La Samanna / A Slice of Heaven

Hello, dear friends.  Did you have a good week?  Not to brag or anything, but mine was a slice of heaven.  

Allow me to backtrack. 
The Mister and I have lived through six very long New England winters.  It is always the first week in January that we realize that we have forgotten to plan an escape from the gawdawful arctic chill ahead.  

Not this year, thanks to the Mister.  He came home one night from work on a warm August evening with a mysterious smile on his face.  He told me that he had big news.

Did you meet Oprah?
Did you book me a facelift? 
Or a few thousand dollars worth of liposuction?

No to all of the above.  
And then when he saw my disappointment, he proclaimed... 
I booked a week at LA SAMANNA in January!!  

As much as I was fantasizing about meeting Oprah with my thirty-year-old new face and killer bod, I jumped for joy. 

The time finally arrived.  We flew to Philly and then went on to Saint Martin.

When was the last time you flew with an empty seat next to you, let alone an empty plane?

The flight to Saint Martin, however, was packed to the doors. 

The Mister and I have been to St. Martin several times.  

As a matter of fact, we spent our honeymoon there.

We had been to La Samanna a couple of times for lunch, but we never stayed there.

When we arrived, we were greeted by some warm welcomes from the staff members.

As we entered the lovely open-air lobby, we spotted it.

The Money Shot!

We enjoyed our complimentary rum punches.

We also noshed on some yummy apps.

I can get used to this!

I got this pic off the website because my photos came out too dark.  We had a beautiful waterfront suite with two terraces - one off of the living area and also one on the rooftop.

First stop... the beach.

I couldn't help wondering if Captain Lee was at the helm of that yacht out there.

A girl can dream...

Who needs to dream?

Here comes my Adonis right now.

Every evening, we stopped into the cozy bar for a glass of vino.

 We dined at the waterfront restaurant at the hotel a few times.

The food and waitstaff were incomparable.

The next day we had a great breakfast.
We needed the nourishment because we were on pool duty.

The resort has two pools.  
There were very few guests sitting at them.

Most of them were enjoying the beach.

This was our home away from home for the week.

One day, we ventured into Phillipsburg and had lunch at Holland House on the boardwalk.

We had been there before, and we lost our taste for it this time.
The staff was apathetic, and the food was subpar.
And I'm being kind.

But as always, I see the brighter side of life provided I have a full glass in my hand! 

Instead of buying me my customary piece of jewelry, the Mister decided to buy me the entire store.

I guess he shouldn't have had that second drink.

Back to pool duty.

It's a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it!

Every evening around 5ish, our fabulous waitress, Alexandra, would come over and talk us into having a cocktail.  She was an awful influence on us!

After a lot of arm twisting, we would agree and tell Alexandra to bring us the drink of her choice. She had so much fun coming up with a new drink of the day.  And we had fun enjoying the fruits of her labor. 

One evening, we had a fabulous dinner at Bistro Caraibes in Grand Case.  

Grand Case is a small town on the French side, which is known for its wonderful restaurants.  

As I mentioned in my last post, the Mister is learning French during his daily commute.

He did his best to impress the waitstaff with his new skill.  
The waiters smiled politely.
They earned every cent of their tip.

We also spent an afternoon in Marigot, the French Side.  Our driver, Lucien, recommended this restaurant, Be Kool. In our continuous effort to up our coolness quotient, we had high hopes for this restaurant.

We were not disappointed.  I had the best Dover Sole I ever had in my whole life.  The Sea Bass that the Mister ordered was a big hit as well.  Be Kool is a family-run restaurant with Mom and Pop waiting tables, and their two sons were covering the kitchen.  When the Mister told Pop that how much we enjoyed our lunch, the Pop brought the Mister back to the kitchen to introduce him to his sons.

The Pop was sweet enough to end our meal with a shot.  

A good sign!
If he downs that shot, I will have a very successful shopping trip ahead of me.

The last evening, we had dinner at a restaurant on the beach called La Cigale.

The food and service were spectacular.
The Mister is watching the gent fileting his wife's fish.
He is so darn protective of me.

Amuse-bouche!

One of our fabulous apps.

Before we knew it, we were enjoying our last breakfast in Paradise.

This is our driver for the week, Lucien.  He is such a wonderful guy and so professional.  I highly recommend him to anyone who may be planning a trip to St. Martin. This is his Facebook page.

On the flight, I watched this darling movie that I downloaded on Amazon.  Here is the trailer.

Amazon

I read three books while I was away.  I absolutely adored this one. I have a book post coming up soon where I will write the review.

That's it for now.
As the Mister would say over and over again
Au revoir!

Until next time...

Photo by Andrew Pons 

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