Pleasant Accommodations

You may recall that the last time we traveled to Ohio, the hotel where we stayed, the Best Western Plus in the Cleveland suburb of Strongsville, was absolutely terrible!  So, when planning this trip, I was looking for a different hotel that had good reviews but was not too expensive.  We decided upon the Sonesta Simply Suites in North Olmsted, another Cleveland suburb.  It had very good reviews, and the price was only a little more expensive that the Best Western.

The location is good.  It is a 15 minute drive from the airport, and it is located adjacent to Great Northern Mall.  So, there are plenty of restaurants nearby.  It is also just a short drive from my old stomping grounds of Olmsted Falls and Berea.  It is close to the interstate highway, making it easy to reach most places in the Cleveland area.

We arrived at the hotel around 11 P.M.  We checked in and were assigned our rooms.  At first I thought that the place was going to be similar to the Best Western.  The public areas and hallways looked rather tired and in need of renovation.  However, once we reached our room I was quite pleased.  No, it is not a luxury hotel, but we don't need luxury.  It was clean, quiet, spacious and comfortable.  As the name of the hotel implies, this was more that just a bedroom in which to lay our heads... it was a small apartment.

The bedroom

There is a fully equipped kitchen, although during our two night stay we did not use it.

Adjacent to the kitchen is a living room with a sofa, armchair and TV.  (There is also a TV in the bedroom.)

And this is the smallest of their suites!

I really liked that there was plenty of room to store our stuff.  There were two closets and loads of drawers in which to put our things.  The bathroom had plenty of counter space to spread out our toiletries. During our two weeks here we will spend a few nights at the homes of two different sets of friends.  In between those visits and at the end of our trip we will return to this hotel.  At the end we will make use of the hotel's laundry room.  The washing machines and dryers are free.  We won't have to feed them a bunch of quarters!

I think we have found the place to stay on our trips back to Ohio.   

What a Dump!

 Last year when we traveled to Ohio we stayed at the Best Western Hotel in Strongsville.  The hotel was fine.  Our only problem with it was that they had no room safe, so we had to carry our passports and other valuables with us whenever we left the room.

When I looked at Hotels.com to book a room for this trip, the hotel description of the Best Western said that there was a safe at the front desk.  So, I thought, "OK", and I went ahead and made reservations for our trip.  We stayed at the hotel for the first two nights, and then we spent three nights at the home of friends.  We then returned to the Best Western for the rest of our time in Ohio.

The room for our first two nights was not very clean.  There were crumbs on the floor and stains on the sheet and pillowcase.  You could not open the faucet of the bathroom sink without banging against the lighted, glass frame of the mirror. (See photo below.)  Someday, someone is going to end up cracking that glass frame.  I asked the young woman at the front desk about putting our valuables in the safe.  She was clueless, so, once again we ended up carrying our pouches with passports, extra cash and cards around our necks everywhere we went. The next day when we returned from running errands and having lunch with a friend, housekeeping had not made up the room.

Three days later, when we returned to the hotel, we had a different room on a different floor.  This room looked clean.  And the bathroom mirror had been properly hung, several inches higher. so that the faucet handle did not knock against the frame.  I thought that this room was going to be all right.

 

The next night, when we returned to our room around 10 PM, the room had not been made up.  I looked at the card with hotel information and read that the rooms are cleaned every five days.  Certainly, we don't need clean towels and fresh bed linens every day.  That's a waste of water.  However, I would expect housekeeping to make the bed, empty the wastebaskets and check to see if we need toiletries.  We did in fact need toilet paper, so I went down to the front desk.  The young fellow did not know where the toilet paper was stored, but he said he would bring a roll up to our room (which he did several minutes later).  I told him that I would like housekeeping to come the next day.

The next morning, by the elevator, someone had spilled pop, and the floor was sticky.  Two days later, the floor still had not been mopped.  I went to the front desk and asked about housekeeping.  The night employee had not put us down.  I explained that all we needed was to have the bed made, the wastebaskets emptied and fresh toiletries put in the bathroom.  She said she would just put us down for a full cleaning.  I thought, fine.  I was not going to pursue it.  When we returned to our room in the evening, housekeeping had been there.  The wastebaskets were empty, and fresh towels (which we really didn't need) were in the bathroom.  However, she left the towel I had used hanging on the bathroom door.  She had not given us any more toiletries, and she had not made the bed.

That night, I wanted to do some laundry.  I had a supply of quarters, and I went to reception to buy some detergent.  The same young man said that they were all out.  "When will you have some?" I asked.  "I couldn't tell you," he said.  So, I had to buy some laundry soap at the supermarket.  When I got around to washing clothes, it looked as if the laundry room floor had not been swept for a month.

