vals, therme.

its official, i am returning to vals! i just booked 2 nights at the therme-vals hotel because this is something that howie MUST see before leaving switzerland. and i must see again. :)

images from "Stone and Water, Bells" found in my hotel room.

let me rewind- a few weeks ago amber and dan were visiting switzerland after spending some time in lisbon where i hung out with them for a bit. we had pretty much decided to make our time together in switzerland into a peter zumthor pilgrimage, of sorts. if you don't know what i'm talking about, you can get the idea here.

the thermal baths/spa that he designed is studied in all schools of architecture- a seriously famous building. i do admit there is a lot of hype about this building, and i was trying to prepare myself just in case it wasn't all that amazing, or perhaps spending a semester hearing about the building would have spoiled everything.

hotel info packet

let me just say now that it didn't matter how much i'd studied this building from afar- it is really the most amazing architectural + bathing experience that i've ever had.  in both separate and combined categories. even my hair felt nice after soaking in the amazing mineral water. (or maybe it had been a few days since last washed??) one can wander from room to room, pool to pool for hours, it is a true sensory experience- all 5. this is the kind of place that you literally have no idea how much time is passing and i know we could have stayed longer. hence upcoming visit #2.

green roof of the spa looking towards Vals

i'm not going to spoil it for you (and mostly for howie). there is nothing like exploring this building for the first time- especially in the darkness of the evening. if you are a guest of the hotel you have special guests-only use of the bath in the morning from 8-11ish and again at night from 11-12:30. we decided that our first experience would be at night and so we walked around town in the afternoon and had ourselves a nice, "light" swiss dinner so that we wouldn't drown later. (there is no such thing as "light" swiss food.)  in the end we survived dinner and enjoyed floating and looking at the stars. we all slept like babies in our "spirit of the sixties" naval-themed hotel rooms only to head back to bathing at 8am.

outdoor portion of the spa

after bathing we gorged ourselves at the enormous breakfast buffet complete with a looseleaf tea bar (including many types of tea that dan may or may not have read to us several times ;-)  i've had many daydreams about that breakfast...