(Picture of Château Veudreuil from the back, July 2015)
Summer vacation (July 2015) - Part 1
Weekend Getaway/delayed honeymoon: Chateau Vaudreuil
Memoir by Chantal Bellehumeur
(This memoir was used to write part of the novella ''Harmony'', published in 2016.)
Jeff and I never went on a honeymoon after we got married in April but planned on saving money to go to Italy together one day.
In the meantime, an opportunity came up for us to go on a weekend getaway and we took it. My fourteen year old son Aidan was going to travel to New Brunswick for a week with his aunt Michelle and uncle Gavin as well as his thirteen year old cousin Brendan and seven year old cousin Abby. Aidan would continue staying with his dad's side of the family for an extra two weeks in Ottawa.
At the office I had requested to have the last two weeks of July off, which was granted, and Jeff was able to get the same vacation days as me.
To start off our vacation we decided to go to Chateau Vaudreuil, a 4 diamond resort. After browsing their website we booked a romantic weekend package which included a two night stay in one of their suites, four course meals for dinners, as well as their famous Sunday brunch and one breakfast, among other things.
It would be the first time Jeff and I went to a hotel alone together. Aidan had always come with us on previous trips.
I had a crazy week at the office before my vacation because I had to replace the receptionist during his time off. I had to be at work by 7:30 in the morning rather then 8:30 and deal with the numerous people coming into the downtown placement agency while answering close to 300 calls each day. On top of that, I had to do the receptionist's other regular tasks as well as my own. Luckily, I was able to delegate some of my work to other colleagues. I was still burned at the end of each day, and by the end of the week I was really looking forward to my days off.
On the Friday (July 17) I came home completely exhausted, torn between going strait to bed or making dinner to get rid of my hunger. I thought about just putting a frozen pizza in the oven and going to lie down while it heated up, but I had already taken out some pork out of the freezer that morning plus did not want to eat junk before going away for the weekend as we would be eating at the restaurant and I often had digestion problems because of my illness-Colitis.
I ended up boiling some white rice and baby carrots to go along with the pork, which I cut into pieces and fried with some cocoa butter. That might sound weird, but it's actually very good. I discovered the product at a chocolate festival a few years back and bought a new bottle with Jeff when we went to the same festival together.
As the food was cooking, I started feeling like I was going to pass out. I really needed to go lie down but forced myself to stay up so the food would not burn.
Jeff finally came home from work and was able to take over while I went to lie down on our bed. All I needed was a few minutes of doing absolutely nothing with my eyes closed. I could not do that on the metros or bus earlier on because I was afraid to fall asleep and miss my stops.
My husband and I ate dinner together, then I went to take a nice relaxing bath. Jeff cleaned up in the kitchen and did the dishes while I was soaking in the warm water by candle light and he joined me when he was done.
Jeff had brought a glass of cold water for himself in the bathroom and a glass of iced tea for me, which he left on the tile floor. We took sips of our refreshing drinks every so often to stay hydrated.
Once the bathwater started getting cold, we got out of the tub and Jeff came to lie down with me in bed. He gave me a little body massage while rubbing cherry blossom scented body lotion on my skin, which felt really nice.
I thought I was going to fall asleep so I suggested to Jeff that he draw me nude while I was lying motionless. We had talked about doing this art project a while back.
Jeff went to get his sketchbook as well as a drawing pencil and an eraser then got to work. The whole time he was drawing me, he made comments about how horrible he was doing and kept reminding me that he had not drawn in a really long time. Jeff had picked up photography as a hobby years ago, which he wanted to do more of, and had become a graphic artist. Using a pad and paper for art was a thing of the past for him.
I had not expected a masterpiece and knew I would be no better, having only taken basic art classes in elementary school and high school.
When Jeff showed me the draft of his drawing, I was highly impressed.
I would have attempted to draw him the same night, but I could barely keep my tired eyes open.
Jeff lied down with me for a while longer, gently caressing me. I slowly started to fade away.
My husband tucked me in like a child, closed the light of the lamp, and went to do his laundry. He did mine at the same time, and the next morning I noticed that he had even folded all my clothes. He was always good at taking care of me and doing his share around the house.
We both deserved a break from our very day responsibilities and I was eager to leave the apartment.
I was already packed for our getaway days before we were leaving, but Jeff did his packing that morning (Saturday, July 18).
I thought I would be the only one finding it hard to pick out clothes for the weekend, but Jeff wasn't sure what dress shirts to bring or what pants to go with them. He noticed some wrinkles on his new blue shirt as well as other dress shirts he considered packing and could not find the iron he thought he had brought over during his move to my apartment so he used a steamer instead. It didn't really do much.
