Since we only stayed three nights last time, I was excited to have a “bonus” night this time around.

We started the day at Toscana. Buffets aren’t really my thing. I find them kind of intimidating. I’m not likely to ask to have something made… which is so strange because if I’m sitting at a table and ask for something to eat, CLEARLY I’m asking to have it made…

Regardless, I got some yummy cheeses and some eggs with spinach. It was all tasty. We went back to the room and Richard called to schedule his massage. He got a start time of hydrotherapy at one and an 80 minute stress cure massage.

We got down to the beach around the same time we had the day before. This time, no bali beds… Bummer… but PLENTY of covered palapas still available. So we got those set up by Miguel and Anselma was our sweet bringer of drinks again. I was getting used to this whole “do nothing” pace.

Richard liked the way my painted lizard from the day before had turned out, so he decided he needed a spoon rest. He and our friend Julie set off to do some painting. I sat and watched the waves and read. I had big plans to do the aloe class at noon followed by Hollywood trivia at 1.

Richard came back around 11:30, and we decided to go to Las Olas. The Excellence Times said it was Yucatan roots, but I remembered the last time we were there on a Sunday, it was paella… When we got there, it was not. Still, I had a tasty bowl of tortilla soup and Richard had a bowl of lime soup. Both were good.

We headed up to do the aloe class. We passed by a lot of really fun and silly looking games on the beach on the way up to sol bar. Once there, I didn’t see anyone setting up for aloe, so I checked out the activities board again. Ooops! I had misread! That wasn’t until Monday… Oh, well.. yet another reason to go over a Monday the next time.

We heard later from Paul and Julie that the concierge was looking for us to give us our last day monkey drink… but we never really stay in one place long enough. It’s the thought that counts!

I decided to see if 3rd time was the charm at Excellence pool number 7. It kinda was. There were some uncovered loungers left, so I set up there for the afternoon. It was still something of an odd ghost town. Most of the chairs had belongings, but there was literally one other person at the pool… and this was for over an hour. The concierge set things up, then left. I didn’t see him again either. It was very different than the building 8 pool.

The other person at the pool seemed to be a little bit more chatty than I was feeling… my book was getting good, and I really wanted to read it, so I excused myself. I went back up to the room. Housekeeping had come! Hooray! I decided I was going to get in the hot tub, open it to the outside, and read. As soon as i stepped in the room, there was a knock at the door. It was Jacqueline, the building concierge. She told me she knew it was my last day and asked how things were going. This was the first I had seen of her this trip, and I let her know that aside from the spotty housekeeping and turndown that things were wonderful. She seemed genuinely concerned and asked what time I would like turn down for that night.

I took a nice long bath, then went outside to the balcony to read. I was getting a little hungry and considered ordering a room service hot dog.. or maybe going down by the main pool to grab a bite and listen to some music Just then, Richard came back from his massage, and I suggested that we go to the sports bar for the awesome cheese fingers.

He had to stop by the spa on the way because there was no tip line when he went to pay with his credit card, so he wanted to drop off some cash. We got in the sports bar right at 4, but they said they’d been open all day for football. They had a buffet set up. I grabbed a slider and some guacamole. The slider was a little cold and a little stale, but it tasted good. We ordered the cheese sticks and the beer and they were both fantastic.

A rather large group came in to watch the Eagles game. We planned to return that night to watch The Bears. We had Chez Isabel wine cellar reservations that night, so we went back to the room to get cleaned up.

I was trying to look my sassiest, but I had one of those fat, over 40, female moments and couldn’t stop sweating long enough to get my makeup on right! Such a bummer!

We went to the main bar, and instead of Cesar, there was Tonatiuh! He said that he was working there for the week. It’s a great spot for him, too! Richard, Paul, Julie, and I had a cocktail then headed up to Chez Isabel. They had the room all set up for us with candles and rose petals. It was lovely. Each couple has to order at least 100 dollars in wine to reserve the wine cellar. I wanted to try something we couldn’t get readily in the US, so we got a Ricardo red blend. It was about 150 in the restaurant, and we saw it at duty free for 75… so that’s a mark up on par with and US restaurant. We also had a very nice French wine.

The music at Chez Isabel makes me laugh… Lots of Celine Dion… who is French…ish…

Now, my first experience at Chez Isabel was just okay. This one was very good! I had the foie gras as a cold appetizer, which was AMAZING. Richard had the lobster, which he said was okay… the bread they served it on was a little odd. Then, we both had the escargot. They changed their presentation this year, and they were wonderful in a little filo cup. Last year, I ordered the lobster bisque, which I did not care for. This year, I had the French onion soup. It may well be the best I’ve ever had. It was big… and a meal in itself… but the pastry, the cheese, the soup.. all great..

For my main, I had the filet. It was good… not life changing, but tender, and good… maybe a little under seasoned… and WAY too much food for me. I gave a bunch to Richard who ordered the lamb chops. He said that they were pretty good although the butchering on one was weird. Raul also brought us some beautiful shrimp to make it a surf and turf. Good idea, and good shrimp! I had the creme brulee for dessert. The flavor was good, but the texture was a little too dense for me. I had it with a fantastic cappuccino.

The music got even funnier. The “50s night” began right behind us at Prelude, so now we have a “wall of sound” thing going on with a mash up of French cafe music and “Wipeout.” It was good fun!

The pacing of the dinner and the service from Raul was perfect. He said he would see us when we came back next year. I hope that’s true.

I know that people talk about the food quality not being up to par. I really think our evenings at Chez Isabel and at Agave were what I would expect from going to an upscale restaurant not at an AI resort. I would not have walked away from either meal disappointed even if I were paying high prices for them…

After dinner, we returned to the sports bar. It was warm in there, however and all the seats in front of the big screen where the game was playing were taken. There were a few little tables left, but Richard said he didn’t feel like sitting in the bar if we weren’t drinking… and neither of us had any room for alcohol. We decided that we would take our chances and see if Sunday night football was on in our room.

When we got back to the room, we were greeted with a wonderful surprise! Clearly Jacqueline had chosen to make up for our missed turn downs. We had swan towel art, “Come back soon” petit fours, rose petals around the jacuzzi, and a new bottle of sparkling wine.

Unfortunately,  when I opened the wine and “popped” the cork, but there were no bubbles. It was completely flat. Oh well, no matter, we didn’t really want more to drink anyway.

Richard enjoyed the jacuzzi for a bit. (Yes, it’s a two person… but two normal sized persons… not Richard and my size…) Then we turned in. No football game on, sadly…So I listened to 50s night from our balcony; then, I watched  It’s Complicated until I fell asleep. I love that movie.

I knew that the bellman was coming to pick out luggage up at 1045 the next day and our lovely trip was about to come to an end. (and so will my recaps after the last one…)