Today we turned on the TV looking for some BBC World or other news source that would provide us with more details about THIS and instead, got a Polish version of 'Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader.'
We felt it's only fitting, given our trip, to post this:
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Krakow, Poland
We have made our way to Krakow and settled into the Wentzl Hotel. The hotel is supposed to be the best in Krakow according to (my bible) Tripadvisor. It is located on and has a view of the main square. Our room is decorated in that "grandma's house" style but is probably the largest room so far this trip. They have upgraded the room with a large plasma TV and a surround sound system that blasts dance music if you press the wrong button on the remote.
Krakow is beautiful, very fairytale like, similar to Prague. Lots of pedestrian streets with interesting shops. (Hi mom, Jess and I have decided that this necklace will be perfect on you at Christmas or Thanksgiving)
We are going to sample some Polish cuisine this evening. From what we have seen on the menus on our walk this afternoon it looks right up our alley. We're praying fried cheese is big here too. If all else fails we have already found the nearest McD's and yes, they have there regional specialities (although looks more asian than Polish...I am sure Jess will give it a try)
Tomorrow we are off to tour the salt mines. We know, sounds lame but everyone who has been here has said its amazing and a definite must see. Saturday we are off to tour Auschwitz. We are a little apprehensive about the Auschwitz tour, will be very emotional and heavy but we think it is important to do.
Krakow is beautiful, very fairytale like, similar to Prague. Lots of pedestrian streets with interesting shops. (Hi mom, Jess and I have decided that this necklace will be perfect on you at Christmas or Thanksgiving)
We are going to sample some Polish cuisine this evening. From what we have seen on the menus on our walk this afternoon it looks right up our alley. We're praying fried cheese is big here too. If all else fails we have already found the nearest McD's and yes, they have there regional specialities (although looks more asian than Polish...I am sure Jess will give it a try)
Tomorrow we are off to tour the salt mines. We know, sounds lame but everyone who has been here has said its amazing and a definite must see. Saturday we are off to tour Auschwitz. We are a little apprehensive about the Auschwitz tour, will be very emotional and heavy but we think it is important to do.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
X's and O's
There wasn't much planned for today. We wanted to tour the parliament building, go tour the art galleries and of course make sure we ingested at least 1 lb of lard as recommended by the Hungarian food guide.
The parliament was beautiful:
Jess and I found the tour (all 45 minutes of it....that's a long time for us...we can knock off a museum like the Louvre in 45 minutes... Holla Emily!) a wee bit taxing. The guide really lacked the stage presence and spark that we need to keep interested. As the guide was describing the history of each of the figures on the wall I turned around to find that Jess had settled into one of the antique chairs in the room and looked like this:
At the end of the tour the guide thanked us for coming and said "Sorry if I seemed a little nervous, this is my fourth week doing this tour and my job is to do the Hungarian and Russian language tours." Pretty amazing. How many of us can even speak a second language, never mind be called upon to speak in front of a group for 45 minutes in our 3rd language at the spur of the moment. We forgave her for her lack of stage presence.
After parliament we toured the artists district and found a couple of pieces we liked at a gallery called Stereo/Gallery by an artist Pinter Gabor. The girl at the gallery told us we should visit their studio across town to see more of his work and negotiate the price.
We made our way across town and found the building of the studio. Now, when she said "studio" I visualized a "gallery". Nope. This was a working artist studio ala crack den. Having said that, it was a totally amazing space and made the experience of buying the painting that much more special. The inner courtyard of the building looked like this and the owner explained that the holes in the wall were from bullets shot from planed during the war:
We climbed up two flights of stairs to enter a large apartment type space that smelled of cigarette smoke and paint to find 3 artists working in different rooms. The artist we were interested in was off in Paris (at least that is what we were told, sounded like an artist thing to do!) We were sat on a lovely(?) sofa as the gallery owner brought out painting for us to view.
We decided on the painting directly above. We love it and think it will go great in our hallway across from the paintings we bought in Argentina at Christmas.
For lunch I had a paprika chicken dish which only had about a third of a pound of lard in it and since I had an egg white frittata in the hotel at breakfast, my heart is starting to beat properly again and I'm not quite feeling right. We are going back to Cafe Kor tonight for the fried goat cheese "salad" to get our lard quota up and to ensure that our bags aren't overweight (cough, cough), we have to plow through that bottle of champagne the hotel sent us before dinner.
