I had hoped to glimpse a young woman, or many young women, slender, not tall of stature, luxuriating in the lagoons, arching their backs under the showers suspended in the void, washing or drying or perfuming themselves, or combing their long hair at a mirror.<P>
<B>I inserted the words,<I> I had hoped</I> and<I> lagoons</I>.<br>
The rest is from Italo Calvino's " Thin Cities 3"  (chapter 3, p.49) , a short story taken from, <I>Invisible Cities.
</I></B>