Fun & Famous

May got a lesson with both feet on the ground

Whether I wanted to spend a night in a five-star hotel in Cabourg. Now, Cabourg is a beautiful coastal town in Normandy and besides, a little five-star hotel can certainly charm me. Just like Renske, by the way, who only wants to sleep in Le Meurice now, which is all Chanel's fault, by the way, read here but. The hotel also had cultural value, as Marcel Proust came there as a child and gained a lot of inspiration for his novel ‘À la recherche du temps perdu’. The hotel even named madeleines (those divine little cakes) after him because an important scene in the book is about that. Now, I must say that I never made it to that scene because Proust writes so incredibly detailed (I believe he took thirty pages to describe the moment someone woke up) that I had long since given up, but still. It remains a nice anecdote.

Anyway. That hotel then. We ate deliciously and afterwards drank a Calvados which, in my opinion, contained a sleeping aid, because I was in a coma for ten hours. Normally, it takes me at least two nights to gather that together. I slept so long that I was almost late for my appointment at the spa. It was on the fourth floor, complete with hammam, sauna, and beauty salon. Candles were burning, relaxing music was playing, and I got to choose the oil that best suited my mood.

”She started working on my back. “Vous êtes bien tendue”, said the lady”

I was having a great time, in short, when I lay down for a relaxing hour-long massage. The masseuse spoke some kind words and I replied to her in my best French. She started working on my back. “Vous êtes bien tendue”, said the lady. I had no idea what she meant, but it was probably a compliment, so I thanked her profusely, said she was too good for me, and settled in comfortably.

Still, I remained curious. ‘Bien tendue’. What could she mean by that? That I was well-muscled? At my old age? Or that I was still well-preserved? Also at my old age? Something like that? Because a compliment gives a person courage, I decided to text my incredibly Parisienne (but raised in the Netherlands) friend Agnès. Dear Agnie, if someone says during a massage that you are ‘bien tendue’, what does that mean? Message back. ‘That you are very tense. Take it a bit easy, sweetheart?’`