We have to be up early tomorrow to catch a 9:30 am flight to Warsaw and then arrive in Krakow around noon. We are flying economy on LOT-Polish Airlines and we here they are amazing! It might be a bit of a lapse between now and our next post but we'll be sure to log on as soon as we can once we get to Poland.
The parliament was beautiful:
Jess and I found the tour (all 45 minutes of it....that's a long time for us...we can knock off a museum like the Louvre in 45 minutes... Holla Emily!) a wee bit taxing. The guide really lacked the stage presence and spark that we need to keep interested. As the guide was describing the history of each of the figures on the wall I turned around to find that Jess had settled into one of the antique chairs in the room and looked like this:
At the end of the tour the guide thanked us for coming and said "Sorry if I seemed a little nervous, this is my fourth week doing this tour and my job is to do the Hungarian and Russian language tours." Pretty amazing. How many of us can even speak a second language, never mind be called upon to speak in front of a group for 45 minutes in our 3rd language at the spur of the moment. We forgave her for her lack of stage presence.After parliament we toured the artists district and found a couple of pieces we liked at a gallery called Stereo/Gallery by an artist Pinter Gabor. The girl at the gallery told us we should visit their studio across town to see more of his work and negotiate the price.
We made our way across town and found the building of the studio. Now, when she said "studio" I visualized a "gallery". Nope. This was a working artist studio ala crack den. Having said that, it was a totally amazing space and made the experience of buying the painting that much more special. The inner courtyard of the building looked like this and the owner explained that the holes in the wall were from bullets shot from planed during the war:
We climbed up two flights of stairs to enter a large apartment type space that smelled of cigarette smoke and paint to find 3 artists working in different rooms. The artist we were interested in was off in Paris (at least that is what we were told, sounded like an artist thing to do!) We were sat on a lovely(?) sofa as the gallery owner brought out painting for us to view.
We decided on the painting directly above. We love it and think it will go great in our hallway across from the paintings we bought in Argentina at Christmas.For lunch I had a paprika chicken dish which only had about a third of a pound of lard in it and since I had an egg white frittata in the hotel at breakfast, my heart is starting to beat properly again and I'm not quite feeling right. We are going back to Cafe Kor tonight for the fried goat cheese "salad" to get our lard quota up and to ensure that our bags aren't overweight (cough, cough), we have to plow through that bottle of champagne the hotel sent us before dinner.
We have to be up early tomorrow to catch a 9:30 am flight to Warsaw and then arrive in Krakow around noon. We are flying economy on LOT-Polish Airlines and we here they are amazing! It might be a bit of a lapse between now and our next post but we'll be sure to log on as soon as we can once we get to Poland.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Lounge Singer Job From Hell
We went out for dinner tonight and it was a surreal experience. We got a restaurant recommendation from the concierge and headed out, camera in hand. Go figure that we left the memory card from the camera at the hotel room... and of ALL NIGHTS!
We opted not to sit on the terrace because of all the smokers so we sat inside... right beside the baby grand piano. Lord have mercy, it was like a budget wedding reception that would never end. Ryan told me to just get over it but if you've ever had anything to do with music, you'll understand why I couldn't. I can't really describe to you what was going on through text so I uploaded a little video to fully describe it.
We opted not to sit on the terrace because of all the smokers so we sat inside... right beside the baby grand piano. Lord have mercy, it was like a budget wedding reception that would never end. Ryan told me to just get over it but if you've ever had anything to do with music, you'll understand why I couldn't. I can't really describe to you what was going on through text so I uploaded a little video to fully describe it.
LIVE from Chopper 9
This morning, Ryan informed me that 'a surprise' was happening. Now, I'm not big on surprises but I just might be jaded from my last surprise (it was yesterday and it involved meatloaf and several trips to the restroom).
I wasn't sure what to expect. The only 'hint' he gave me was that 'he was nervous' which, if you know him, really isn't a hint at all. 'Nervous' can mean being at McDonald's and hearing him say 'do you think she really understood me when I asked for FOUR ketchups'? I tried getting it out of him before we left but he flipped on the 'stubborn as a mule' switch (which included a big smile) and I had to wait. We went down the elevator, out of the hotel, and walked up to our ride:
That's right. Ryan booked a helicopter city tour of Budapest. I've never been in a helicopter and it has always been an interest of mine so needless to say I was pretty happy . We've talked about it in the past (like, say, in Vegas when there is a steady stream of people on the street trying to stuff heli-tour pamphlets in your face) but he was never really into it. I think some merlot might have aided his decision to book online a couple months ago.
