I'm up by 8am today eventhough I'm having a lazy day around town. Old habits die hard! I watch the Olympics for a few hours. Then, around lunchtime I go for a stroll around town. Calistoga is a very pretty, wealthy looking town with a population of around 5,000. There's a certain buzz about the place with a lot of people on the streets. Located in a lovely, hilly area with vines and wineries scattered along every road out of town. It bears an uncanny resemblance to Tuscany. That, certainly, was the first impression I got. A different world from the regions I'd just travelled through.
The town is a spa town and, with a convenient location 70 miles from San Francisco it gets a lot of visitors and wine buffs keen for a break from the big city. The way the town got its name is unusual. A business man had seen potential for a spa resort in the area and wanted to model it on Saratoga, another thriving spa resort in the last century. Pitching his business plan to potential investors he wished to say that he wanted to make this place "the Saratoga of California". What actually came out was "I want to make this place the Calistoga of Sarafornia". And with that slip of the tongue the town was baptised. (Damian, I hope that story is true. Otherwise your having a right laugh at me just now and made me look a right....., how do they say??...... oh yeah, ...... a tw@t!!)
Today I switch off completely. I'm totally relaxed. So much so that I go back to bed in the afternoon and sleep. This evening we have a proper meal in a proper restaurant with colleagues from Damian's work. Ye should have tasted the rib. Wow!! The wine was nice as well. I'm all posh now.
The town is a spa town and, with a convenient location 70 miles from San Francisco it gets a lot of visitors and wine buffs keen for a break from the big city. The way the town got its name is unusual. A business man had seen potential for a spa resort in the area and wanted to model it on Saratoga, another thriving spa resort in the last century. Pitching his business plan to potential investors he wished to say that he wanted to make this place "the Saratoga of California". What actually came out was "I want to make this place the Calistoga of Sarafornia". And with that slip of the tongue the town was baptised. (Damian, I hope that story is true. Otherwise your having a right laugh at me just now and made me look a right....., how do they say??...... oh yeah, ...... a tw@t!!)
Today I switch off completely. I'm totally relaxed. So much so that I go back to bed in the afternoon and sleep. This evening we have a proper meal in a proper restaurant with colleagues from Damian's work. Ye should have tasted the rib. Wow!! The wine was nice as well. I'm all posh now.
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