Next day, around noon, before we went out for the day, the internet went out.  When we returned around 10:30 PM, it still was not working.  I went to the front desk again.  A different young man said he would have housekeeping reset the Wi-Fi.  OK, since when is housekeeping in charge of the internet?  Next morning the internet was still not working.  As we left for breakfast, I told the gentleman at the desk about it.  This fellow, an older employee that I remember from last year, seems to be the only one who knows what he is doing.  He immediately called maintenance (not housekeeping!).  When we returned to the room after breakfast, the Wi-Fi was working.  And so I was able to work on the blog once again.

We still have several days left here, and who knows what further problems we will encounter.

It is amazing how quickly this hotel has gone downhill.  Needless to say, the next time we travel to Ohio, we will NOT be staying here.

A Transatlantic Journey

 Yesterday afternoon Alejandro drove me to the airport for my flight to Frankfurt, Germany.  The flight was due to leave at 7:50 PM, but I was supposed to be there three hours ahead of time.  Check-in was very quick and easy, and Alejandro and I had time for a light meal, before I went through security and headed to my gate.

The departure hall was jammed with people.

There were three flights leaving from this hall, two domestic flights and the Lufthansa flight.  The bulk of the passengers waiting here were going on the flight to Germany.  It was a jumbo jet, and the flight was full.  As it turned out we all waited for quite a while because the departure was delayed one hour.  I didn't have to worry, since I did not have to make a connection.  Nevertheless, I was growing antsy and eager to board the plane.

As I mentioned before, I had purchased a "Premium Economy" seat, and it was as roomy as a First-Class seat on a domestic United Airlines flight.

Plenty of room between my knees and seat in front of me

Even though it was a comfortable seat, I am never able to sleep on a trans-Atlantic flight.  After having a late supper and listening to some Rachmaninoff and Mahler, I sat through the night, as I often do on these flights, looking at the flight map on the screen.

What I found interesting about the ten-hour flight from Mexico City, was that more than half of the flight was spent flying over the North American continent.  The plane flew over the eastern half of the U.S., from Texas to New England and then over the Canadian Maritime Provinces.  More than five hours had passed, and more than 5,000 of the 10,000 miles of distance had been covered before we passed Newfoundland and set out across the open ocean.

We even passed over a small section of southern Ohio.

By the time we left Newfoundland behind, the sky was already growing lighter.

Around three in the afternoon we made our descent into Frankfurt International Airport. Although I had a window seat, I was seated by the wing... and the wings of these jumbo jets are enormous.  So, I was rather limited in getting good photos.

After getting off the plane, I had to pass through immigration.  The line was not too bad, but the official in whose line I was waiting was quite slow in passing people through.  However, he only asked me the purpose of my trip and how long I was staying.

After collecting my suitcase, my next step was to take the S-Bahn train that goes into the city.  I tried buying a ticket at two different machines, but they were not selling S-Bahn tickets.  I went into the "Reisezentrum" (travel center office) and told the gentleman that I was unable to buy my ticket.  He explained that only the green machines sell S-Bahn tickets, but he sold me a ticket there.

I went downstairs to the track, and in about fifteen minutes, a train arrived.

The train took me to the Haupt Bahnhof... the main train station... one of those big iron and glass structures built in the late 1800s in most of the big cities of Europe.

 My hotel, which is called "The Frankfurt" is right across the street from the train station... very convenient since I am taking three excursions by train from Frankfurt.

The hotel seems nice.  It's quiet (so far), and the rooms are quite spacious for a European hotel.  The bathroom is large and modern.

The view from my room

A tram route passes right by the hotel

The only down-side is that the neighborhood around the train station is quite seedy with casinos, strip clubs, and drug dealing going in the open.  However, from the little I had seen so far, the nasty area stops just before my hotel.  It seems that from here heading south to the river, the neighborhood improves.  However, as evening approached, I was not going to go wandering looking for a restaurant.  You would think that I would be having schnitzel and spaetzle... instead I went to an Irish pub just a few doors from the hotel.  It was, however, a few doors in the wrong direction.  There were some shady looking characters on the street. 

The pub was crowded and noisy, but it was a more respectable crowd than what was on the street outside.  I ordered the house specialty, fish and chips.  I have had better, but the portion was certainly large.  Schnitzel will have to wait for another day.

  

Although, as I write this, it is afternoon in Mexico and Ohio, here it is after nine PM.  I am too tired to try to figure out how many hours I have gone without sleep.  But from past experience, after a good night's sleep tonight, I should be adjusted to the time change tomorrow.

Auf wiedersehen!