Looking a bit stressed, Jeff resumed his packing. He looked around for his digital camera, which he ended up finding in a bag in one of our two storage areas, then realized he had to charge his batteries for the flash so plugged the charger in an outlet. It was taking forever for the batteries to charge and he ended up bringing the charger to the resort and plugging it there. That's when I noticed that Jeff was trying to charge two non rechargeable batteries among four.
While Jeff continued to run around like a headless chicken, I cleaned the cage of our two birds, gave them fresh water and new seeds as well as a treat of millet still on its branch. I talked to them as I often do and placed an extra dish of food in their cage for when we would be away.
My husband thought he was ready to leave our apartment about half an hour after we ate warmed up leftovers for lunch. But, he noticed that his flip flops needed to be cleaned as we were almost out the door so I patiently waited for him to go rinse them in the bath.
Jeff had reserved a car with Communauto for 12:30. We left our building past that time, but we were in no rush. We were told that our suite would only be ready at 3:00.
The weather forecast called for rain, and it had clearly been doing that in the morning because part of the sidewalk was still wet when we got outside. The sky was still a little bit grey but it looked like it might clear up.
It was already humid but not too hot.
Jeff walked to the Communauto station to go get the reserved car while I waited near the front steps of our apartment building with our luggage.
When my husband arrived with the car, he helped me put our suitcases in the trunk and we both got inside the vehicle.
My husband had to report a few broken things in the car before we could leave, but it did not take long for him to have the conversation with an agent over the phone.
We were on the road at around 1:05 and used the GPS on Jeff's cell phone to get to the resort by the highway. It gave us an odd route, making us go on and off the highway a few times, but we got to our destination in half an hour which is how long we expected it to take.
When we arrived at Chateau Vaudreuil, Jeff parked the car in the front parking lot. We then walked in the resort through one of the two main doors that was being held by a doorman. We didn't lug our suitcases with us, presuming correctly that our suite would not be ready yet.
While we waited to be able to check in, we headed towards the back exit to go explore the grounds.
From the large fancy lobby, we passed by a nice sitting area with dark leather couches and chairs. There was a manicure table further down, close to a hallway to get to the spa as well as the pool. We looked through the tinted windows of the unoccupied pool area as we walked by it, and took a quick peep inside the fancy looking restaurant and bar. We also looked at the beautiful framed paintings of various styles hanging on the wall papered walls as well as the nice furniture plus mixture of Greco-Roman and oriental decor.
We headed outside through the automated glass doors and saw a stone fountain, some large white ceramic pots with big red flowers and leafs inside, plus some circular white metallic tables and matching chairs. The place looked deserted and was quite peaceful. It was easy to forget that the highway was right on the other side of the building.
Hand in hand, my husband and I followed a short pebble path that lead towards a sparkling lake. The path split in two directions. We turned right and saw a small brown rabbit by a long bed of bushes and large orange flowers. It was eating grass.
I wanted to take a picture of the cute animal but realized that both my camera as well as Jeff's were in the car so I quickly pulled out my iPad from my big black purse and Jeff took out his phone from his pants pocket. We used our portable electronic devices to photograph the rabbit, whom I decided to name Hoppy, as well as many other things of interest when we found ourselves without a camera handy during our getaway.
When the bunny took notice of our presence, it quickly hopped away into the bushes. We saw it again a few other times during our stay, always eating grass and hopping back into the bushes where I presume the entrance of his underground home was.
Hoppy no longer our focus point, Jeff and I continued our pleasant walk on the pebble path, passing by several white greek or roman statues as well as a dark lion one plus a large gazebo with three white benches and hanging flowerpots inside. A couple was inside and I felt it would be intrusive to go in as well.
My husband and I continued to explore the lovely grounds with our eyes. We saw a child's play structure within a large sandbox, an open field of maintained grass, as well as a fenced tennis court, all of which had nobody in sight. We didn't venture much further in that direction because it looked like we were going to end up in another hotel's propriety.
There was a long wooden dock by the "lac des Deux-Montagnes" (lake of the two mountains) and we walked halfway to the end, spotting a few thin blue dragonflies flying low. Eight lawn chairs with blue and white stripes padding were set at the end of the dock but we did not want to disturb the silent man sitting on one of them.
Jeff and I headed back the way we came, looking at the dark water with large lily pads and purple flowers in it. The tide was low so above the water there were many rocks, sand, broken branches, and weeds.
