fh_trips | Spa at the Monastery [St. John's, Newfoundland & Labrador, Monday Evening]

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fall break 2011: newfoundland

Spa at the Monastery [St. John's, Newfoundland & Labrador, Monday Evening]

Monday evening in the oldest (English) city in North America was crisp and... not all that clear, actually, with a light rain drizzling down. Lucky for the residents of Fandom, there was plenty to do inside where they could be nice and warm and dry. Like that rather expansive Thanksgiving feast being prepared in the Abbey Restaurant.

[ooc: ocd up! rooms | thanksgiving dinner | lobby | downtown st. john's ]

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Welcome to the Spa at the Monastery (http://www.monastery-spa.com/acomm.htm)! Rooms come fitted with fireplace, bathroom, spa robe, a king-sized bed or two double beds, and an air-massage tub right in your bedroom. Enjoy.

[[ Please create your own subthread with your room number (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Al4uLbpDp2VAdFVqaUNBQjRpNVd0VXRyT2ZfR0dDV3c&hl=en_US) in the thread subject line. If you're going to go NWS, please use your personal journal but feel free to link back to a thread here. And in case anyone is going OCD with us, odd numbered rooms on the left, even numbers on the right! ]]

Edited 2011-10-10 15:14 (UTC)

\o/

St. John's was home to the country's first official Thanksgiving, and so of course the staff at the hotel went all out when preparing this particular meal.

Laid out on banquet tables for the Fandom guests to enjoy is a Thanksgiving feast. Turkey, mashed regular and sweet potatoes, stuffing, pissaladière (http://frenchfood.about.com/od/appetizershorsdoeuvres/r/pissaladiere.htm), apple-glazed carrots... and of course, Jiggs dinner (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jigg%27s_dinner). To drink, there was wine or mulled cider.

For dessert, there would be the traditional pumpkin (perhaps a bit spicier than the American guests were used to) and sugar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_pie) pies.

Edited 2011-10-10 15:37 (UTC)

If you're not into food, there's always the lobby to hang out in.

And for those looking for the nightlife... may we suggest a stroll along George Street (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Street,_St._John%27s), home to the most pubs and bars per square foot in North America. There were a number of musical acts (http://www.whatsongeorge.com/2011-10-10) performing tonight as well, if that's your thing.

Edited 2011-10-10 15:49 (UTC)

Comments are off, so ping me here if you need anything. Or if I forgot something.

I miss having an OOC icon!

Ender was not even remotely a foodie, but this was a ritual he'd never really been a part of - not in the US nor anywhere else - and so it was both curiosity and hunger that drove him to the restaurant.

He took a seat. He didn't exactly try a bit of everything -- he sipped his glass of milk and took just enough to be polite and didn't eat it all -- but he did keep his eyes open and observed how other people went about it.

After the disappointing turn of events at the store, Natalie had spent some time just walking on her own, but she returned to the hotel in time for the feast. It was Thanksgiving, after all. It was a thing to acknowledge.

It was still doing very little to change how she was feeling. Regardless, she was there by the table, picking at the food on her plate.

Sam thought about going out but it was chilly and he didn't know when he'd experience an authentic Canadian Thanksgiving again so he decided to stay in.

Dressed comfortably, he found a seat at the table and started getting a few things to try. He avoided the meat but made attempts to try almost everything else.

Toby was gonna give the Jiggs dinner a pass, thank you, but everything else was getting heaped on his plate. This was markedly different from the really kind of pathetic Thanksgiving dinners he'd had in the past, so he was gonna make the most of it.

It really was good to be home, Jake had to admit. Even if sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner with people who were a mix of friends and acquaintances rather than family felt a bit odd. Which would be why he had his phone out and was texting his niece for updates on the Doyle family dinner.

"Too bad you don't eat meat," Natalie remarked from across the table. "The turkey's pretty good."

Not that there was nor had been a whole lot of it on her plate, either.

"I can live vicariously through you," Sam said before eating some mashed potatoes. He glanced down at her plate. "You don't look like you're eating much of anything."

Rilla took a small sample of everything (and two slices of sugar pie, hush), and sat down, stared at her plate, and was completely overwhelmed with homesickness.

Hopefully no one would notice a tear or two falling into the pissaladière.

"Not hungry," Natalie replied smoothly, glancing down at her plate herself. "I'm only having a little of everything."

Except Jiggs dinner because ew. That wasn't a favourite.

"Everything all right?" Sam asked, trying not to sound concerned even if maybe he was. "Bad portal trip?"

"I'm just adjusting." To what, she left that up to him to guess. There was a certain amount of pride to lose in admitting how rattled she was by a few chilled soft drink bottles. "I'm fine."

"Mmm." Yeah, he didn't believe she was really all that fine. "Anything I can do to make you more fine?"

He wasn't sure if he expected a serious answer or an answer at all.

For a second there, Natalie looked like she was resisting the urge to roll her eyes, but in the end she just looked at her plate and picked at the food there in silence for a moment.

"Well we could have that date tomorrow," she said after that moment had passed, still looking at her plate.

"Second date?" Sam nodded almost immediately. "Yeah, sure. I, uh, don't know a thing about this place so you're gonna have to be the one who makes sure we don't get lost and end up in some blizzard."

Canadian stereotypes were prevalent even in Seattle. But, he was mostly just joking to see if he could improve her mood a little.

Well, she flicked her gaze up at him again, at least. And a dry drawl was better than nothing, when it came to her and her locked down responses.

"Did you see any snow out there?"

"That doesn't mean there couldn't be any snow tomorrow!" Sam pointed out, shrugging. "Hey, I lived in Seattle for most of my life. One minute it's sunny, the next, pouring rain. Weather can change quicker than almost anything else."

"Well, there's not going to be snow," Natalie replied, and did roll her eyes this time. "This isn't Fandom."

She didn't know if that was a good or a bad thing, at this point.

"Well, there go my hopes and dreams of a white Canadian Thanksgiving," he joked, sighing heavily. "I'm sure our second date will ease my sadness though. Got a place in mind?"

Natalie shrugged a shoulder. "I went out today, saw a lot of pubs with music in the evenings," she said. "Probably one of those."

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Spa at the Monastery [St. John's, Newfoundland & Labrador, Monday Evening]

Spa at the Monastery - Rooms

Spa at the Monastery - Hotel

Spa at the Monastery - The Abbey Restaurant

Spa at the Monastery - Lobby

Downtown St. John's

OOC! [Fall Break 2011]

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