dimanche 18 mai 2008

oh Buddha, where art thou?


The champagne mojito.

Ye gods, whoever would have thought they could improve on the world's best cocktail? But they did. Take out the mineral water / soda water. Replace it with champagne. Trust me, five of these and you'll be very happy indeed. Six and you're thinking you can dance. Seven and you're texting people telling them you're drunk and that the world is great (ahem, sorry big C).

The thing is, it was BGF's birthday and it was a big one and so we needed to celebrate in style.

A big drink was needed but, as the weekend was to be handed over to the people at the Buddha Bar Spa the next morning, we knew it was Friday night or never....hence the too-many cocktails and the staggering bar bill.

Saturday morning, and with heads hanging over and smelling of eau de mojito, we headed down to the spa.

Unfortunately, BGF had beaten me to the bathrobes. She got a lovely chocolate coloured affair, I had a red, shortie robe that made me look like a cross between Hugh Hefner, Santa Claus and Christopher Biggins.

Luckily I was soon out of said robe and being pummeled and powdered on a heated bench.

The therapist told me she was going to take me on a journey of light, colour and touch. She walked round me, ringing a bell, sprinkling dust on me and telling me about my journey. Ye gods, again.

Two hours later, when she'd finally finished with me, I took myself off to the Japanese hot tub and lay there, boiling nicely like a relaxed, chubby lobster. Oh the joy. The rest of the day was spent just moving from the bed to the pool to the baths to the hammam and back to the bed again.

I lay on the bed again this morning, looking out over lake Geneva (or lac Leman, depending on which side of the border you got up on) towards Lausanne in the distance.

"How good is this?", thought I. "I could do this every weekend".

Alas, when I was presented with the bill (and when the smelling salts had brought me round again), it hit me that the only way I could ever afford to do this every weekend (indeed every year) would be to marry well.

So if anyone knows a wealthy investment banker looking for a husband, please be a dear and pass on my number....

Meanwhile, I'll make do with a warm bath and some Radox.

14 commentaires:

Anonyme a dit…

LOL. I just love the wanky vocabulary these places use. And they're SO SERIOUS about it too, so no giggling allowed.

In Thailand, I treated myself to a "Ceremony of Sun" i.e. fake tan. It didn't work, so there was much polite but firm 'discussion'. "You are very white" the manager said. "Yes, the sun decided not to celebrate with me", I responded.

Eventually, I had to treat them to a "Retraction of Gratuity and Service Charge Celebration".

Anonyme a dit…

Mmmmmmm champagne mojitos. I highly recommend the Cuban bar on Utrechtsestraat in Amsterdam next time you're there - three of theirs and I was bouncing off the walls!

travelling, but not in love a dit…

Hey Enda, that's funny. And classy too - well done you.

There was much po-faced-ness going on.

She introduced us to the statue of the buddha as we walked past it. "Have you seen our Buddha?"

It was twenty feet tall and painted green. Hard to miss.

travelling, but not in love a dit…

Hi Catherine....I think I've actually been there.....

aims a dit…

What a way to celebrate a birthday and leaving Lyon.

Honey - you sure know how to do it right.

The only guy I know with money is marrying a fellow he met in Mexico in a couple of weeks. Sigh. Sorry!

A Lewis a dit…

Yummy on the drink....and a mojito is one of my favorites (except on the cruise ship when they made it with lemons instead of limes....weird). Sorry I've been seriously absent from the blogosphere as of late. Giant hugs from Oregon.

Breezy a dit…

Living it up or what? I thought they only did pure white towelling robes at those kind of places but then again the nearest I've got is the telly and what would they know

travelling, but not in love a dit…

Hey Aims, you need to get in there sooner - on my behalf....!

Lewis, great to see you here again. Lemons in a mojito is just weird, and wrong. Giant hugs back at you from a chilly Parisien morning.

And Breezy, the whole place was a bit too cool for anything as traditional as a white bathrobe. Plus those things would need a lot of washing after the amount of mud, dust and oil they covered us in....

Anonyme a dit…

Hey, which spa is that? It sounds very appealing and I'm going to Genève this summer.

Anonyme a dit…

Well there is a quite wealthy Dental Surgeon in Cardiff who is getting a divorce from a hairderesser who has gone off with a younger spanish lad.
Any use to you, he has money and taste I am told

travelling, but not in love a dit…

Marjolein, it's the Buddha Bar Spa at the Hilton in Evian les Bains (french side of Lake Geneva)...It's very nice, and run by the people who run the Buddha Bar at the George V in Paris...

VM, and why not! I could do with getting my teeth checked!

Eclectic Dilettante a dit…

I'm green with envy. :-)

travelling, but not in love a dit…

ED - surely you're not jealous of the ridiculous bathrobe?

Anonyme a dit…

Oh, Evian is not that far away... sounds good!