I had a nice weekend. I hardly thought about Sistopher at all. I fucked like a rabbit. I had a mud bath and a massage. I only got annoyed with Patroclus a couple of times.
Patroclus came over fairly late on Friday evening after fussing and faffing about at home packing and such. We then faffed about on Saturday morning and finally left around 11, stopping in at Frye's to buy a 256Kb memory card for the camera (I'd seen an ad for them for $24). Drove up through San Francisco, where it was cold and foggy, across the Golden Gate Bridge and into Marin County, where it was once again gorgeous. At this point we both had to pee desparately (did I mention we'd stopped at Jamba Juice?), so we turned off the freeway at a random exit, and lo, there was Macy's! So we went into Macy's, peed, saw that they were having a terrific July 4th sale, so we shopped for an hour or two, walked around the mall, had a late lunch, peed in Macy's again and continued on our way to Napa. And decided to drive up to Calistoga, then head back south to find a place to stay. We got there, saw a nice looking hotel, asked if they had any rooms, and they did, within my price range. Nice Robert showed us the three rooms available for the price and we chose the smallest but nicest. So we settled in. And Patroclus immediately felt better - he'd been suffering from an upset stomach all day.
Then we went to have a little walk around Calistoga and decided to splurge for dinner, so we went to Brannan's, where I had pan-roasted duck breast and he had fancy-shmancy rib-eye. With a bottle of rose and dessert. Back to the hotel, shower and bed.
Faffed about in the morning, then set out for a bike ride at about 11:00. My God, that boy does fuss! Everything has to be such a production number. I was ready to get on my bike and ride off into the distance in about 10 minutes. He took almost an hour! He's clearly Tony Randall to my Walter Matthau. Rode from Calistoga to St. Helena, had coffee and rode back. Stopped at the Culinary Institute of America on the way there.
Showered, rested, then off to tour the http://www.beringer.com/winery/index.jsp. The tour was very disappointing— all we saw were the cellars. But we stayed there the whole afternoon, tasting wine on the tour, then a bit more in the gift shop, then finally on the verandah of Rhine House. For non-cognoscenti like P and me, this was a great way to spend an afternoon in wine country.
Then we drove to Yountville for dinner. Walked around a bit looking for a nice place to eat, and stopped at this place that looked a bit small but which had a nice menu and reasonable prices. They had no table for two, so we sat at the bar. And had the nicest meal I've had in a very long time. With the nicest server, Bob. The restaurant was the Jeanty Bistro. Both the setting and the menu are very French. And the execution is quite wonderful. I started with the off-menu special - smelts from Fort Bragg. P had croutons de foie blond. Then I had coq au vin with a side dish to tiny green beans and P had the off-menu special—braised lamb cheeks. Which I thought was very brave of him. They were absolutely delicious; rich and meaty with a lovely lamb flavor. P couldn't finish them all, so I did. And then dessert—crepe suzette. A simple, basic French bistro meal. Perfectly executed, in a delightful setting, with charming, helpful and competent staff. Back to the hotel and bed.
Monday morning we lazed around, then packed the car, checked out of the hotel and mooched around Calistoga. Into all the shops. I bought birthday cards. We got lunch at the Calistoga Market and sat on the bench outside to eat our shared sandwich and apple cake. Then we had the highlight of the day - the works at Dr. Wilkinson's Hot Springs Resort Which was interesting. It's a good thing I'm perfectly comfortable being naked around people these days. The mud bath was quite nice, although I didn't like the smell of the mud all that much - a bit sulphurous, I think. Lanky David, our guy with a blond ponytail, saw us into the baths and applied a facial masque and cucumber slices over the eyes. And we soaked for about 15 minutes. The feel of the mud between the toes and around the fingers was neat. And it was pretty relaxing. Then a shower and into the mineral water whirlpool tub. Nice, but far too hot for me. Then into the steam bath. Where I overheated and began to feel a bit ill. So I got out. Then a rest under a blanket for 15 minutes or so where I lay and felt my dilated arteries throb like crazy. Finally a massage. Given by gorgeous Raoul. The massage was by far the best part. And Raoul really was gorgeous.
Then we drove home. Down the Silverado Trail, stopping in Napa for dinner (entirely unmemorable in some brew-pub on Main St.) and coffee in Starbucks, and the I-680 route home, which P. agreed turned out to be the most efficient way to make the trip. My knee hurt the whole way home, so I guess the anti-arthritic properties of the mud ain't quite what they're claimed to be. Mind you, Raoul didn't get round to massaging my shins in his half-hour. Did I mention he was gorgeous?
So a nice weekend. Way expensive though. I'll post some pictures later. "Nice" is a bit too Canadian of me. It was a terrific weekend.
