I slept in this morning. Didn't wake up to the birds twittering until 6.20am. Miss 5 was awake soon after so I didn't get my hour of contemplation out on the patio unfortunately.
After breakfast I arranged for a driver to pick us up at 12.00pm to go to the Turtle Conservation & Education Centre (TCEC) at Serangan Island.
Decided to walk up to Glo Day Spa to book a deep tissue massage for late this afternoon. I could've walked but I wanted to pick up a bottle of Bali Moon Liquer at AJ liquor across the road from Glo (as you do at 10.00am in the morning LOL). I am on a mission to re-create the Roska cocktails from the Beach Cafe the other night.
Along the way I stopped for a look at Cahaya Silver (Jl Cemara No. 5) and of course I didn't just look! I found a silver & square onyx ring I just had to have. Wasn't available in my size but they are making to order - ready in 2 days. I can't walk 5 metres it seems without finding a piece of jewellery I want to buy. I am just lucky that it is hard to find shoes here in my size (AU 9 to 9.5) as they are my true love LOL.
We headed off to Serangan and TCEC at lunchtime. It is only a very short drive from Sanur - around 15-20 mins. TCEC entry is by donation. They have around a dozen tanks of rescued turtles ranging from babies to big grand dads, all being rehabilitated ready for release. We had just missed the last of the hatchlings being released yesterday which was a shame. I was surprised that we were able to pick up & hold the smaller turtles if we wanted to (I thought that was a big no no in this place). Spent about 1/2 hour looking around & then headed off to Dolphin Lodge to see if we could secure a booking for any time between today & 10 Jan. They are fully booked but we left our details in case of any cancellations. We had lunch here - a Chocolate Truffle Magnum for me, Rainbow Paddlepop for Miss 5 & a Cappucino Magnum for hubby LOL.
Back to the hotel for a swim before I headed off to Glo for my massage. The deep tissue massage is exactly that. I like a bit of pain with my massage. The first 10 mins were excruciating - lucky I was lying face down as my facial expressions might've convinced the masseuse to go easy! I found myself drifting off after a while though. Why is it that the twittering birds keep me awake in the morning but when they are tweeting away on a relaxation CD it sends me off to sleep?? The treatment rooms at Glo are clean & modern, private, airconditioned & each have their own shower (60 min deep tissue for RP 240,000)
I had booked for Christmas Eve dinner at Massimo's tonight. I've always wanted to eat here but for one reason & another we never have. We never walk past there without buying a gelato from out the front though :-) We decided not to opt for the set Christmas menu & ordered a la carte instead. Miss 5 had a calamari entree as a main, hubby & I ordered crab linguine with cherry tomato, garlic & chilli and a rocket, prosciutto & parmesan pizza to share. We were impressed with the food here - best Italian food I've eaten for ages.
We had a couple of cocktails pre-dinner & shared a 500ml carafe of the Sth African house red with our meal. I had tiramisu for dessert & Miss 5 had gelato. Total bill was RP 635,000.
Hubby had started feeling unwell before we left for dinner (you will notice it didn't stop him scoffing half of the crab linguine though!) so he headed back to the hotel & left me & Miss 5 waiting for Santa Claus to arrive at 8.30pm. She started getting tired though so we headed back just before he was due to arrive... or so I thought.
Got back to our room & bloody Daddy has put all the presents under the tree already!! Aaargh, what to tell the 5 year old who is asking "why has Santa been already? Isn't he supposed to wait until we're asleep? Maybe Daddy did it? Did you do it Mummy? Can I open them now?" Aaargh, it's hard to think on your feet after a couple of vodkas & a few glasses of wine!! I convinced her that we must've interrupted him, and that we should still leave the carrot for the reindeer (courtesy of the hotel kitchen) and the Toblerone Santa had requested (but was now too ill to eat). Damn it, looks like I'm eating 2 desserts tonight :-)
Hope Santa has recovered enough tomorrow to do justice to the St Regis brunch as we're going regardless!
Merry Christmas everyone - hope you all have a fantastic day wherever you are :-)