September 26, 2009 saw me turning 49, and Mike (my boss) was so kind as to let me stay a night at the E & O—there is really no other hotel like this fine establishment. The moment you walk into the hotel and soak up the ambience, you know you’re in for a treat. Oh and before I forget, a big thank you to all of you who sent me birthday wishes via Twitter, Facebook, email, Windows Live Messenger, etc. It’s very much appreciated.
So it was that I checked myself in on Saturday afternoon, and was given Room 303. This is one of the deluxe sea view rooms. I have a wonderful view of the sea, sunrise and sunsets, and also the swimming pool.
Here’s the way to my room on the third floor (the present wing has only 3 floors, so the elevators are fast)
Room 303 was simply glorious. There was a living room with the usual amenities—TV, coffee and tea provided, a kettle, broadband access (but I don’t have a laptop yet, wah!), iron and ironing board, a personal safe, etc. Two very comfortable twin beds (see the following pictures) of course I only slept in one, lol. The bathroom was big, with a long bath, shower, and twin basins. All in all, very nice (now if only I had a laptop, wah!)
Of course I swam in the pool, which is great for laps because of its rectangular shape. I managed 24 laps on my birthday and 20 laps the next day; no mean feat, because it’s about 60 feet across. I then went to play the piano as usual on my birthday night, and everybody including the boss was wishing me happy birthday—it was absolutely wonderful. Someone even got me a Baileys, lol. I decided to return to my room during a break, and what do you know, these two butlers showed up at my door.
My two good friends, Loong (left) and Adam presented me with some lovely birthday cheesecake and belted out Happy Birthday to me (jeez, they sing very well). Not only that, they took pictures and presented me with a personal birthday card (I was absolutely flabbergasted)
I thanked both of these fine staff and put the cheesecake into the fridge as I already had my dinner earlier and was totally stuffed up. A nice fitting end to the evening!
The next day I had my morning call at 7:30 a.m. and not long after that, went down to the pool for my swim. It was early, there were no other guests, so I did 20 laps. That got me all hungry (as usual) so after a shower and making myself look decent I went to Sarkie’s Corner for the buffet breakfast at around 9:15 a.m. The spreads were amazing, so here are some pictures for posterity. Needless to say I was a real piggy…
After this huge breakfast, I just went back to my room and chilled, doing some reading, watching some cable TV, and taking some self-portraits (I brought my trusty tripod along). Here are some of them.
Pretty soon it came time to check out. Ah well, never mind, I’ll see this “grand old dame” again the next weekend, and the next… A big thank you to Mike and all the staff for making my stay an enjoyable and memorable one!
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