My last post ended abruptly and that’s because there was more to it that mysteriously disappeared when I added a photo of Mary’s Virgin Atlantic dinner, so here is the second half, second draft:
We arrived at the Sofitel Gatwick Airport around 11:30 am. I had reserved a package that included a three-course dinner and breakfast. For an additional £30 we got an early check-in so we were quickly in our room. Our room had a view of the countryside as well as some of the airport and planes to the right. I had requested two twin beds because I figured we might each want our own space after the long plane ride. This was a good call. The only thing Mary wanted to do once we got to the hotel was sleep and that she did, immediately. The only thing I wanted to do was shower and I had a lovely relaxing one. I planned to then get into bed and sleep but I realized I was starving so I wandered over to the airport terminal. The Sofitel is connected to the airport so it was only a 5 minute walk. The first place I saw to eat was a place called Jamie’s, which was a coffee shop branch of a Jamie Oliver restaurant. I bought a huge sausage roll, a Greek Yogurt Parfait and a Greek salad for around £14. It was a lot of food and I figured I would eat half and then Mary could have the rest when she woke up. I brought it back to the room and ate every last bit except for a few olives and tomatoes in the salad. I guess I was hungrier than I thought! Also, the sausage roll and yogurt parfait were SO delicious! Eating completed, I crawled into bed and slept until 5 pm. I could have slept later but I still wanted to be able to sleep that evening.
Everything I have ever read about jet lag has said to not sleep until the evening when you first arrive wherever it is you are going. I’m glad I didn’t follow that advice because I slept fine that night and was STILL tired the next day!
Anyway, we had a dinner reservation for 6:30 pm, which was the earliest the restaurant opened. The menu was pre-set. The entree choices were Confit of Gressingham Duck Leg, Pan Roasted South Bay Fish with Baby Capers, or Broad Beans Risotto. I’m not a fan of duck and the risotto sounded too rich, so I chose the fish, which the waiter said was salmon. The service was VERY slow. We had our appetizers, soup for Mary and salad for me and the waiter also brought us each an amuse bouche of tomato-pepper soup. Then, as we were waiting for our entrees, the waiter came and said to me, “I’m very sorry, Madam, but the salmon has changed into Octopus.” He didn’t actually say, Octopus, I can’t remember the actual name of the fish, but I was amused by his phrasing and I imagined the salmon suddenly transforming into some other kind of fish. The new fish was some sort of whitefish and I was concerned that they might have to use a lot of butter to give it some taste. The waiter said he would check and then he came back and said, “The chef assures me that you will not taste the butter or know it is there.”
“But there is butter?” I asked.
“Yes, but very little, ” he said.
We eventually got our entrees and my first taste of my fish was of butter as was the taste of the greens underneath the fish. I didn’t even try the “butter mash” that was the third part of the entree. The meal was so rich I could only eat a few bites. Mary’s risotto was also quite rich. By now we had been in the restaurant for almost two hours so we asked to bring dessert back to the room. We both chose Pot Au Chocolate, which was a huge amount of chocolate mousse and also incredibly rich. I have such a sweet tooth but I couldn’t even finish the dessert. We very much enjoyed the Sofitel but probably wouldn’t go for the dinner package in the future.
We were asleep by 9:30 and up at 5 am so we could get breakfast and get over to the terminal for our 7:50 am flight to Genoa. The breakfast buffet was lovely. My stomach was still recovering from the meal the night before so I only had some fabulous Greek yogurt and grapes and I purloined a mini baguette for later consumption on the plane.
I will end with something Mary said at dinner, which seemed very poetic to me so we have turned it into a poem:
Sofitel Restaurant on 3 Hours Sleep
the sun is in my eyes and I can’t see anything. It’s like I’m the only person who exists.
