Jersey: Saunas and tortilla chips

12 August 2010

We slept well after the sea air and G&Ts of the night before. In the morning we headed down to the dining room. Well, actually it was a case of going down one staircase and then back up another – surely they could have built us a bridge or secret tunnel to get us across on the same floor?

There was an array of cereals and continental breakfast stuff on offer and I had some nice toast and jam and coffee – white with equal opportunity sugar (one white cube, one brown cube). To save any unsightly skirmishes at breakfast time about who sat where the hotel had made a seating plan for all the guests. Our table for four was next to another four – a young family with whom we spoke now and then during our stay when one party could no longer hide that they were totally earwigging on the other.

The wedding wasn’t until mid-afternoon and so we spent the morning taking advantage of the hotel’s leisure facilities. In fact Lauren had been mad enough to already have been down to the gym before breakfast. We had a splash around in the pool, tried to persuade the jacuzzi to tone our bodies into those of athletic supermodels in the few minutes we spent in its hot bubble jets and finally headed to the steam room. Lauren’s a fan of the steam room, but Suzy stepped back out after about 2 seconds. I lasted a little longer, but ultimately the inability to breathe and the weirdness of my eyes apparently steaming up was too much. Instead we tried the sauna, which was much more to our liking – hot and nice-smelling and, above all, we were able to breathe. It was quite fun until a couple of guys came in and poured a bunch of water on the coals, raising the temperature to ouch, so we got out at that point and Suzy and Lauren were crazy enough to have cold showers. Being flicked with cold water by Suzy was quite refreshing enough for me.

When I was a kid I hated having to get dry in the changing rooms after swimming and so it was very enjoyable to simply squeeze what water I could out of my plait, wrap a towel around myself, put my sandals on and step quickly through the lobby, down the corridor and up the stairs to my room. It was only a two-star hotel after all, it’s not like I’d treat guests at the Ritz to that kind of delight. Back in the room I hopped into the shower to rid myself of the chlorine smell that is nowadays frowned upon at weddings.

A taxi was ordered and we got ready for the wedding while feeding our faces on room service sandwiches and tortilla chips. Jersey lets itself be influenced by nearby France in that everything shuts down on a Sunday, including, in this case, the ability to have a sandwich in the hotel bar. But having the same sandwich in your room is fine. Once all dressed up in our finery we waited in the car park and along came our car – driven by the same driver who had taken us to Gréve de Lecq. He was suitably admiring of how well we’d scrubbed up.

Towards La Mare Wine Estate, where the wedding was to be held, we saw a group of Helen’s friends whom we knew from the hen do. They were teetering along the country lane in their high heels, their hotel being the one I’d nearly booked for us. On the map it had looked to be just a hop, skip and a jump from the wedding venue, but it turned out to be much further than that. Although we spent a fortune on taxis while we were out there, I was glad I hadn’t gone for this hotel that was apparently walking distance. Throughout our stay I found it very difficult to get an idea of how far apart things were on our various maps of Jersey. Especially when looking at the tourist map that was cunningly left devoid of any scale.

Posted in: being me, friends, jersey, travels

Comments

5 Responses to “Jersey: Saunas and tortilla chips”

Lula
12th August 2010 @ 8:01 pm

Ooh, that dress is great! You looked fantastic, you probably pissed the bride off.

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bethany actually
13th August 2010 @ 4:45 am

You do look great in that dress! And when my friend Erin and I traveled around Great Britain for two weeks in 1998, the only map we had was a totally not-to-scale one in the front of our guidebook. Why did we not buy a better map? Because we were idiots. But we had a fantastic trip anyway. :-)

[Reply]
JBM
14th August 2010 @ 5:41 pm

It wouldn’t have mattered Bethany, the UK’s not built to scale in the first place.

[Reply]
Saunas and Steam Rooms
15th August 2010 @ 12:31 am

You might be interested to know that while the environments are quite different, a sauna and a steam room both have many of the same health benefits, and it’s merely a matter of preference. I’m glad you enjoyed the sauna, even if the steam room wasn’t to your liking.

BTW, you look great in that green dress! :)

[Reply]
Rayne
20th August 2010 @ 4:28 am

I have totally enjoyed seeing all of the photos of your trip and of course reading your entries. When I originally read ‘Jersey’ I was excited because I thought you meant our Jersey, but, after viewing the clear, clean waters I knew I was way off base before I even read the descriptions. I’m fairly certain our eastern shores haven’t seen anything more lively than oil clots in the past decade.
Oh, and the dress? Beautiful!!! I want it! I covet it! I need it! Very class and you look fantastic in it!

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