We got to the city limits and pulled up to the first European airport ever constructed (in 1936... and it looked like it), and then walked up to our plane:
We got inside, put on our headsets (I was sure to instruct Ryan not to break into a rendition of 'Holiday' by Madonna) and strapped ourselves in. Now, I was getting really excited. Ryan on the other hand... well, he was excited too but I'm pretty sure you could have slipped a lump of coal into his asshole and had a diamond by the time we did our 20 minute loop. Here's a picture of our pilot and a little video of us taking off:
We did a loop around around the city and over the Danube. Here are some pictures:
Once we got back to the hotel, we freshened up (one of us changed our underwear, I'll let you guess who) and then went for a low-carb, low-cal lunch:
Like, seriously. How is it that people from America are the ones with a weight issue when people eat like this here. It's insane! In one of our travel books, they say that the average Hungarian eats 1 lb. of lard per week. I can't say I'm surprised. Neither can my pants.
From there we went to the House of Terror. It's the building that the Nazi party performed a lot of their torture in. Zoltan, our tour guide from yesterday told us that before WWII, there were 900,000 Jews living in Budapest and more than 600,000 of them were shipped to Auschwitz. Pretty humbling, touring around the building. The downside was that most of it was in Hungarian so a lot of it was lost on us. Though it would have been good to fully understand everything, I need you to understand that a good Tide commercial gets me going. Maybe it's just as well.
After that, we went to the Great Market Hall here in the city. It was a lot of genuine, Hungarian goods and overpriced, touristy bits including embroidered everything, paprika, wooden toys, and a hell of a lot of meat. Apart from the edible things, we felt like we were in our Grandmas' basements:
We're back at the hotel and walked in to find another little surprise... but this one was good too. Maybe I should get into surprises.
I wasn't sure what to expect. The only 'hint' he gave me was that 'he was nervous' which, if you know him, really isn't a hint at all. 'Nervous' can mean being at McDonald's and hearing him say 'do you think she really understood me when I asked for FOUR ketchups'? I tried getting it out of him before we left but he flipped on the 'stubborn as a mule' switch (which included a big smile) and I had to wait. We went down the elevator, out of the hotel, and walked up to our ride:
That's right. Ryan booked a helicopter city tour of Budapest. I've never been in a helicopter and it has always been an interest of mine so needless to say I was pretty happy . We've talked about it in the past (like, say, in Vegas when there is a steady stream of people on the street trying to stuff heli-tour pamphlets in your face) but he was never really into it. I think some merlot might have aided his decision to book online a couple months ago.We got to the city limits and pulled up to the first European airport ever constructed (in 1936... and it looked like it), and then walked up to our plane:
We got inside, put on our headsets (I was sure to instruct Ryan not to break into a rendition of 'Holiday' by Madonna) and strapped ourselves in. Now, I was getting really excited. Ryan on the other hand... well, he was excited too but I'm pretty sure you could have slipped a lump of coal into his asshole and had a diamond by the time we did our 20 minute loop. Here's a picture of our pilot and a little video of us taking off:
We did a loop around around the city and over the Danube. Here are some pictures:
Once we got back to the hotel, we freshened up (one of us changed our underwear, I'll let you guess who) and then went for a low-carb, low-cal lunch:
Like, seriously. How is it that people from America are the ones with a weight issue when people eat like this here. It's insane! In one of our travel books, they say that the average Hungarian eats 1 lb. of lard per week. I can't say I'm surprised. Neither can my pants.From there we went to the House of Terror. It's the building that the Nazi party performed a lot of their torture in. Zoltan, our tour guide from yesterday told us that before WWII, there were 900,000 Jews living in Budapest and more than 600,000 of them were shipped to Auschwitz. Pretty humbling, touring around the building. The downside was that most of it was in Hungarian so a lot of it was lost on us. Though it would have been good to fully understand everything, I need you to understand that a good Tide commercial gets me going. Maybe it's just as well.
After that, we went to the Great Market Hall here in the city. It was a lot of genuine, Hungarian goods and overpriced, touristy bits including embroidered everything, paprika, wooden toys, and a hell of a lot of meat. Apart from the edible things, we felt like we were in our Grandmas' basements:
We're back at the hotel and walked in to find another little surprise... but this one was good too. Maybe I should get into surprises.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Bottoms Up
Another clip we were going to post right after we left Vancouver and arrived in Istanbul.
