My husband treated me to an amazingly indulgent trip to St. Malo. He booked us into the Le Grandes Hotel Des Thermes. It is a beautiful, 5 star, hotel, and spa about a mile from the walled city. It is located right on the beach and it has been a resort for more than one hundred years. Matthew admittedly does things differently than I do. He often does these kinds of things better. I always try to make things nice but I’m cheap as hell and prefer to use Hotwire or Hopper and find a bargain when looking for hotels. He looks for the best and often finds it. This hotel was no exception.

I think it is probably the nicest place I have ever stayed. The hotel has several restaurants a beautiful bar, and extensive spa services. Everyone staying there was fabulous or at least appeared to be. The food was extraordinary. Our room had the biggest bed I’ve ever seen, and a glassed-in terrace overlooking the beach. I felt like a kid in a dream! Or at least in a kid in a very plush robe luxuriating in a fancy place.

We didn’t see many people our age at the hotel. The majority were older couples who appeared to be very familiar with the place. We were a bit surprised to see so many folks dining in the formal breakfast dining room wearing their robes and slippers. It felt a bit informal and contradictory to the surroundings. Even more odd, we watched folks walk through the beautiful bar and lounge in their robes and bathing caps.

Evidently, the spa services at this hotel were a major draw and people just accessed them in robes without any hesitancy or shyness. Matthew and I decided to explore the Aquatonics pools which were located in the basement of our building. They are a series of adjoining pools of sea water at different levels, with different temperatures and jet features. We wore our robes over bathing suits but ultimately required the direction of staff who told us to shower and put on our hotel-provided bathing caps before entering.

I don’t know how to describe this experience except to say it was like nothing I had ever done before. We floated our way around the large grotto-like space trying out different pools, temperatures and jet configurations. We went against the currents and let our natural buoyancy in the salt water entertain us. Some of the jets were so powerful they were painful. Others were amazing. My back and plantar fasciitis really enjoyed the varying massages and currents.

Now we weren’t alone. We shared this space with approximately thirty other people. All but one couple was older and they all seemed to know what they were doing a lot more than we did. Some people moved round the room with a sense of purpose and others just barely stayed awake enjoying the warm water massage. Matthew and I both felt like we were intruding on some eternal life ritual or had found ourselves in the movie, Cocoon.

We lasted about 45 minutes with a brief visit to the sauna before trying to find our way back to our room. This was no small feat as the hotel has several different elevators and buildings that can only be accessed at certain levels. Ultimately we became the very people we ogled at in the prior days. We were the wet, flushed face couple padding through the the beautiful bar and lounge in our robes and slippers.