Dan and I woke up talking about how our bellies were sending signals we had overdone it last night with food and the array of beverages. Very much in character, Dan skipped breakfast and headed off to his meetings. I, on the other hand, needed to keep up appearances so waddled off to the breakfast room thinking food would be just the tonic. Kate and Paula joined me for a hearty breakfast with the plan to skip lunch.

If it’s Wednesday it must be spa day! You betcha. After breakfast and a short stroll around the grounds, we three ladies met at the spa. First was steam followed by tea and snacks like walnuts, raw almonds, and dehydrated bananas. We indulged minimally having sworn off anything that could be construed as lunch. Then we soaked in the electrolyte zinc bath (pool). It’s a seasonal thing per our Roman hosts reputed to “tackle the negative impact of free radicals and promote the healing of wounds and ulcerations.” Then I had a massage of the relaxing, run of the mill type. I wanted to try a ‘lymphatic drain’ but was fearful I might feel less than great when it was over. I’ll save that for when I’m close to home and can take the rest of the day off if it does not go well. Anyway, the afternoon was relaxing and enjoyable.

Dan and I joined two of his guys for dinner at a little hole in the wall restaurant downtown reputed to have great food and limited availability before 10:00 pm. We snagged a reservation at 7:30 and got back to the hotel at 10:45. After all the party food earlier this week I took it easy with one glass of red, shared appetizers, and artichoke with pork cheek pasta. Period. No dessert. No seconds on wine.