Testing, Testing
So, here is a grainy little video we took of the first hotel room. We wanted to post it but were unable to because Turkey has banned YouTube for political/religious reasons. We'll be sure to take some more now that we know we can put them up.
BudaPESCHT
The last 24 hours has been a bit of a whirlwind. Let me see if I can break it down for you. I'll start with giving you a play by play of our 12 hours of travel:
12:07 p.m. - Leave the Bosphorous Four Seasons in a taxi.
12:18 p.m. - Rifle through my bag to find Melissavina's stolen bars of hotel soap so that I can smell something other than our taxi driver.
12:19 p.m. - Make the mistake of taking my eyes off the road to look for the soap; let out a little bit of pee while our taxi swerves violently to miss another car and blasts the horn.
12:48 p.m. - Arrive at Istanbul International Airport.
12:54 p.m. - Stand in line to have our baggage scanned and go through security.
1:07 p.m. - Have forgotten to take off my belt, I am forced to unbutton my pants and have a stranger sweep his fingers around the inside of my underwear. Unfortunately, he looks exactly the same as the guy who scrubbed me down at the Hamam.
1:26 p.m. - Stand in line to go through customs, right behind a 3-year-old having a temper tantrum and about 200 other people.
1:48 p.m. - Vow to never have children.
1:50 p.m. - Get our passport stamped and walk to the Airport Lounge.
1:53 p.m. - Wander around aimlessly until someone gets up and there is a table available.
2:01 p.m. - Sit down next to next to a family with small children; Turkish music plays in the background.
2:01 p.m. - Renew our vow never to have children.
2:07 p.m. - Read
4:17 p.m. - Board plane. Sit directly in front of small children.
4:18 p.m. - Cry a little bit.
5:13 p.m. - Look for the soap again as child behind me has thrown up.
6:34 p.m. - Arrive at Munich International Airport.
6:47 p.m. - Arrive at Lufthansa Airport Lounge.
6:50 p.m. - Watch Ryan's face light up when he sees that the free bar and deli counter is serving these:
6:58 p.m. - Read
7:13 p.m. - Get to the gate early to relax and wait. Find that we will be waiting with 45 members of a Christian youth group band wearing matching T-shirts. Awesome.
7:40 p.m. - Board the plane to Budapest.
7:43 p.m. - Cringe as I see children nearing the seats directly behind us.
7:58 p.m. - Read.
10: 02 p.m. - Arrive in Budapest.
10:08 p.m. - Get our luggage and find our driver in the lobby.
10:12 p.m. - Sink into the back of the car listening to the classical music and breathe a sigh of relief as we take the 30 minute drive to the hotel.
We've already bitched about the hotel room (which, I realize, is ridiculous and know full well that if I pull the princess card too many times this trip I will be dealt another Turkish 'ass over teakettle' moment) which has been sorted out. We have a new room that is more spacious with working air conditioning (I know you were all really concerned).
This morning we got up and went on our tour. Our guide, ZOLTAN picked us up. We've got a really good friend (Hi, Zol!) in Vancouver. I thought it was a huge coincidence until he told us that there is a millions of Zoltans in Hungary. Oh well. Here are some pictures from our day:
In this last picture, the Danube river is in the background. On the right of the river is the city of Pest (pronounced Pescht) and on the left is the city of Buda. Two cities. Who knew? (Well, I'm guessing the Hungarian maybe...)
After the tour we went for a late lunch (around 2:30 p.m.). Ryan took one look at the menu and fell in love with Budapest. Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, cream, butter, onions... things are definitely looking up in the food department compared to Turkey (and for me too, to be honest). Here's a picture of his appetizer. I tried to get a picture before he started eating it but I was having flashbacks to childhood when I got too close to my dogs food dish while he was eating. Pictured below is a salad with a massive slab of fried goat cheese:
Apart from that, we went for a quick walk and are now back at the room. I'm thrilled that Ryan has been inspired by this country and has started calling me his little Buda. He thinks it's endearing... you know, endearing like 'Obesey.' I'm thinking of getting a foam replica made of the statue below and carrying it around with me for pictures.
12:07 p.m. - Leave the Bosphorous Four Seasons in a taxi.
12:18 p.m. - Rifle through my bag to find Melissavina's stolen bars of hotel soap so that I can smell something other than our taxi driver.
