American Traveler

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!

Lauren is ready to dig in to her tuna salad nicoise at Pastis on Sunday morning.

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.

Relaxing Evening at a Chic Downtown Hotel in New York City

Needing a break from the craziness that is the Hamptons in summer—the parking lot that is route 27, the cattle car that is LIRR, the scene that is the scene—we decided to spend the weekend in the city, doing the things we never do. we spent the afternoon Friday at the Museum of Sex. It was more interesting and comprehensive than i thought it would be. Loved the condom exhibit. Lauren was enthralled by the Sex Live of Animals exhibit. Then coffee and lunch at Birch Coffee inside/beside the Gershwin Hotel. Really fun place, especially the library upstairs. We hopped the F train to Brooklyn for drinks with friends at Apartment 138 on Smith St. Kickin’ martinis on the patio.

Saturday, back to Brooklyn for some random wandering on 5th ave in park slope, a burger at Bonnies, then a show at the Bell House in the Gowanus. Brother-in-law Don McGlashan from New Zealand was on the bill and he really rocked the house (which seemed to be full of Mutton Bird fans.)

Furnishings almost as classy as the girl at the this Wall St. hotel.

As fun as all that was, the best came last on Sunday when we checked into the Andaz on Wall St for a luxe evening. And luxe it was, from the check-in, to the room, meals, and complimentary goodies. Check-in was smooThu and friendly. Our 17th floor room was spectacular from the plush kind-size bed to the modern furnishings, to the techie LED lights and electronic blackout shades. the bathroom was spectacular, easily larger than many NYC hotel rooms. In fact, the bathroom was more than a room. the sink was in an open area, the toilet behind a frosted glass door in a black granite room. across the space were the tub (for two) and a sleek shower.

King sized bed, huge bathroom, Lauren loves the Andaz

But we could only spend so much time admiring and playing with the facilities. After a short walk around the block we headed to the hotels restaurant, Wall and Water, for dinner. it’s a beautiful space with an open kitchen at one end and a unique loungy bar at the other. It was quiet early on Sunday evening and we enjoyed the calm with a glass of wine before ordering. We had the potato soup with duck sausage, a few oysters, the old-style Maine shrimp cocktail (excellent!) to start. Lauren had the Chanterelle and chickpea pot pie as an entree and she really enjoyed it. My roast chicken with stinging nettle and morels was good, if a bit too salty for my taste. It was a delightful dinner.

We finished off the weekend with a room service breakfast of pancakes and crepes before i rushed off to work on the 4 train.