My Weekend Away!
I had a great weekend in Center Parcs; let me tell you all about it!
Friday
Arrived and ate in Chez Pierre; we then booked a bowling lane and I bought some postcards (one to send to the office); we went to the villa on our cycles we hired. It was very nice, despite being a cheap villa (we couldn't really afford an executive one). In the evening, we did Ten Pin Bowling, and I won the second game - then we played pool and I used my knowledge gained from Thursday's tournament to help me. We ate in the Italian restaurant that evening.
Saturday
I was meant to be doing Five-a-Side football at 9 in the morning, so I got up early. I bought a newspaper and then went down to the five-a-side pitch. Hardly anyone showed up, except two men and some kids; eventually one of the staff showed up and asked what everyone was there for - turned out the people with their kids were looking for a "soccer school". Then the guy told me five-a-side had probably been cancelled due to the fact that I was the only one who had showed up. I asked at the booking desk and indeed it had been cancelled; that sucked.
I went back to the villa and had some more breakfast, then we went to the swimming pool for a while. We had a picnic lunch and then did mini golf. After that, we went in the gym for a while; this one guy noticed my Liverpool shirt and asked if there had been any goals yet against Manchester City (which there hadn't been). He kept looking in occasionally to see the football results screen. After going in the gym, I relaxed with a pint of Guinness and then went back to the villa to watch the FA Cup tie between Manchester United and Watford.
I wanted Watford to win a lot just for the sake of getting an underdog team into the final. As it is, it will be Manchester United v Chelsea which is annoying because those clubs are getting too many trophies and it's time some of the smaller clubs won some silverware. We had a curry in the evening.
Sunday
We went on the boating lake in the morning; the service was poor because there was only one person on the jetty, and he was having to deal with everyone. We took ages getting on there because lots of people kept coming in on their boats so he had to help them out before getting anyone else on. Some random guy showed up and walked on to the jetty, stared at the lake and then left instead of actually helping anyone.
After that, we did table tennis and then went to the Sports cafe. I watched Wigan v Spurs, and noted how nearly every chair had the name of a famous footballer on the back (e.g. Pele, Maradonna). We spent three hours in the Aqua Sana, which is very nice - I especially enjoyed lying on a water bed and reading a book about Asian art; I came out feeling very relaxed. We ate in Huck's Diner in the evening.
Monday
We had to come home today; we did go swimming and visit the pancake house first of all, though. I also bought some fudge and toffee for people at work.
Some pictures:
"The Phoenix" - a sculpture placed to represent the park "rising from the ashes" after the main plaza burned down.
A duck with lots of ducklings. There were lots of these around, presumably because of the time of year. At one point, I saw a duck go past our villa with a procession of ducklings behind it.
A rabbit. Sadly not a close up.
A moorhen!
I was very lucky to get this picture of a squirrel, right next to our patio.
The boating lake; as you can probably tell, it was a warm day.
This was taken from on the pedalo we hired.
The fountain in the middle of the boating lake. I saw a bunch of people steer right through it on purpose.
Me relaxing with a "Black Russian" (cocktail).
Friday
Arrived and ate in Chez Pierre; we then booked a bowling lane and I bought some postcards (one to send to the office); we went to the villa on our cycles we hired. It was very nice, despite being a cheap villa (we couldn't really afford an executive one). In the evening, we did Ten Pin Bowling, and I won the second game - then we played pool and I used my knowledge gained from Thursday's tournament to help me. We ate in the Italian restaurant that evening.
Saturday
I was meant to be doing Five-a-Side football at 9 in the morning, so I got up early. I bought a newspaper and then went down to the five-a-side pitch. Hardly anyone showed up, except two men and some kids; eventually one of the staff showed up and asked what everyone was there for - turned out the people with their kids were looking for a "soccer school". Then the guy told me five-a-side had probably been cancelled due to the fact that I was the only one who had showed up. I asked at the booking desk and indeed it had been cancelled; that sucked.
I went back to the villa and had some more breakfast, then we went to the swimming pool for a while. We had a picnic lunch and then did mini golf. After that, we went in the gym for a while; this one guy noticed my Liverpool shirt and asked if there had been any goals yet against Manchester City (which there hadn't been). He kept looking in occasionally to see the football results screen. After going in the gym, I relaxed with a pint of Guinness and then went back to the villa to watch the FA Cup tie between Manchester United and Watford.
I wanted Watford to win a lot just for the sake of getting an underdog team into the final. As it is, it will be Manchester United v Chelsea which is annoying because those clubs are getting too many trophies and it's time some of the smaller clubs won some silverware. We had a curry in the evening.
Sunday
We went on the boating lake in the morning; the service was poor because there was only one person on the jetty, and he was having to deal with everyone. We took ages getting on there because lots of people kept coming in on their boats so he had to help them out before getting anyone else on. Some random guy showed up and walked on to the jetty, stared at the lake and then left instead of actually helping anyone.
After that, we did table tennis and then went to the Sports cafe. I watched Wigan v Spurs, and noted how nearly every chair had the name of a famous footballer on the back (e.g. Pele, Maradonna). We spent three hours in the Aqua Sana, which is very nice - I especially enjoyed lying on a water bed and reading a book about Asian art; I came out feeling very relaxed. We ate in Huck's Diner in the evening.
Monday
We had to come home today; we did go swimming and visit the pancake house first of all, though. I also bought some fudge and toffee for people at work.
Some pictures:
"The Phoenix" - a sculpture placed to represent the park "rising from the ashes" after the main plaza burned down.
A duck with lots of ducklings. There were lots of these around, presumably because of the time of year. At one point, I saw a duck go past our villa with a procession of ducklings behind it.
A rabbit. Sadly not a close up.
A moorhen!
I was very lucky to get this picture of a squirrel, right next to our patio.
The boating lake; as you can probably tell, it was a warm day.
This was taken from on the pedalo we hired.
The fountain in the middle of the boating lake. I saw a bunch of people steer right through it on purpose.
Me relaxing with a "Black Russian" (cocktail).