Tag Archives: hotel

Silent messages from cheese central

I flew to Atlanta today.

After check-in at the hotel, I grabbed lunch at a nearby restaurant.  It had an extensive menu, but suddenly, I knew what I had to have –

Grilled cheese

When the waiter came back to the table, I pulled out my negotiation skills to get the sandwich, which oddly was not on the menu.  The nice man not only delivered a yummy grilled cheese — with fries — but gave it to me on the cheap.

Ya gotta love Southern hospitality.

Now, grilled cheese is my favorite sandwich, but I wondered why I had such a strong taste for it.  I later discovered that today is…

grilled_cheese_1

It’s like I heard the call of the curd…without even being aware of it.

We have that kind of relationship, cheese and I.

Royalty in residence

When I shared yesterday’s post on Chateauform Schloss Löwenstein — my castle-hotel near Frankfurt that evokes Downton Abbey — my sister asked,  “Have you seen a Matthew look-a-like?”

Sadly, no.

But there is a prince living here.

prince germanyAlois Konstantin is the ninth Prince of Löwenstein. He and his wife Anastasia, Princess of Prussia, occupy one wing of the castle.

The Prince works in the financial services industry in Frankfurt and manages the family’s assets.

And while I have not seen him during my stay, I must say –

Doesn’t he look a bit like Mr. Carson?

Can you say spin-off?

When I travel for business, I often go from the airport to the hotel and back again, which doesn’t guarantee much of a view.

Of course, my hotels don’t often look like this –

Chateauform

This is where I’m staying today:  the Chateauform Schloss Löwenstein, located 45 minutes from the center of Frankfurt, Germany.

It’s part of a chain, if you can believe it — one of a collection of properties set in a private parkland well outside the city.  The castle has been fully renovated, somehow maintaining its period details while being outfitted with all the bells and whistles you need at a conference center.

It has its own winery and spa.  Two serve-yourself-anytime bars.  Archery.  There’s even a resident chocolate lab in the lounge named Easy.

It’s all so…Downton Abbey, don’t you think?

Who’s that knocking at the door?

Have you ever returned to an open hotel room door?

I did tonight…and it gave me great pause.

hotel room doorIt wasn’t open by much…just ever so slightly ajar, the “Do Not Disturb” sign angled crookedly between the door and jamb.

I stood in the hall for a moment, staring at the door in confusion.

Did I leave it open?  Of course not, I remember it closing…don’t I?  Did housekeeping do turn-down service despite the sign and leave it open?  Did someone else get in?

Lots of questions; no good answers.

I finally went in.  I was quite alone…and believe me, I checked the closet, under the bed, in every nook and cranny.  Then I took inventory of the items I brought for this quick trip — everything was there.

I called hotel security and reported the incident.  An officer took a reading from my door lock.  It will reveal every key card that has entered my room since check-in.

I didn’t know they could do that.  I feel safer already.

Day Two, Milan: There she is

I came to Milan to work, and today was the day.

I spent most of it in a conference room conducting a training session…and it went very well.  But at 4:30pm the work was done, and my official vacation began.

We started by heading to Milan — the city itself, not the outskirts where my hotel is located.  Luckily there is a subway stop just down the road, so off we walked, much to the chagrin of the taxi drivers lined up outside the entrance.

Our first stop was the Duomo, which is literally at the top of the station steps.  It is even more majestic then it appears in photos, and I joined the groups of people gathered ’round, head tilted way back to soak it all in.

We arrived at the very moment they closed the Duomo to tours each evening, but we still had time to take the elevator ride to the top and walk across the roof.

I don’t know how the two tours compare, but the view from the roof is pretty incredible.

We could see the entire city  — the beautiful architecture, the ugly new buildings that mar the landscape, all the people teeming about in the square, and of course, the amazing detail of the Duomo itself — both the existing structure and the extensive amount that is still under renovation.

After our tour, we strolled through the shops in the historic galleria — where children were spinning on a fresco of a bull for luck — and wandered the streets until a sidewalk cafe caught our eye for dinner.  Later we had gelato and headed to the subway to make our way back.

