Sunday 9th June

Sunday 9th June

I woke up very early, around 5 .15 a.m. and went out to look at the party scene which had been largely cleared up. So I decided to try to clear up the rest of the area by folding the tablecloths, stacking the plastic chairs and generally tidying up the area from the broken balloon bits and other detritus. Stefania appeared in her night robe at about 6.30 a.m. and offered me a welcome cup of coffee. MAC got up soon after and helped with the remaining washing up. Stefania got a huge consignment of meat out from the fridge and started to prepare it for the party this afternoon. There was sausage, lamb and pork chops and the whole huge tray looked hard to lift!! 

I took time out to fight with the very frustrating British Airways website to check in. I changed the seats and also logged the extra bags that we would check in but despite being offered a discount for paying on line, I was unable to do so. Still I did complete the check in procedure which may help at the airport in the morning.

We could not be of much help with the party preparations as Stefania had her staff marshaled and so we tidied up the apartment and completed packing before taking our Sad leave of Stefania, Bruno, Nadia and the other girls and leaving LFMD for our hotel near Rome airport. By noon the heat had grown to a higher level.

The drive was uneventful and in good weather and we found the hotel which is also a major spa quite easily. Just about everyone around was in a bathrobe! The friendly staff soon had us checked in and showed us to our rooms in a building that a had been a cheese factory. It was quite comfortable and a nap soon followed. 

When I awoke the third place European Nations Competition game between Switzerland and England was on the TV. England were their usual awful selves.

We watched the TV for a while and then MAC decided to go for a walk but she soon found that her progress was barred as she did not have a bathrobe on. It seems that most of the grounds around the small hotel building are used by the spa and thus reserved for those whom are using the spa facilities.

There are multiple pools and hot tubs and massage and other treatment facilities within other buildings in the grounds. The hotel only forms a small part of the complex and on this Sunday evening the spa was crowded with Romans who had presumably come out for a day at the spa judging by the number of cars in the vicinity and the spare number of rooms in the hotel. The whole complex dwelt upon ‘wellness’ and encouraged everyone to indulge in some form of activity which would promote good health, beauty or anti-aging or some other supposed welfare.

This was a new one!!! A daisy in the toilet bowl!!!!

We walked across to the restaurant but were told that there was no reservation available until 9 p.m. but at the nearby Light Cafe they could serve us an ‘aperitif’ which consisted of an Aperol spritz and some chips and olives. We also ordered a tuna salad which was very good.

Dinner being completed we retired to bed as we had a very early start in the morning. We set the alarm for 4.30 a.m. to leave for the airport at 5.30 a.m.