Hotels

We used Booking.Com a lot and finally learned to specifically name the train station which we wanted to be near. It took some time to learn. We stayed in all kinds of places from privately owned apartments and B&Bs to big chain hotels, modern hotels, a particularly luxurious hotel in Venice, quaint little places with narrow steep stairs (we learned to avoid those). I think my favorite place was in Paris because it was so close to Gare St. Lazare (train station). When we walked out of the station, my GPS said that we had arrived. Can’t get any better than that. The room was small, the shower small, but it was in a perfect location and it had a lift and included breakfast with good croissants and the Metro was right there along with buses to take us wherever we wanted to go in Paris.

 Another favorite was the hotel in Calais because it was on the beach. Could have stayed there for a week. 

Residence Montinelli was the room in Trieste that we were trying to get to when we got the bus fine. Needless to say, we were late getting there and I hadn’t looked at the complicated check-in process on my email. It was a private rental in a big apartment building kind of off the beaten path. When we finally made it to the place, we couldn’t tell which building we were supposed to be at. There were some kind people who lived in the neighborhood who helped us narrow down which building we were supposed to be at. They lived in the neighborhood and even they had a hard time figuring it out. They were kind enough to contact the owner by phone and figured out how to get in the building. They had the advantage of speaking Italian. Then another tenant in the building helped us figure out the complicated process of getting through a security door, getting the keys from the lock box and finally getting into the room. The room was one of 3 rooms in the area with a shared kitchen area for cooking. As it turned out it wasn’t a bad stay though we walked uphill on cobblestones for a couple of blocks every time we came and went. It wasn’t far from the Adriatic coast and there was a nice area with restaurants and outdoor seating and near the bus stop. We learned to use the buses and how to buy passes so our stay in Trieste was pretty nice. It is a beautiful area on the coast. 

Speaking of kind people. We were blessed with meeting many of them on our trip. They helped us get on the right buses and subways and find our hotels. 

 Here are the places we stayed: 

3/31-4/14 – Norwegian Epic cruise ship

4/15-16 – Palazzetto Trevi, Rome 

4/17 –Citizen M, Geneva Switzerland 

4/18 – Hotel Eden Palace du Lac, Montreux, Switzerland 

4/19-20 – Swiss Inn & Apartments, Interlaken, Switzerland 

4/21-22 – Hotel Surselva, Chur, Switzerland

4/23 – Hotel Bed & Rooms, Tirano, Italy 

4/24 – Meininger Hotel, by Mestre Station, Venice, Italy 

4/25 – Pesaro Palace, Venice, Italy (by accident… we thought it was for 2 nights. 

4/26 – Locanda Ca’ Lucrezia, Venice, Italy 

4/27-29 – Residence Montanelli, Trieste, Italy 

4/30 – Hotel Prinz Eugen Wien, Vienna, Austria 

5/1 – Hampton Inn, Oswiecin, Poland 

5/2 - Hotel St. Florian, Sturovo, Slovakia 

5/3 – 5/9 Viking Gullvieg River Cruise, Budapest Hungary, Vienna Austria, Krems Austria and Passau and Regensberg, Germany 

5/10-11 – Hotel Pension Dorma, Berlin Germany 

5/12 – B&B Hotel Emmerich, Germany 

5/13-14 – Rho Hotel, Amsterdam City Center, Netherlands 

5/15 – Hotel Bienvenue, Rotterdam, Netherlands 

5/16-17 – Ibis Hotel, Brussels, Belgium 

5/18 – Hotel Residence du Golf, Calais France 

5/19-20 – One bedroom apartment on Grosvenor Rd., St. Albans, UK

5/21 – Hotel Le Saint Patrice, Bayeau, France 

5/21 – Premiere Classe, Bayeau France 

5/23-25 – Austins St. Lazare Hotel, Paris France