There were many tall trees and wild flowers longing the edge of the lake.
We walked passed the back of the resort and headed towards a pavilion, going by tall willow trees as well as a small gazebo with white ribbons on it plus a larger one with flowers growing on its tall posts and wide ceiling. There was a decorative wishing well beside it.
We presumed that a wedding was going to take place and later on people started setting up white plastic chairs in front of the small gazebo. We found out later on that five weddings had taken place on the same day.
Jeff and I discovered a beautiful waterfall beside a big open tent with a set of tables and chairs, presumably for a wedding reception.
We continued our walk around the pavilion, and found an uneven rocky path going towards the lake. As I carefully stepped on the large wobbly stones, I saw a chipmunk which I named Alvin. It soon ran into the short wild bushes.
Jeff and I remained near the water for a few minutes and I noticed some broken shells. I think they were either clam or mussels shells. They were scattered here and there.
Our exploration of the grounds resumed. We found our way back to the front of the pavilion, where somebody was using a loud leaf blower. A few men in tuxedos were walking around. We were surprised not to see more people.
My husband and I slowly returned towards the quiet resort. It was too late to order any desserts from that day's buffet, but we could have drinks.
We drank some freshly brewed coffee on the restaurant's large outdoor terrace surrounded by high flowerbeds. The waiter put a whole pitcher of coffee on our green plastic table, which was equivalent to two cups each.
When we were done drinking our good coffee, we found somebody indoors to pay for it even though we could have easily walked away. Jeff and I then went back to the car to get our luggage.
We checked in and took one of the two elevators, which was nicely decorated inside and played typical chamber music, up to the third floor.
When the doors opened, we stepped out onto the carpeted floor. Jeff and I looked at a metallic map hanging on the wall to see in which direction our room was and headed directly there while briefly looking out of the windows as we passed them. There wasn't much to see.
Jeff used his given magnetic keycard to open our door, number 315, and we walked into a small living room area with dark hard wood floors. It had a couch upholstered with red fabric, three nice framed paintings, a big chair covered in brown fabric, one light wooden end table as well as a locked mini bar with matching lamps on them, and an oval coffee table with two maroon room service menus as well as a metal ice bucket with a cold bottle of champagne inside and two flute glasses beside it. A small box of five assorted belgian style chocolate was there too.
There was also a long wooden writing desk with a red fabric chair facing it. I later found some paper, a pen, and two postcards of the resort inside the left side drawer. Above the desk, there was a flat screen television. My husband and I didn't think we would make use of it.
Jeff and I took a quick look at the bathroom, which had a white whirlpool, beige shower curtain, glass shelves with clean white towels and a kleenex box, as well as a long beige counter with two ceramic sinks. Each sink had their own hand towel rack in front of them with two white hand towels hanging from them. A metal tray with a wrapped rectangular bar of soap, small shampoo and conditioner bottles, plus other packaged items had been placed between the sinks. The floor tiles were beige.
When we were done our short tour of the bathroom, Jeff opened a set of two french doors with long see through white curtains on them. Our bedroom had a beige carpet and our king sized bed had a beige wooden headboard plus a nice white comforter on it, but the rose petals we were expecting as part of our romantic package were not there. I phoned the front desk about it and was told that they would be placed on our bed at six.
After I hung up, I took better notice of the golden candle like lamps hanging on each side of our bed directly on rectangular vertical mirrors above the nightstands. There was also a nice landscape painting on the lined wallpapered wall of "my" side of the bed.
We figured out how to open the white electric blinds on the big window, opened the thin white curtains and pushed them towards the thick red ones on each side of the window and looked outside. We had a nice view of the lake and part of the green grounds.
We could also see a flat roof below us, which we discovered later was right above the pool area. There was a section with patio table and chairs accessible to people who had booked rooms with a patio door. I never saw anyone out there during our stay, but perhaps I was not looking out the window at the right times.
My husband and I did a bit of unpacking, placing our toiletries in the bathroom and our clothes in the night table drawers or closet unit facing the bed, which also had a flat screen television. There was a pull out shelf underneath the TV and above a series of three drawers. It contained a plugged in Keurig machine so Jeff made use of it a few times to make coffee during our stay.
When we had unpacked sufficiently, Jeff and I went back to the living room part of our suit. My husband carefully opened up the complimentary bottle of pink champagne, which had a volume of 12.5% alcohol and poured some into our glasses. We made a toast to us then headed in the bathroom with our cold drinks and free box of chocolates to make use of the whirlpool.
