But we did stay at a Hilton last week. So we felt a little richer, which is kind of like when you stay at a Holiday Inn Express and you feel smarter and you can perform open heart surgery.
Or Not
Last weekend we celebrated 5 years of marriage. My Mom and brother came down to watch Carter and Peter and I headed out of town for the night.
We checked into our hotel across from the event center and walked into a beautiful room on the executive floor. Thank you to a high school classmate who not only helped us book the room, but got us a complimentary upgrade. Brooke you are awesome! We enjoyed the executive lounge for a bit then headed out to explore the Old Market.
On our way there I suggested we do a make-shift appetizer tour of several different restaurants. Peter really wanted Sushi so our first stop was Blue. Blue is a kind of newer, very trendy sushi bar. We enjoyed the atmosphere and I would go back again, but I would probably order something off the grill. We ordered a small sampler that had a California roll, spicy tuna roll, shrimp nigiri, salmon nigiri, and tuna nigiri. We also ordered a couple scallop nigiri. I am not a big fish person and when you add raw fish to that it gets a little rough. I did fine until I tried the scallop...... then I was done. Peter finished off the rest and we headed out to explore.
We walked around and ducked into various shops to browse. I got a pair of Baltic amber earrings..... the guy we bout them from said they were hand made in Poland..... Peter said they were probably from China. I don't care they are pretty. (Monday morning I went to put them in to wear to work and dropped one down the drain! We got it out Monday night.)
We stopped at the Candy Store and picked up some chocolates for later that night and some jelly beans for Carter. He loves Candy and always tries to get you to let him have some for Breakfaast, Lunch and Dinner..... then gives you the sad puppy eyes when you tell him "no".
The next stop on our appetizer tour was La Bouvette. It is a wine shop, bar and deli with an emphasis on French wine. They have wines fromall the regions of France and also all over the world. You can choose from wines by the glass or a bottle and pay a corkage fee. We went by the glass, but I highly recommend if you go to buy a bottle and pay the fee.
Halfway through my first glass of wine I needed to use the rest room. The rest room was up a ramp through a door, around the corner down a treacherous flight of stairs and then down a long hallway in the basement of the buliding. (This is important later in my story.)
We order a simple Meat and Cheese tray with bread. After 45 minutes and a glass of wine our food finally arrived with an appology for the delay because they had a mix up in the kitchen. It would have been just fine if I had eaten anything other that raw fish and a table spoon of rice...... I was a little tipsy because I do not drink very often. The food was amazing, we ordered extra bread and another glass of wine. Halfway through my second glass of wine I am basically gone and I tell Peter "I have to pee again but I am afraid to try to go down the stairs." I knew I would not make it back to the hotel, so I risked it and made it down and back up OK. We had wanted to go to another place but it took us almost 2 hours at La Bouvette so after that we headed back to the hotel.
Even though we had every intention of sleeping in we were up by 7 anyway. So we went down to the executive lounge and grabbed a little breakast. We had plans to meet some friends for brunch later so we did not eat too much. We packed up our stuff and headed to meet our friends. The friends we met up with used to be Peter's college roommates. They are a great group of guys. It is always fun to get together with them even if it is for a short visit.
We had a great weekend that seemed to go entirely too fast. But then again most weekends do.