12:19 p.m. - Make the mistake of taking my eyes off the road to look for the soap; let out a little bit of pee while our taxi swerves violently to miss another car and blasts the horn.
12:48 p.m. - Arrive at Istanbul International Airport.
12:54 p.m. - Stand in line to have our baggage scanned and go through security.
1:07 p.m. - Have forgotten to take off my belt, I am forced to unbutton my pants and have a stranger sweep his fingers around the inside of my underwear. Unfortunately, he looks exactly the same as the guy who scrubbed me down at the Hamam.
1:26 p.m. - Stand in line to go through customs, right behind a 3-year-old having a temper tantrum and about 200 other people.
1:48 p.m. - Vow to never have children.
1:50 p.m. - Get our passport stamped and walk to the Airport Lounge.
1:53 p.m. - Wander around aimlessly until someone gets up and there is a table available.
2:01 p.m. - Sit down next to next to a family with small children; Turkish music plays in the background.
2:01 p.m. - Renew our vow never to have children.
2:07 p.m. - Read
4:17 p.m. - Board plane. Sit directly in front of small children.
4:18 p.m. - Cry a little bit.
5:13 p.m. - Look for the soap again as child behind me has thrown up.
6:34 p.m. - Arrive at Munich International Airport.
6:47 p.m. - Arrive at Lufthansa Airport Lounge.
6:50 p.m. - Watch Ryan's face light up when he sees that the free bar and deli counter is serving these:
6:58 p.m. - Read7:13 p.m. - Get to the gate early to relax and wait. Find that we will be waiting with 45 members of a Christian youth group band wearing matching T-shirts. Awesome.
7:40 p.m. - Board the plane to Budapest.
7:43 p.m. - Cringe as I see children nearing the seats directly behind us.
7:58 p.m. - Read.
10: 02 p.m. - Arrive in Budapest.
10:08 p.m. - Get our luggage and find our driver in the lobby.
10:12 p.m. - Sink into the back of the car listening to the classical music and breathe a sigh of relief as we take the 30 minute drive to the hotel.
We've already bitched about the hotel room (which, I realize, is ridiculous and know full well that if I pull the princess card too many times this trip I will be dealt another Turkish 'ass over teakettle' moment) which has been sorted out. We have a new room that is more spacious with working air conditioning (I know you were all really concerned).
This morning we got up and went on our tour. Our guide, ZOLTAN picked us up. We've got a really good friend (Hi, Zol!) in Vancouver. I thought it was a huge coincidence until he told us that there is a millions of Zoltans in Hungary. Oh well. Here are some pictures from our day:
In this last picture, the Danube river is in the background. On the right of the river is the city of Pest (pronounced Pescht) and on the left is the city of Buda. Two cities. Who knew? (Well, I'm guessing the Hungarian maybe...)After the tour we went for a late lunch (around 2:30 p.m.). Ryan took one look at the menu and fell in love with Budapest. Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, cream, butter, onions... things are definitely looking up in the food department compared to Turkey (and for me too, to be honest). Here's a picture of his appetizer. I tried to get a picture before he started eating it but I was having flashbacks to childhood when I got too close to my dogs food dish while he was eating. Pictured below is a salad with a massive slab of fried goat cheese:
Apart from that, we went for a quick walk and are now back at the room. I'm thrilled that Ryan has been inspired by this country and has started calling me his little Buda. He thinks it's endearing... you know, endearing like 'Obesey.' I'm thinking of getting a foam replica made of the statue below and carrying it around with me for pictures.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
We hate this hotel room
*GASP* I can hardly breathe. I'm feeling claustrophobic... this room is so... tiny.
After the last hotel it is going to be hard to wow us. We are currently staying at the Four Seasons Gresham Palace in Budapest. First impressions are certainly wow worthy, it is a very grand building, the lobby is gorgeous and the staff exhibit the usual Four Seasons attitude. We arrived at 11pm last night (midnight in Istanbul) and were very tired but excited to see our new room. Well look at this "beauty":
Our View!
First impressions of the city as we drove in last night is that it is gorgeous. We are off on a 4 hour private city tour at 10am.