We started filling the tub with hot water and realized it would be way too hot so added a bit of cold water until the temperature was just right for our skin. Jeff and I got in the whirlpool and could not figure out how to turn on the jets at first. We finally realized that there was a small knob by the doorway above the light switch.
I got out of the water and went to set the timer for thirty minutes.
With the jets turned on, I got back in the whirlpool and relaxed in the water with my husband while sipping on bubbly champagne and eating good chocolates that melted in my mouth.
With the bathroom's sliding door closed, which was a rule of the whirlpool use, the heat in the room became intense and the mirrors fogged up fast.
We finished the champagne in our glasses and poured ourselves some more since we had brought the bottle within its ice bucket in the bathroom with us. We had also placed some glasses of water on the rim of the bath and took sips of it in between the champagne.
The heat of the water was slowly starting to get to us so we added some more cold water in the tub. It helped for a bit, but we still sweated a lot and by the time the half hour was over we were quite ready to get out.
Jeff and I took a quick refreshing shower together and slowly started getting ready for dinner.
I took my long green skirt and morphed it into a strapless dress then accessorized with a golden chain belt, which was actually meant to be worn as a necklace. It had a nice orange coloured gem pendent on it. That was probably the most expensive piece of jewellery I owned, aside from my wedding ring. I bought it, if you can call it that, at the McCord Museum in the spring.
Aside from winning a yearly membership to the historical museum for myself and Jeff, which permitted us to see an exposition of wedding dresses as well of the photographs or Horst, I also received some free gift certificates for their boutique. Along with the jewellery, I had picked up two books- "How well do you know your bride?" and "How well do you know your groom?" Jeff and I had sat together at home with the thin books and some red wine, seeing how well we knew each other. We did pretty well.
Smiling at the memory, I put on some long dangling golden earrings and put back the necklace I had been wearing earlier in the day. It was made of forged metal and the rectangular piece hanging on a black string had a golden image of a leafless tree on it in front of a green and beige background. I had purchased it from a street vendor after it caught my eye because of it's originality. I loved jewellery that were different.
I put essential items, such as lip gloss as well as my key card, in a golden purse my best friend Sarah had given me as a bridesmaid present in May. The road trip from Montreal to the Ottawa region, where the wedding took place, had included a night at a country style bed and breakfast as well as a spontaneous visit to the the St-Albert cheese factory.
As memories of the three day trip and cute hotel room we stayed at the night of the lovely wedding flooded my head, I applied some light makeup.
There was a ironing board as well as an iron in out room, so Jeff ironed the two dress shirts he had packed. He put on his new dark blue one, which he bought at Guess during a big side walk sale on St-Catherine street.
When we were both ready, we headed downstairs and walked to the resort's Italian restaurant, where relaxing jazz music was playing. A live jazz band started playing near the entrance later on.
The maitre D pleasantly greeted us and I gave him Jeff and I's first dinner voucher. I had made the seating reservation for 6:00 because we were used to eating super at around 6:30.
The well dressed man standing behind a high desk found my name in his reservation book and took us to our table. It was by a set of long ceiling to floor windows, where we had a nice view of the unoccupied terrace as well as the lake and trees. A little lamp shaped candle holder with a lit tealight inside was placed on the side of our table near the window.
For the first time since our arrival, we saw many people together outside. They were all dressed up in fancy clothes and socializing together near the terrace. Some of the kids were playing in the grass.
A tall waiter came to see us with menus and explained that we needed to order from the table d'hôte; we could chose one of two entrees, one of two appetizers, and a main course out of four choices.
Everything sounded good, but I was concerned that I would have digestion problems later. When I had booked the package, I didn't realize that our menu options would be so limited and never thought to pre-order with special dietary requests like I had done on a cruise one year. I was now under the impression that it would cost extra to order outside the table d'hôte, even if I only ordered a main course.
I finally decided to try the smoked salmon with artichoke salad while Jeff ordered the rice and mushroom krisps with a tomato and basil coulis as the appetizer. We both had the soup of the day, which was cream of vegetable, rather than a salad for the entree. My husband and I chose the same thing for the main dish as well; beef cooked in brandy sauce. The tender meat that melted in our mouths ended up being served with one long cooked carrot as well as a long piece of broccoli.
A basket of buns and thin breadsticks had been placed on the table along with a small ceramic bowl of butter balls so we had something to munch on while we waited for our ordered food. We also had glasses of ice water.
Each course was given to us pretty quickly, giving us very little time to digest anything, and we got full fast.
