My Stay at Vivamayr Altaussee: Day 3

I wake up early, again, and then it’s time for the whole rigmarole: mouth oil, medication, Glauber salts…the lot. Although the Glauber salts look innocuous, they still make me gag. But I survive, and once I’m all up to date I head down to breakfast once more. Today I am presented with scrambled egg and boiled potatoes, which is thrilling, and basically the Vivamayr equivalent of being given a full English. I gobble it up happily.

At 9.45 a.m. I have another abdominal treatment. I think I’m getting used to them, uncomfortable though they may be. Dr Brauer asks how I am getting on given that its day three and all — it is widely agreed that day three is the most difficult, and the day on which the highest number of people need to be talked out of quitting — but, surprisingly, I am OK. Physically, at least. The events of the last week or so are still swirling around my head like some kind of violent kaleidoscope, but I’m pretty sure this isn’t Vivamayr’s fault. If anything, this place is helping to minimise it.

In a complete change of pace, I attend a free skin consultation at 10.30 a.m. The esthetician looks at my face under a blindingly bright light and concludes that I need a “deep cleanse”, but then, as an oily-skinned person, when do I not? I stop short of allowing them to touch my eyebrows as only Jess at TINT Brow Bar in Newcastle is authorised to do so, however I make an appointment at three o’clock this afternoon for the aforementioned deep cleansing. It seems slightly extravagant in light of recent events but, screw it, I’m already here aren’t I?

At lunch I am served cured salmon trout and boiled potatoes, another definite win. The introduction of potatoes to my prescribed diet has made me happier than I could possibly articulate in a single blog post. Afterwards I am comfortably full, and obviously not thinking about pizza. (Well, at least not that much.) In the early afternoon I head to Vivamayr’s impossibly beautiful pool for a swim, though admittedly I mostly just float around and think. Day three may not be throwing up too many physical challenges, but my brain just won’t shut up. I manage a few lengths, alternating between breaststroke and front crawl, nothing too crazy, and float about until I remember that its time for my facial.

The deep cleanse facial is carried out by Amy, who is English and sounds more northern than not. As I fall into a similar category myself, I find her presence reassuring. She exfoliates, steams and extracts my face, finishing off with a cooling algae mask which covers everything from my forehead to my jaw but is fortunately only mildly claustrophobic. Afterwards, I feel refreshed, and my skin is visibly glowing. At dinner I am presented with nothing other than clear broth again and, at this point, it is a drag. What I wouldn’t give for something with some heft! This is the first night since I arrived that I’m genuinely craving food, all food, any food. Ravenous, I eventually fall asleep, almost certainly thinking about pizza now.

This piece was originally published on Part Time Beauty in 2020.