We had a perfectly relaxing day at Hotel Arista, enjoying
the spa, food, and amenities.
It was time for the Midwest girls’ getaway with
my friend Lynn to end, but not before we explored more of the hotel and
Naperville, Illinois.
I slept very well on the king bed in my spacious suite. It
was a shame I only had it for one night.
Lynn and I met with Barb Hocker of Hotel Arista at Lavazza Café,
which was a short walk through the hotel to the City Gate Centre.
We refueled with lattes, muffins, and yogurt, and talked
about the hotel, which four diamond and a Preferred Hotel, as well as part of
the Kiwi Collection.
After we finished breakfast, we toured City Gate, which also
included the Tap Inn Pub & Carvery. Barb also showed us the golf simulator
and I got to take a swing at it.
Lynn and I went back to our suites to freshen up for the
rest of the day.
Carmia Stanovich, Director of Sales for the Naperville Convention and Visitors Bureau, picked us up and took us on a brief tour
through her city. I was surprised at how much there was to do there and vowed
to come back and explore.
Before heading back to the hotel, we stopped for lunch. I was
pretty excited at the name of the restaurant, White Chocolate Grill.
As you can imagine, the motto at this restaurant is “dessert
first.” We didn’t quite do that, but we did keep our eye on the dessert menu
when ordering lunch.
While everyone else got salads, I decided to go with two of
the items the restaurant was known for.
I started with the Tomato Gin Soup. I happen to love gin,
but even if I didn’t, that bit of juniper made for a wonderful and unusual
taste.
For my main course I went with the Veggie Quinoa Burger and
it was fantastic, filled with vegetables and flavor.
With my burger I had a side of the Israeli Couscous. It was
sprinkled with pistachios and was yet another dish which was unusual and tasty.
Choosing dessert at White Chocolate Grill was no easy task.
We were able to narrow it down to two: a brownie sundae made with a (white
chocolate) blondie and the restaurant’s signature White Chocolate Raspberry
Cheesecake. Both were delicious.
Carmia took us back to the hotel. Lynn’s flight back to New
York wasn’t until the evening and we were able to get a late checkout at Hotel Arista so we had some time to chill at this beautiful hotel before leaving for
the airport.
The Midwest adventure was
over for Lynn and I when I dropped her at O’Hare in Chicago, but it wasn’t
quite over for me. Soon after Lynn’s flight left, my mom arrived from Florida.
We headed straight to her
favorite hotel, the Palmer House Hilton in downtown, where we had some very
special things planned for the next day.
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