Dec 15, 2006

Ahhhh the Peninsula

One luxury I had not discovered until the last couple of years is the spa. I thought it was always reserved for the ladies, but if pro athtletes are getting massages then my body deserves some of this expertise. Last night, I headed over to the Peninsula Hotel because someone invited me last minute to go get a rub down. Peninsula is one of the two elite hotels in my mind if you're going to stay in luxury here -- the other being the Mandarin Oriental. The two best spas in my estimation are also the Peninsula and the Mandarin. How do you judge what's a great spa? For me it's the massage expertise -- no happy endings happen at these establishments -- and the service. What I also like about going to the Peninsula is that it's primarily an older crowd and I enjoy the incredulous looks of who's this young buck? Interestingly, there's usually not many asians when I'm at these places but there was an older Korean guy who was heading to Korea for a weekend biz trip. What was also interesting was that this older Korean gent lived in Manhattan and not in Queens or elsewhere. Anyway, someday I'd like to be walking around at Augusta National or Pine Valley Golf Club. I just had a good rub down last Friday at Mohegan, but that was a deep tissue that tore me apart. I'm accustomed to having females only rub me down, but much to my chagrin it was a guy. After last night, I no longer have qualms because he was excellent.

After getting beat up and hitting the steam room, I showered up and headed down to Fives (named after the fact that it's located on 5th and 55th), the second floor restaurant. We had a few drinks and some small apps with the pianist playing the song from the British Airways commercial. I'm more accusomted to Sexy Back playing but this music is always a good gear shift.

Midway through the evening, I had to say thank you and excuse myself so I could head down to the Cutting Room on 24th St. Talk about different crowds and music.

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