Heavenly Pampering And Final Relief

Do a little happy dance…….like a butterfly on a summer day.

Sunday 3rd July 2022

This was a day where our lives turned around from frustration to relief.  A day we could only dream of nine days before. 

No sleepless night. No rush to wake up. No rush to get up.  A late breakfast.  Check out of the groovy Hotel Roi Soleil Prestige at 11am.  A pleasant start to a fabulous day.  Just a short drive took us to Riquewihr, a village we visited ten years ago……and it hadn’t changed a bit, apart from seeing numerous people strolling the streets in Venetian masks and costumes.  To us, this seemed a bit weird in a tiny Alsatian village in France, but the locals were obviously enjoying a bit of Italian flair for the day.

After driving through more small villages, each of them full of numerous vineyard cellar doors, we drove to Obernai.  Our friend, Maxime and his sister Marie, own Le Parc Hotel and even though we have been there before in 2012 and 2016, we had no idea of the additions they had made since then.  Mid-afternoon we had drinks with Maxime in one of the bars and then we settled ourselves into room 162, while Maxime got back to work. Then under orders to try out the new spa, we donned huge white fluffy bathrobes and slippers, picked up the French baskets containing fluffy towels to then wander through the gardens to the Yonaguni Spa.  We were blown away by what we found.  If we had had socks on, they would have been knocked off.  The huge building behind the hotel currently has two levels of a labyrinth of pools and rooms.  It is impossible for me to describe because the mind is boggled by the journey you take.

There are pools leading to pools through endless, dimly lit corridors of water.  Water jets spurt from walls or ceilings, underwater or wherever, depending on the room.  There’s a snow spa where snow falls from the ceiling into a huge bowl in the centre of the room and you can rub it all over your skin before plunging back into a hot sauna or a warm pool.   At one point we floated out into an outdoor pool surrounded by garden flowers. We got lost in that building. Upstairs there is a room with luxurious sunbeds and some swinging sunbeds, plus countless other relaxation rooms, each with a different theme. There are therapy rooms for all sorts of spa treatments.  It is unbelievable.

When we had dinner that evening with Maxime in the Stub, we quizzed him about the whole concept, and I am so incredibly impressed that it was all his vision.  He then worked with an architect to create it all, but he knew exactly what he wanted, and he’s done an amazing job.  That 21-year-old, who slept on our sofa in Sydney in 2003 has done brilliant things with is life and we are proud to know that he counts us among his friends.

Monday 4^th July 2022

We spent a couple of hours wandering into town and back, to burn off the lovely buffet breakfast. Obernai was another one of those French towns that couldn’t be bothered to open up on a Monday; it was still asleep.  Not that it mattered, we had to be back at the spa in our fluffy bathrobes ready for a massage that Maxime had booked for us at 1:15pm.  By 2:30pm, yes, we had died and gone to heaven.  As we pondered jumping into the large garden pool, Maxime texted us to say that our ski buddies, Bobby and Shiho had arrived at the hotel from New York.  They had brought along Bobby’s mother, Charlotte and as it was July 4^th American Independence Day, it seemed appropriate to sit down with a bunch of Americans at the spa café to celebrate their arrival; the three of them still in their travelling clothes, Maxime in his suit and the two of us still in our white bathrobes. Then while the Americans had a jet-lag snooze, Rodney and I headed back into the world-award winning spa for another session relaxing in the maze of pools. 

Early in the evening Rodney and I went over the road to Maxime and Lexi’s house to meet his 5-year-old twin boys, Felix and Jules.  I only had a small glass of wine, but I felt slightly drunk seeing double with two identical little bespectacled chaps gazing up at us. And when the three tired travellers woke up, we had another fantastic meal with Maxime in the Stub, which we had all to ourselves, again.  All the other guests were eating in the beautiful restaurant; Maxime certainly knows how to make his friends feel really special.  We felt like we’d been wrapped up warm and cosy in a blanket of happiness.  Maxime is the bees’ knees.

Tuesday 5^th July 2022

After breakfast with Bobby, Shiho and Charlotte, we gathered in the car park for sad farewells with Maxime.  We were so jealous of Bobby, Shiho and Charlotte being able to stay at Le Parc for a whole week.  But if we had stayed longer, I don’t think we could ever have torn ourselves away.  Did I mention how wonderful it was…..?!!!   Thankyou again Maxime from the bottom of our hearts.  It has been a memory we will treasure.

And we certainly treasured it, all day, on our long seven-hour drive across France to Dunkirque.  After which we came down to earth with a bump.  We managed to get the last room available at a crappy chain hotel near Dunkirque.  We ate a terrible meal at a crappy chain restaurant across the road.  We then flooded the bathroom floor with a leaky shower before crawling into small twin beds.  We went to sleep treasuring the good memories at Le Parc Hotel.

~ Le Parc Hotel Obernai | Luxury 4-star Hotel & Spa in Alsace

Wednesday 6^th July 2022

We were so close, but still too scared to believe that today would go off without a hitch, despite all the intense planning.  We loaded up the French rental car for the last time and got lost finding our way to Europcars in Dunkirque..  This resulted in us topping up with petrol twice, to ensure that we left it with a full tank. The tiny shopfront office was in a rather dodgy looking area, so we hung around the car full of luggage until midday. With the office about to close for lunch, we were relieved when our taxi arrived from Dover in England to collect us. Knowing that the Europcars office wasn’t going to re-open in the afternoon, when we were booked to return it, didn’t surprise us, but made us even more relieved that Saver, our Iraqi taxi driver had arrived pre-midday to save us.  I nearly hugged him. Our bags were shifted from the rental car to the taxi and off we went to the ferry terminal outside Dunkirque. While sitting in the taxi for 1.5 hours, we chatted about this and that, still not believing that the ferry would run.  We kept expecting a last-minute problem or delay.  It wasn’t until we boarded and sailed away from France at 2pm that we started to relax and feel some relief, but we still had one more rental car company to tackle.  It worked!!! There was a bit of a delay, due to them not having available the car that we had booked. But finally with wheels underneath us again and everything loaded in the back we set off from Dover to continue our planned visits to family and friends in England. 

So where does travelling end?  When does travelling end?  We’ve landed in England but we’re still on the move for two weeks until we fly to Australia.  There’s still no news of Reggie.  Paperwork and emails are being sent back and forth to RAC Breakdown.  Our sincere apologies to Neroli and Ian being left with it all, we do hope the process is a little smoother from now.  And I think we’ll just relax and enjoy the good company of our family and friends for now and stop writing our blog……….here.