American Traveler

P1010493, a photo by wjsvt on Flickr.

Very nice bed and breakfast

We spent a couple of nights, post Christmas, in Newport, where we stayed at the Clarkeston Inn on Clarke Street. originally, we were booked at the Melville, just down the street, but were upgraded to a room in the Clarkeston. They are both, along with several others on Clarke St., part of the Inns of Newport. Most are on the register of Historic Places. Clapboard, cape cod style buildings. Even though it was an upgrade, our room was a bit small, though it did have a working fireplace which made for romantic evenings. problem was, it was on the first floor, right sandwiched between the front door and the kitchen, and right across from the dining room so it was a bit noisy in the mornings. Breakfast there was good—pancakes, eggs, french toast, coffee, juice—though not outstanding. The location couldn’t have been better.

Hot dog, homemade beef chili, gruyere, and sauerkraut. Delicious!

We also had the Turtle Crossing  signature chicken wings, homemade, fresh onion rings, shrimp kisses, mexican corn on the cob, and pulled chicken sandwich. It was a great lunch! filling and delicious. This is great pub food like with imagination and a twist.

Weiner Schnitzel, a photo by wjsvt on Flickr.

Yum! Lunch at Borschadt in Berlin. It was our first day. The weather was beautiful and we ate on the terrace. Lauren enjoyed the fruit de mer.

Goulash at UZK, a photo by wjsvt on Flickr.

A big bowl of goulash with potato pancakes and dumplings, plus a salad, plus some kolbasa, plus potatoes. That’s the ways we roll in the Czech republic. The place was in a basement filled with museum quality stuffed wild animals. Crazy!

Our first stop in Berlin was the World Clock, just outside our hotel, the Park Inn

The Park Inn looms over the Alexanderplatz in what was once East Berlin. This is no quaint old town square. Instead, it is crammed with “modern” soviet-style buildings, mostly marred by construction. The Park Inn is a 20-something story monolith, hard up against the TV tower. The lobby is like a mall. Our room was nothing special—clean, large enough, totally adequate. But the breakfast? OMG!!! Included in our nightly rate was a breakfast buffet that blows away any we have seen. Scrambled eggs, soft-boiled eggs, fried eggs, bacon, sausage. That was just the first table. there was an entire table of sliced meat: salami, liverwurst, thuringer, ham. another table of sliced cheese. Christ, there was even salmon with all kinds of sauces. Croissants, jams, fresh fruit, cereal, dried fruit. We totally pigged out.

Reasons why this hotel is so inexpensive

As much as we enjoyed our Thanksgiving stay at the Gideon Putnam, we couldn’t couldn’t resist the $75 a night rate at the downtown Hilton in Saratoga. Really, how could you pass it up? The place, attached to the under-construction City Center is huge. The lobby is refined, large… and empty. There’s no restaurant, bar, coffee shop, just the front desk and a small gift shop. Room service is provided by the Old Bryan Inn, across the parking lot. You can get a cup of coffee in the gift shop. On our first visit they nice lady behind the counter told us that they serve “delicious breakfast sandwiches in the morning.” We had a gift basket of muffins, so i eschewed the delicious sandwiches the first day and the second. The third i decided to give them a try. but when i arrived i didn’t see any sandwiches so i decided on a banana and a coffee instead. Charge? $5.00. What?! How much is the banana? $2.50. Well, needless to say, i made the poor fellow behind the counter refund the charge and left him with the banana.

The final morning i decided i wasn’t going to leave without enjoying one of their delicious breakfast sandwiches, so around 10:00 i meandered down and asked for one at the gift shop. Easy, the counter lady pulled a box of Weight Watchers Smart Ones frozen breakfast sandwiches from teh freezer and popped one in the microwave. Voila! I took one bite and tossed it in the trash.

But the room was nice. The pool water temperature was 86 degrees. And parking was free.