Breakfast as before. Met an American couple visiting here with their son and daughter that I'd met on the guided tour yesterday morning. Bizarre. Bath isn't that small.
Today was spa day (Thermae Bath Spa) and I was so looking forward to it. My achilles tendons have mostly forgiven me but my knees are still troublesome. Still, it gets easier to walk up and down stairs every day.
Started off the morning in the roof top pool. Was pleasant to be lolling in hot water with such a fantastic view over the city, particularly as it was drizzling. Unfortunately the water wasn't quite as hot as I would have liked so didn't stay long.
Next stop was the steam rooms. There were four of them, each with a different scent - lavender, frankincense, mint and eucalyptus. The method was to spend up to 20 minutes in each room (heated to between 40 and 50C) and then come out and have a stone cold shower for a minute or two. After 5 minutes, or once you've decided you aren't going to have a heart attack after all, you do it all again. I did this for all four rooms, having a brief stop at the foot spas in between steam rooms. My favorite bit of the whole visit.
Next was the lower hot pool, the Minerva bath. Again, not really hot enough. The really pleasant bit was that there was a gentle anti-clockwise current in the pool. I used one of those foam noddle things to help keep afloat and spent an hour just floating round and round and round. It was rather hypnotic and rather snoothing, except for the idiot woman in bathing cap and goggles who kept trying to do laps. Wish the lifeguards had made her stop.
After this had lunch. Mineral water, club sandwich with salad and chips followed by a sadly dull mango pudding. Rubbery and not much flavor.
Then I had my treatments starting with the Kraxen stove which was just silly. Sat in an alcove with a big paper cone drapped over me while steam was pumped through the hay (Alpine hay mind you) lining the alcove. This went on for about 15 minutes. Could have done without it. Then instructed to drink some nice (herbal of course) tea and relax on a lounge chair with a magazine until time for the mud wrap.
The wrap was fun. Had to take off all my clothes and put on a paper G-string. A towel was drapped strategically over my breasts which required quite of lot of dexterity as I had to move about a far bit. I then had warm oil rubbed over me followed by something granualar to exfoliate my skin. This was then wiped off with warm cloths and the hot mud applied. I was then wrapped in cling film followed by a large, heavy electric blanket. While I cooked I was given a 20 minute scalp massage. I was then given yet another glass of water to drink and instructed to wash off all the mud. I then donned a clean pair of paper panties and was covered in body lotion. Finally I had a back and shoulders massage then more water and another rest.
I could have spent about another half hour in the spa but decided I'd had enough. The Minerva pool was quite crowded so not as pleasant to float around and around and around in. Just had a shower to wash off the smell of sulphur and back to the B&B. My skin feels wonderfully soft.
Did online check-in once I got back to the B&B. Holiday definitely on the downhill run now. Weather in Bath has been poor - gray and drizzly but would have liked to stay longer if it had been better/I'd had warmer clothes.
Picked an aisle seat upstairs for the London-Singapore leg on the A380. It is 2-4-2 up there and there is someone in the window. The flight is fairly heavily loaded so I didn't bother trying for an empty seat next to me. I'm in seat B so only one neighbour. On the Singapore-Melbourne leg it is 3-3-3 seating so I went for a G seat with someone in the D and, currently, a gap inbetween. Might get lucky that leg as it isn't as heavily loaded.
The B&B has a lovely whippet who introduced herself at breakfast. She also came upstairs with me when I got home. That is, I walked up the stairs once. She raced up and down several times. The landlady said she hadn't had a chance to walk her today so she let her into the house to burn off her energy running up and down the stairs instead. I do like how doggy this country is. They are such agreeable animals in the main.
Dinner was at Bistro La Barrique on Barton Street. I had the best meal of my whole trip there. I left a large tip and told them so when I left. It was a French version of tapas. The owner/chef explained to a neighbouring table that when he took over a Spanish place he decided to invent French tapas because it let him try lots of different things, as well as the diners. I had three Petit Plats. First was confit duck leg on a bed of shredded carrot and cabbage with orange sauce. The sauce was a little too sweet for my taste but the meat was divine. It just fell off the bone. Second was fresh asparagus with parmesan and balsamic vinegar. A very good example of a standard. The highlight was the third dish, a flan of wild mushrooms with a cream and chive sauce. I would have described it as a timbale as it had no pastry case. It was mainly held together with cream and perhaps an egg. It tasted delicious. Very mushroomy and meaty. Dessert was a very rich and chocolately chocolate mousse with amaretto biscuits pieces through it. Also had a glass of wine (French of course) and an espresso. Set me back a little less (even with extravagant tip) than the restaurant last night which wasn't as good.
No comments:
Post a Comment