Dessert that night was Tiramisu cake, which was served inside a small cookie and chocolate bowl with raspberry sauce and a few berries on our plate. I gave my two blueberries to Jeff because I usually had issues when I ate them, and in exchange he gave me one of his strawberries.
We could choose between tea, coffee, or milk to drink with our dessert so Jeff requested coffee while I asked for some tea. I was brought two teabags, mint and black, so that I could pick which one I wanted. I decided on the mint one because I knew it was good for the digestion.
It had become a regular thing for our serious waiter to say "enjoy it please" every single time he brought us a dish or drinks so we could not help but say it to each other later on. Perhaps we should not have made fun of his choice of words, but we found it amusing.
Jeff was given a bill at the end of our meal because he had ordered a Heineken and we were both a bit confused about how much to tip; the percentage of the beer or the value of the uncharged meal along with the beer? It seemed rather ridiculous to give a fifteen dollar tip for a ten dollar bill, but we did not want to be cheap either. We wanted to make sure our waiter got tipped fairly.
I had to run off to the lady's room but Jeff inquired about the tip and was told to only tip on the amount of the bill.
As we were leaving the restaurant, shortly passed 8:00, we saw that the small dance floor had opened up and that a few couples were happily dancing in front of the jazz musicians. They were playing their instruments in front of a fireplace, but it was not lit.
Jeff and I headed back to our room expecting to find rose petals on our bed but they were still missing from the decor. We were just getting Jeff's camera to take quality pictures outside so it wasn't a big deal, but I still wanted to make sure it would get done. It was a fantasy of mine to make love on a bed of rose petals. Also, I had considered putting rose petals in the bath.
When we got back downstairs, I informed the front desk in person about the minor problem and was told that somebody would be up right away.
My husband and I headed outside, were it was practically deserted again, and made our way to the dock. Since I was wearing stiletto heels, I tip toed my way to the end. I guess it would have been much easier to just take my gold shoes off and walk barefoot but I only thought about it after.
Nobody was using any of the lawn chairs this time so we had the area all to ourselves. After taking a few pictures, Jeff and I sat down together on the same chair enjoying the fresh air. It was a bit chilly but I had a golden scarf with me so I wrapped it around myself like a shawl. Plus, I had Jeff to keep me warm as well. He had his arms around me.
I thought it would be nice to watch the sun set, but Jeff pointed out that the sun was on the opposite side of the resort and could not be seen from where we were.
The sky got dark fast but strings of small yellow lights hanging from tree branches illuminated the resort area and there were other lights on the dock so we could still see clearly.
Everything was going well until I turned my head and saw a big black dock spider crawling on the back of the lawn chair beside ours. I got off my chair pretty fast and Jeff followed.
My husband saw another spider on the chair behind us and we decided it was time to go. I tip toed back to solid ground in my heals.
Mosquitos were starting to bite Jeff but he toughed it out for a little bit. We walked on the pebble path, guided by the pretty strings of lights and nice double street lanterns on the well kept lawn.
Jeff took a few pictures of me in various areas we both found nice. One of them ended up being pretty funny as he caught me on camera running out of the small gazebo in my heels because I had seen a big spider.
The next gazebo was less scary. Jeff and I started dancing together under the wooden roof covered in flowers and leaves even thought no music could be heard. Jeff started singing some of the lyrics from Lionel Ritchie's song "hello," which was perfect.
When we where finished dancing, we headed to a sitting area beside the lake, where two old woman where chatting with each other in french. They started complaining about the mosquitos and decided to leave, telling us they were letting us have the mosquitos all to ourselves. Jeff and I both laughed but did not stay much longer.
The mosquitos were becoming a lot more vicious so we headed inside.
As we passed by the restaurant and the jazz music, Jeff asked me if I wished to dance or go back to our room. Although I had enjoyed our private dance outside, I wasn't in a dancing mood so we headed straight to our room.
Rose petals had finally been placed on our bed, but they turned out to be the same fake ones we had at home. I was expecting them to be would be real. All the red petal shaped pieces of fabric on the white comforter still looked very nice though so I contented myself with that.
Jeff and I had a bit more champagne, made love, took a quick shower together, and went to sleep in each other's arms. We always tried to go to bed that way, ended up moving around during the night, but found each other again in the morning.
We were startled awake at midnight when the radio in our room started playing rap music. The alarm had been set but not by us.
Jeff and I managed to get back to sleep to the sound of rain, but unfortunately I was up again at four in the morning because I was not feeling well. Although all the food from dinner had been absolutely delicious, it was causing me digestive problems.
I was afraid that getting out of bed would wake up Jeff as it often did, but he continued to sleep soundly.