After the last hotel it is going to be hard to wow us. We are currently staying at the Four Seasons Gresham Palace in Budapest. First impressions are certainly wow worthy, it is a very grand building, the lobby is gorgeous and the staff exhibit the usual Four Seasons attitude. We arrived at 11pm last night (midnight in Istanbul) and were very tired but excited to see our new room. Well look at this "beauty":
Our View!The room is by far the smallest of the trip so far and has the worst view and we can handle that as we did book the cheapest category in the hotel. What we can't handle is the fact that the bed creaked and squeaked everytime Jess shifted his weight and the air conditioner couldn't get the room cold enough (we like it freezing!). We mentioned our concerns to the front desk and we are being transfered to a new room today (and by "transferred" I hope he means upgraded, fingers crossed).
Don't you feel bad for us?
Don't you feel bad for us?
First impressions of the city as we drove in last night is that it is gorgeous. We are off on a 4 hour private city tour at 10am.
We're outta here....
Spent the morning by the pool again and are now camped out in the Istanbul Airport in the Lufthansa lounge waiting for our flight. From here to Munich for a 3 hour layover, more airport lounging before we fly to Budapest. Get in rather late, 10pm and have a guided tour of the city planned first thing tomorrow morning. Here we go again, places to see, things to do.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
We are in FULL relaxation mode
So I never thought I would ever say this but I am loving just chilling out and relaxing. Sleeping in until 6 am, laying in bed and watching BBC (hmm, let's see what Barack is up to today), leisurely breakfast oceanside, beers by the pool as we read our books, lunch by the pool, more laying by the pool, a glamour dinner in the hotel. We have no desire to leave the hotel property this place is just so perfect. We ventured out for an hour yesterday to try do some shopping and couldn't wait to get back to the tranquility of this place.
The book that Jess recently finished reading and the one I am currently reading is this one:
I am going out on a limb here but I would guess that HSJ readers and commenters Melissavina and Dayln would enjoy this little read, in fact, they probably could have written it. Jess and I also relate to Miss Handler. This little passage certainly hit a nerve with Jess and I and our different philosophies of travel:
One more night here before we head off to Budapest tomorrow. We don't fly out until 4 pm tomorrow so still some time to chill tomorrow.
Here are a couple of picks taken last night after dinner:
The book that Jess recently finished reading and the one I am currently reading is this one:
I am going out on a limb here but I would guess that HSJ readers and commenters Melissavina and Dayln would enjoy this little read, in fact, they probably could have written it. Jess and I also relate to Miss Handler. This little passage certainly hit a nerve with Jess and I and our different philosophies of travel:
One more night here before we head off to Budapest tomorrow. We don't fly out until 4 pm tomorrow so still some time to chill tomorrow.
Here are a couple of picks taken last night after dinner:
Friday, July 25, 2008
I'd Like To Speak To The Manager
To say that we've been impressed with the level of service here would be an understatement. Mind you, with the amount of staff this place has I suppose a person shouldn't be surprised.
Like the five people they were using to move this tree. Yesterday at dinner, Ryan counted 17 dinner guests in the restaurant 18 visible wait staff. Ridiculous.
If you've stayed at a Four Seasons hotel before, you are officially 'on file.' If you've requested extra firm pillows at a Four Seasons in Budapest, you will automatically have extra firm pillows in your room when you check in to a Four Seasons in Vancouver, a year later. Pretty amazing when you think about it. I can't wait to get to our next hotel and not even have to ask for the litre of ketchup to come to the table with every meal. Like Ryan mentioned before, the hotel chain has everything meticulously placed in identical fashion from room to room. Personally, I wouldn't notice most of it. I wouldn't even clue in to a thing like the pillows. I'd just notice that the bed was comfy.
Not Ryan. He notices everything. I got commentary on how the Q-Tips were arranged identically in this hotel compared to the last one. So, yesterday as Ryan was inspecting the room after it had been serviced, I heard a little, evil 'Ah HA!' as if he had caught someone doing something bad. Here's how the flashlight, inside one of the nightstand drawers is supposed to be placed:
Here is how he found it:
Turns out that he had moved the flashlight to test the housekeeping, and it wasn't returned to the proper orientation. I was OUTRAGED. I'm going to see if we can get a free dinner out of the deal. I mean, that's reasonable, right?
