Ten Years Of Wedded Bliss
We celebrate ten years of marriage this year. We planned a nice weekend, just the two of us, away from the boys for much needed alone time on our anniversary. We enjoyed each others company, especially in taking a break from all the demands and distractions we deal with on a daily basis. We originally planned for something more elaborate, but COVID limited our booking any international travel. I hope we can do something together on that scale again soon but we definitely enjoyed our plans for our little getaway.
Checking into 21C Museum Hotel topped our agenda. We found the lobby interesting and toured the artwork on the first floor. A wedding reception closed the second floor gallery, but we toured it on Saturday before departing. The hotel itself is in a great location, right around the corner from Boca, one of our favorite restaurants, and where I reserved a table for dinner. Our room’s modern design and furniture is supposed to set this hotel apart. I honestly did find it a little lacking, especially given our more recent stay at a new Spring Hill Suite, which although not an “artsy” hotel experience, trumped 21C in technological amenities by far.
Our suite included a large bed, living room area, and dining room section with table and chairs. The shower stall possessed an other-worldly design I’ll admit, and reminded me of something in a movie about modern people living in a city. The entire room did seem like a great place to live if you lived in Tokyo, and I imagined a small kitchenette in the corner to prepare dinner in such a scenario. The furniture looked a little dated, and required some deep cleaning. I let management know my thoughts, as I always do. I’ll also add my disappointment in the hotel not offering any spa treatment for my wife as they were booked for the weekend. If I’m going to stay in a luxury hotel, I kind of expect access to the amenities that make it unique.
After checking in and spending some time enjoying a bottle of champagne, we made our one block walk over to Boca where we continued drinking champagne. Her kind aunt learned about our plans to eat there and sent over champagne. I subsequently ran into a coworker there, and he sent over champagne as well. Our heads swam!
Dinner overall amazed us. I’d define the food and service impeccable. I ate almost everything on the menu, and why not? For once in our lives nobody needed to stay sober to drive home, or leave immediately because of our children’s behavior, or be home at a certain time to get the boy’s into bed. We feasted for several hours and left completely satisfied.
The next morning we ordered breakfast from Metropole and ate in our room, savoring the last few moments before rejoining our busy lives together.
