Certainly not unlucky 13th!

A wonderful day! Blip is looking down the "stairwell" of the hotel we're at tonight - slightly surreal, but captures a little slice of that "wow-factor" in evidence at every turn here... This would be a long blip write-up, even for me, were I to attempt to write about all the different contributing factors as to why this hotel is so good... but I'll try a quick list:
- professional, friendly, efficient service, especially the Italian lady and gentleman in the restaurant
- proper snazzy dècor, in all public spaces and in the rooms
- the attention to detail, such as the perfect whipped sea-salt butter curls that came with the sourdough
- the fascinating wine list, full of quality: I could have chosen any of literally 100s of wines (including my favourite, Ch. Musar from Lebanon)
- the local touches scattered throughout, eg the local mead Leyna had, and the Hildon mineral water from near Romsey (first experienced on my honeymoon over 27 years ago)
- wonderful melt-in-the-mouth T-bone steak (and literally every other morsel from start to finish)
- brilliant idiosyncratic cocktails: loved mine, El Loco, perfect for Loco Viejo
- and probably best of all, the hotel's willingness to run with my request for an upgrade for D&L - from the cheapest level (still very nice) to the top-floor Sky Suite (£505/night usually!)

And all that after a nice time with Bryn mid-morning (loved how he just struck up conversation with a chap in the queue at Costa, chatting about Walsall FC, him going to the Etihad this weekend, etc...); lovely lunch at Sri Lankan street food restaurant in Oxford; and seeing Naomi at Queen's (see extra of the Dining Room), though shame she was so poorly with "freshers' flu"...

Oh and just to top a perfect day, at dinner I received a text from the chap who bought £875 last week telling me he loved the two extras I put in and wants to order more!!
Addendum: reading Leyna's blip I've remembered we also had a glass of the Napa Chardonnay which shockingly won the famous Judgement of Paris, when two Californian wines beat the best of French in a blind tasting... (though it wasn't the original 1972 vintage!!)