Like the five people they were using to move this tree. Yesterday at dinner, Ryan counted 17 dinner guests in the restaurant 18 visible wait staff. Ridiculous.If you've stayed at a Four Seasons hotel before, you are officially 'on file.' If you've requested extra firm pillows at a Four Seasons in Budapest, you will automatically have extra firm pillows in your room when you check in to a Four Seasons in Vancouver, a year later. Pretty amazing when you think about it. I can't wait to get to our next hotel and not even have to ask for the litre of ketchup to come to the table with every meal. Like Ryan mentioned before, the hotel chain has everything meticulously placed in identical fashion from room to room. Personally, I wouldn't notice most of it. I wouldn't even clue in to a thing like the pillows. I'd just notice that the bed was comfy.
Not Ryan. He notices everything. I got commentary on how the Q-Tips were arranged identically in this hotel compared to the last one. So, yesterday as Ryan was inspecting the room after it had been serviced, I heard a little, evil 'Ah HA!' as if he had caught someone doing something bad. Here's how the flashlight, inside one of the nightstand drawers is supposed to be placed:
Here is how he found it:
Turns out that he had moved the flashlight to test the housekeeping, and it wasn't returned to the proper orientation. I was OUTRAGED. I'm going to see if we can get a free dinner out of the deal. I mean, that's reasonable, right?
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Don't hate on us BUT....
This hotel is sooooo amazing.
I am a bit of a hotel whore and spend tonnes of time before each trip researching where we should stay. I am almost more excited to check out our hotel than I am to see the sites of the city. The Four Seasons at the Bosphorus just opened one month ago so there have been few reviews online or photographs of the property but our expectations were sky high. Well this place has exceeded our expectations a hundred times. It is shocking how huge the grounds are and how many staff there are for a hotel that only has 166 rooms. It is amazing how the Four Seasons trains its staff...whatever the request is the answer is "It would be my pleasure" and then "Is there anything else I could do for you?" and it never feels fake...they really seem to was to please all of there guests. The attention to detail is crazy....the Q-Tips in the jar in the bathroom are arranged exactly the same whether you are here, at the hotel in the old town or Buenos Aires.
We are in the lowest category of room here and the room is lovely. My hotel philosophy is pick the cheapest room in the nicest hotel.
But really this place is more about the facilities than the room.
Having a glamor lunch at one of the restaurants in the hotel. The whole property it clinging to the edge of the Bosphorus and boat come by literally 10 metres from where we are sitting.
After lunch we were off to the pool.
The above picture is not about Jess. Hello!!!
Something that hasn't been seen in about 20 years. Me in a swimsuit (yikes!!) and in the water no less.
Jess had his usual Turkish Breakfast this morning:
And then a little relaxing on the terrace (check out the book he is reading!)
As I write this it is 9am and Jess is back at the pool. He is absolutely loving this hotel. I want to venture off and do some shopping this afternoon but I don't know if I will be able to tear him away. As you know I am all about schedules and seeing the sites but this place is going to be a perfect break after the intensity of the old town.
Time for me to slip back into my swimsuit.
I am a bit of a hotel whore and spend tonnes of time before each trip researching where we should stay. I am almost more excited to check out our hotel than I am to see the sites of the city. The Four Seasons at the Bosphorus just opened one month ago so there have been few reviews online or photographs of the property but our expectations were sky high. Well this place has exceeded our expectations a hundred times. It is shocking how huge the grounds are and how many staff there are for a hotel that only has 166 rooms. It is amazing how the Four Seasons trains its staff...whatever the request is the answer is "It would be my pleasure" and then "Is there anything else I could do for you?" and it never feels fake...they really seem to was to please all of there guests. The attention to detail is crazy....the Q-Tips in the jar in the bathroom are arranged exactly the same whether you are here, at the hotel in the old town or Buenos Aires.
We are in the lowest category of room here and the room is lovely. My hotel philosophy is pick the cheapest room in the nicest hotel.
But really this place is more about the facilities than the room.
Having a glamor lunch at one of the restaurants in the hotel. The whole property it clinging to the edge of the Bosphorus and boat come by literally 10 metres from where we are sitting.
After lunch we were off to the pool.
The above picture is not about Jess. Hello!!!
Something that hasn't been seen in about 20 years. Me in a swimsuit (yikes!!) and in the water no less.
Jess had his usual Turkish Breakfast this morning:
And then a little relaxing on the terrace (check out the book he is reading!)
As I write this it is 9am and Jess is back at the pool. He is absolutely loving this hotel. I want to venture off and do some shopping this afternoon but I don't know if I will be able to tear him away. As you know I am all about schedules and seeing the sites but this place is going to be a perfect break after the intensity of the old town.
Time for me to slip back into my swimsuit.
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