When I got back to bed I was able to fall asleep again despite the roaring thunder. I woke up really hungry.
Our scheduled brunch was not until eleven so I ate a banana I had brought with me to the resort. Jeff had some coffee when he got up and put on one of his many checkered shirts.
As I was getting ready, I was eager to eat more food but was afraid to spoil a potentially good meal if I ate more snacks. My plain rice cakes looked rather boring compared to all the food I imagined would be at the restaurant.
When it was finally time to go eat, Jeff and I headed to the restaurant only to find out that the brunch actually only started at eleven thirty. It made me wonder how we ended up with an eleven o'clock reservation, but perhaps I wrote the time wrong when I was making the arrangements over the phone.
We decided to kill time outside, where the sun was shinning.
Jeff and I walked to the end of the dock. I took my leopard print flip flops off and dipped my bare feet in the calm water, which was warmer than I had expected it to be.
Perhaps the water simply felt warm because it wasn't that hot outside. We were comfortable in our summer clothes but I would have been fine wearing pants and a long sleeved shirt too, had I packed any.
Two kids, a boy and a girl, were having fun trying to fish out water lilies from the lake while their mother relaxed in one of the dock's lawn chairs.
We left the dock and headed to a small beach area then walked in the damp sand. I took off my flip flops again to put my feet in the muddy water as the tide moved in and out. I did not go too far in because there were a lot of long seaweeds and rocks in the lake.
I found two snails in the water; a big and a small one. I picked them up in turns to show them to Jeff then gently put them back in the lake.
My feet were now dirty because the sand stuck to them as I stepped out of the water, so we had to go back to the dock to clean them off as well as my shoes.
When we came back inside the resort, there was a long lineup to get into the restaurant. There were may adults, seniors, children, toddlers, teens and parents with strollers talking among themselves.
Once the restaurant opened the line moved forward pretty quickly.
An accordion player as well as a violinist were playing classical music near the entrance. Later on, they performed in each section of the restaurant.
Jeff and I were seated at a table for two close to the set of windows. A waitress came by with menus and explained that we could order one of the main dishes, which would be brought to us when we were ready, and that while we waited we had access to the lunch buffet.
We were a bit confused by the concept, but were glad that we were not the only ones. People at other tables did not seem to understand why they were ordering something if they had access to the buffet.
Jeff and I finally just went with it and ordered some poached salmon because we had never tried eating fish cooked that way. I asked for mine with the lemon sauce on the side rather than directly on my fish so that I could simply taste it.
Once our main course was ordered, my husband and I went to the buffet and filled our plates with various food. We tried not to take too much so we would have room for the fish but everything looked so good. It was hard not to overdo it.
We ate our buffet food while drinking warm coffee and cold water. I originally wanted a glass of orange juice but it cost extra so I contented myself with everything else available that was included in our package.
Our empty plates were eventually taken away and soon replaced with our poached fish, which came with two cooked asparagus and some tiny perfectly round potatoes.
We were feeling very stuffed after our meal yet still made our way to the dessert bar. We both took some slices of various melons as well as a cups of chocolate mousse with a strawberry inside.
I had a bit of issues after I was done eating, but nothing too serious.
Jeff and I went to the front desk when I was feeling okay and inquired about the paddle boats we had seen attached to the docks. We were told that it was free to rent them as long as we were guests of the resort. We just had to fill out a form.
The woman at the front desk called somebody to go unlock a boat and bring some life jackets for us.
Before heading out, I quickly went to our room to change out of my short leopard print summer dress and into a long beige skirt. I would have changed into shorts if I had packed some, and also should have put some sunscreen on but didn't think of it.
My husband and I headed outside in the unexpected heat and waited on the dock as two men got one of the floating blue paddle boats out of the lake and turned it upside down to get the rain water out.
The seats were wiped with a small white hand towel and Jeff asked to borrow it to kill a small spider. We took the towel with us in case we found more arachnids and were glad we had it since many of them came out of hiding.
Wearing yellow like jackets, Jeff and I first paddled towards a paddle boat that had started floating away and returned it to the two resort employers by pushing it towards the dock. They locked it up.
We then went further onto the calm lake with the sun shinning on us. I splashed some lake water on my arms to try and stay cool.
With Jeff steering, we headed in the direction of the pavilion, getting a nice view of the resort and surroundings. We found a large patch of lily pads. I expected to see frogs but neither one of us did.
I jokingly told Jeff that we should paddle all the way to one of the two bridges we could see and wave at the fast moving vehicles making their way across. It would have taken us forever.
