans to never leave, to stay in the peaceful courtyard, stretched out over the grass next to the pools for days to come.
To QC Terme, I have a few simple words : Until Friday my friend. Your perfumed oils are already carrying me back.