It was all and all a lovely evening in Milan.

Tomorrow?  We are thinking of making an unplanned day trip.  Where could it be??

Stay tuned…

I, Expressive

During a business trip to Orlando this weekend, I completed a social styles assessment tool with my colleagues in a group training exercise.

Work should always be this fun.

The test confirmed a few things about myself — and my friends — that I already knew — and some ideas of how to handle the surprises we did not.

But the best part was seeing all our social styles rear their heads moments later in real life…

When we got caught in the rain.

Picture seven people — in House of Blues plastic ponchos — walking 20 minutes in heavy, pouring rain through the streets of Disney World back toward our hotel.

Yep.  We were stylin’ alright.

Oh Canada

American Airlines — you know, the bankrupt one — sent me an email reminder last night to check-in for my ‘international flight.’

Can I really leave the country on American Eagle in less than 90 minutes?

Turns out I can.

That breathtaking view is Toronto, Ontario.  This won’t be my first visit there, but my first real opportunity to see the city .  Last time the weather was so heinous, I only saw the airport and my hotel, which was located on the outskirts of the city.

Didn’t step a foot outside.

This trip I’m staying in the heart of the city.  So I’m crossing all my available appendages that it will be nice enough outside to do a little sightseeing during my 30-hour stay.  But the forecast says ‘light snow.’

How many inches = light in the Great White North?

Sin skin

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

But what happens when it doesn’t?

I’m in Sin City this weekend on business and, after my meetings yesterday, was getting the lay of the land at the Aria Las Vegas hotel and casino, since it’s new to me (and Vegas).

As I’m walking around seeing the sights — and the people, who are always a sight in Vegas — I spied a tattoo or two or three.  And it got me thinking:

If you get a tat in Vegas, that certainly doesn’t stay in Vegas.  That sucker comes home with you.  (And depending on where it’s located, everybody knows about it, too.)

Vegas offers some doozies to remember your adventures by. 


 

 

 

 

Wonder which tat I’ll pick?

Birds part deux

Four hundred years ago — okay, more like 12 — I attended a writing conference at Craigsville Beach on Cape Cod.

One of our assignments was to come up with a new scenario for a movie using only the items found in our hotel room as inspiration.

Now, my hotel was rather rustic (translation: cheap).  The wallpaper had tiny geese flying in vee’s across a yellow, late evening sky.  It was ugly, but I used it.

My idea:   What if two birdwatchers — one a noted expert, the other a novice — accidentally kill a rare bird that they are admiring?  Horrified, they try to cover up the accident in a variety of ways, all of which go terribly awry.

Hilarity ensues.

I pictured Dudley Moore as the lead. (It was 12 years ago.)  I thought it was a pretty funny idea, but maybe too niche-y for Hollywood.

I mean, who would do a movie about birdwatching?

Fast-forward to 2011.  Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson are starring in the new movie The Big Year.  Take a look at the trailer:

What you can’t really tell from this clip is that these three men are avid birdwatchers…competing at a prestigious birdwatching event!

See?  Someone actually made a film about birdwatching, and even they think it’s too niche-y to use in the marketing.

I was so ahead of my time.

Cold blooded

Once again, I’ve managed to visit Miami without making it to the beach.

Yep.  My shuttle is driving me back to the airport, and I never stepped foot outside the hotel.

Wait…I did take a couple of photos off of my balcony this morning — does that count?

This is not the first time this has happened.  Work takes me to a warm, sunny clime…and I don’t even make it outside to enjoy it.

I’m an embarrassment to business travel.

I could blame my schedule, I suppose.  Or my skin, which is very fair and shouldn’t be exposed to the sun much anyhoo.

But the truth is…beaches just don’t appeal to me up close and personal.  They are beautiful to look at in photos, and lovely to dream about from afar.  But once I’m at the beach, I really don’t want to spend that much time on it.  Looking at it out the window will suffice.

So off I go, back to the cold wintery streets of Manhattan.

I can hardly wait!