The Ritzy Hotel

As I have mentioned, the hotel where we stayed in San Miguel de Allende is very ritzy... and very expensive.  I checked it out on Hotels.com and the rooms cost around $500 (US) per night.  I have never in my life stayed in a hotel that expensive... but fortunately Alejandro's reward points paid for it.

The hotel has the rather odd name of "Live Aqua".  I have no idea how they came up with that name.  It is the top-of-the-line chain of resorts of the Fiesta Americana family of hotels.

I've never stayed in a hotel room quite like this one.  The bathroom is separated from the sleeping area by glass walls.  The shower stall and the toilet have doors, but the bathtub is in plain view.

The photos of the room were taken by Alejandro since his photos came out better.

 Bathrobes were on the bed for us, as well as slippers on the floor next to the bed.

  

Here is the view from our balcony.  In the background beneath the hill, there is a dam.  When this hotel was first under construction, the dam broke, and the entire area was flooded.  It was quite a while before work on the hotel resumed.

Here are some photos of the exterior of the hotel and its grounds.

Behind the pool you can see the dam.  After Friday night's heavy rain, water was gushing down the spillway.

The hotel is gorgeous, but there were some issues.  We were able to hear the neighbors next door at night.  You would think that a hotel of this caliber would have better soundproofing.  Also, the Wi-Fi was not secure... again something you would not expect from such an expensive hotel.  In some respects, the room reflected style over functionality.  The bathroom wash basins were very stylish, but the water from the faucets constantly splashed the mirrors.  (I feel sorry for the chambermaids who have to clean all the mirrors and glass in that room!)  The light fixtures in the bathroom were very elegant, but there was not enough light to shave.

It was a very interesting experience, but it was not a place where I would stay if I had to pay. 

After All These Years

 I had to take a photo of this hotel, Hotel El Salvador, located in the Historic Center.  Back in 1973, when I was studying in Mexico, I stayed at this hotel a couple of times.  It's still there! 

When I studied at the University of the Americas in Cholula, just outside of Puebla, we did not have classes on Fridays.  So, practically every weekend I jumped on a bus and traveled somewhere.  As a student, I was, of course, on a budget, and the hotels where I stayed were very basic.  At least one that I remember was quite grim.  

Another student had recommended the Hotel El Salvador, so I stayed there on a couple of weekends in Mexico City.  I remember that it was extremely cheap, and yet the room was very modern and clean, the bathroom was sparkling.  It was probably the nicest place I stayed during that trip.   The street, República de El Salvador, was not especially attractive, but it was a short walk to all of the downtown attractions.

I looked up the hotel on Trip Advisor, and the place is still very inexpensive (about 35 U.S. dollars per night), and the rooms still look nice in the photos.  The reviews of the place were generally not bad.  The most common complaint was poor Wi-Fi service.  Of course, that was not an issue back in 1973! 

A Weekend at an Hacienda

 As I said in my last post, Alejandro and I took off on an excursion outside of the city for the long weekend.  Last November we went to a colonial hacienda south of Mexico City that has been converted into a resort hotel.  This weekend we went to another hotel that was once an historic hacienda.  This one, Hacienda Galindo, is located a couple hours to the north of Mexico City in the state of Querétaro.

Both hotels are part of the Fiesta Americana chain, and Alejandro has points with Fiesta Americana that need to be used.  If you have been reading this blog for a while you might remember that in January of 2020, the last trip I took before the onset of the pandemic, we spent a weekend here.  We found the hotel so beautiful that we decided to return.

The hacienda dates back to the 16th century.  According to legend the land was given as a gift by the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés to his mistress "La Malinche".  It is debatable whether or not that is true, but the grandson of "La Malinche" is listed in records as an owner of the hacienda.  The estate flourished for centuries as a livestock ranch, but in the 20th century it was abandoned.  In the 1970s the estate was transformed into a resort hotel.

The hallways are filled with antiques and works of art that date back to the 17th and 18th centuries.

The hacienda chapel dates back to the 17th century.

In the next entry... a trip to one of Mexico's "magic towns' located just a few miles away from the hacienda.

A Day at the Hacienda

As I wrote yesterday, Alejandro made reservations for us to spend the weekend at a former hacienda on the outskirts of Cuernavaca which has been converted into a resort hotel.  After breakfast we spent the morning exploring the hotel and its grounds.  Then in the afternoon we spent some time relaxing by and swimming in one of the hotel's two pools.  The valley of Cuernavaca is several thousand feet lower in elevation than Mexico City.  Thus the temperatures are warmer here.  By afternoon it was 85 F., whereas in the capital the high was only 73.

Tomorrow I will write more about this historic hacienda, but for now here are a few pictures of the lovely grounds of the hotel...