Because it was so hot out, we did not stay out too long even though we were enjoying ourselves. We were back at the dock within a half an hour.
After hooking the boat to a small chain on the dock, Jeff waited in the shade while I went to the front desk to inform them that we had returned and to sign the form again.
I came back to Jeff and we waited on lawn chairs in the beach area for somebody to take our life jackets and lock up the boat.
It was a good time to go for a swim but Jeff and I did not want to go in the lake because it looked too dirty. We chose to change into our bathing suits and make use of the resort's clean swimming pool.
Once we figured out exactly where to go to get to the pool area, we had to use one of our hotel keycards to get through the main entrance.
There were no other guests in the pool area surrounded by white metallic tables, chairs, lawn chairs and Greek or roman statues when we came in. We could not even see anyone outside through the many closed patio doors so it was pretty intimate.
Jeff took the metal pool stairs down into the deep end, which turned out to be not so deep, and told me the water was nice. I believed him, but when I went into the pool by the shallow end it was still a pleasant surprise to find out that the water was not too cold.
I swam to Jeff and we saw that there were four rectangular sky lights above us.
Suddenly, some classical music started playing and we wondered if we were being watched.
My husband and I swam around for about fifteen minutes and then relocated to the large hot tub. Jeff stepped out to go turn on the jets, which he timed to go off for only five minutes. The chlorine within the hot water was starting to burn my eyes and affect my heart by the time the jets stopped so I was ready to get out.
Jeff went back in the pool, finding the water much colder after just being in the hot tub.
I dried myself off and relaxed on a lawn chair beside a large potted plant.
Another couple soon entered the pool area and went into the water. Jeff exited the pool a few minutes later and joined me on another lawn chair.
When we got back to our room, we could see that it was raining outside. The gloomy weather was making us sleepy so we lied down in bed for a little bit after taking off our wet swim suits and finishing off our chocolates.
I later poured the leftover champagne into our glasses even though it had gone flat and was no longer cold. We drank our alcohol and fooled around then took a shower and started getting ready for our six o'clock dinner even though we still felt full from the brunch.
I put on a sexy short black dress as well as some leopard print stilettos plus accessorized with cubic zirconia earrings and a matching bracelet.
As I was tying my wet hair up with a black clip, room service knocked on our door. Jeff told the cleaning lady we needed another ten minutes, and she came back to tell us her shift was ending. I thought that was a bit strange.
One good thing about the cleaning lady leaving is that I no longer felt rushed to get out of the room. I continued to get ready and Jeff did the same. He put on a pair of navy blue jeans and a nice long sleeved dress shirt. It was blue again, but this time from The Gap. My husband looked handsome, as always.
There was jazz music playing at the restaurant again and we were seated right beside one of the windows but at a different table than the previous night.
The same waiter who kept saying "enjoy it please" came to see us and we had to order from the table d'hôte again. It was exactly the same as the previous night.
Jeff liked the rice and mushroom krisps so much that he ordered it again. I decided to give it a try. The soup of the day was cream of cauliflower and we both chose it over salad.
For our main course, Jeff ordered pasta with sausage ragout and I decided to try the grilled swordfish with the sauce on the side.
Jeff asked for a beer and I decided to treat myself to a chocolate martini. We were on vacation after all.
We took some buns from a basket while we waited for our ordered drinks and food even tough we were not all that hungry.
When our meals arrived, I gave a piece of my swordfish to Jeff so he could try it. He found it too fishy. I can't say that I disliked it but probably would not order it again in my life although I knew it would not give me digestive issues.
I had a bite of Jeff's pasta and loved it but knew a whole bowl of it would have made me sick so I was glad I did not order it.
While we ate I saw a chipmunk, possibly Alvin, quickly run under a bare table on the unoccupied terrace.
Both Jeff and I saw a brown squirrel, which we named Skippy, going every which way on the terrace until it found something to eat. It ate under a table then moved onto one of the high flower beds and eventually went on the other side of the terrace, where it ran to a tall tree and climbed part of it. The squirrel continued to eat upside down on the thick trunk. We had seen a few more squirrels on site, but not as many as there were near our home in NDG.
As Jeff and I continued to eat and curiously observe what was going on outside, the bright sun went away and was rapidly replaced by dark clouds. It started to rain and we could see the water dripping off the terrace canapé as well as a few drops hitting the lake.
It wasn't long before it poured.
Jeff and I noticed that we could no longer see the land behind the lake. In fact, we could barely tell the difference between the lake and the sky because it was all the same colour. It almost looked like a fake backdrop behind the trees, bushes and flowers longing the lake.
We watched the rain fall, mesmerized by it, as we forced ourselves to eat.
I left half my food on my plate because I was too full to finish everything. Jeff ate more than I did but left a few noodles in his bowl.
The thought of eating dessert made our stomachs hurt more than they already did so we asked if we could just take them up to our suite for later.
There was a bit of a mixup and a young waiter gave us dessert menus after confirming that we could either bring the desserts up to our suit ourselves or have them delivered.
Jeff and I weren't sure what we wanted at first, but eventually decided to share a plate of cut fruits as well as Grand Marnier creme brule. Shortly after having placed our order with the young waiter, we were told by our regular server that we had to take the dessert included in our package unless we wanted to pay extra.
Since neither myself or Jeff knew if we would ever feel like eating more that evening, we told the waiter that the included dessert was fine for the both of us and explained what we had already told the younger waiter about wanting to bring it upstairs for later.
Chocolate mousse with raspberry sauce and a few berries were brought to us along with coffee for Jeff and black tea for myself. I wasn't given a choice of teas this time.
We had originally intended on drinking our hot beverages in our suit, but I don't think our waiter understood that part of our plan and it would have been too complicated to carry everything without a tray so we just drank our coffee and tea at our table. Jeff and I brought our dessert plates as well as spoons upstairs when we were done our beverages. We placed them on the table in our suite living room and sat down on the couch to cuddle together for a couple of minutes.
My husband and I then went in the whirlpool. Having learnt from our previous experience, we put more cold water in this time and only turned on the jets for twenty minutes. It was still very hot and the steam fogged up the mirrors again.
After a quick shower to cool down and wash off the sweat, we headed in the room and saw that the bed had been made plus red as well as pink fake rose petals had been placed on the white comforter. They fell onto a long red upholstered bench at the end of the bed and a few of them where on the carpet. It was a lot nicer than the previous evening, but by this point I really wasn't feeling well so unfortunately the last thing on my mind was to have sex.
I lied down on the bed with a stomach ache and Jeff came beside me to caress my naked body. He gave me light kisses on my skin.
My husband noticed that there was lightning outside so he pulled the thin curtains open all the way so that I could get a good look. The dark sky lit up every so often and it reminded us slightly of fireworks.
Once the lightning show was over, I took a short nap while Jeff went into the other room to quietly watch videos on his phone.
I joined him a little later and he had eaten his dessert. I still could not even take a bite of mine even though it looked very good.
Unfortunately, even after my nap I was still in pain but was feeling well in the morning and was able to make love to my husband when he woke up.
I ended up eating my chocolate mousse after my shower, before heading down to the restaurant for our nine o'clock breakfast.
It was a lot quieter at the restaurant than the previous times. Apparently, a group of people had arrived at the hotel at four in the morning because their plane had been delayed due to the storm. Our friendly waitress, who lived near the hotel, said she had not even been aware of the lightning or pouring rain.
After pouring coffee in our mugs, she pleasantly told us we could just serve ourselves at the buffet.
Jeff and I put a reasonable amount of breakfast food on our plates, poured ourselves some grapefruit juice in small glasses, and joined each other at our table beside the window.
We ate and drank everything we had selected and went back to our suite to finnish packing. I took the small bottles of shampoo and conditioner as well as the extra bar of soap.
Part of us didn't want to leave because we had been really spoiled, but we also wanted to go back home and be in our things... I kind of wanted to be away from the foods that would harm me as I was obviously incapable of avoiding temptation and watching others eat what I wanted was always torturous for me.
After checking out, we went to the car to put our luggage in the trunk and headed back inside the suite to walk around the peaceful grounds one last time.
As we exited the automated back doors, we saw a robin getting worms from the wet grassy space.
We did not see Hoppy but I said bye into the bushes where Jeff and I usually saw the rabbit.
My husband and I slowly walked down the dock and took one last look at our temporary home away from home. We then headed to the entrance of the beach area, where I said bye to the snails. Jeff comically did their voices to say bye back which made me laugh.
I said a general bye to the chipmunks and squirrels and then to the resort itself.
Before leaving for good, Jeff took some pictures of me posing like I was flying because he was going to use photoshop to transform me into a fairy. He also took a closeup shot of one of the big red flowers within a ceramic pot, with the intention of putting the fairy version of me beside it.
After our short photo shoot, we walked back inside the resort to go to the main door and took off.
Despite the on and off rain as well as my issues caused by my digestive illness, Jeff and I had a lovely weekend.
