Wednesday, May 23, 2007

hotel detail #79

i can’t calculate the number of hotels i have visited in my life. “the shining” hotel was my first real reference point & remains to this day, a huge mental influence. anne & i lived in the big scary atlantic hotel for a summer in ocean city, when we were roommates @ 16 years old. we swore it had several ghosts haunting the creaky oceanfront boardwalk location.
since those days, i notice things, truly, the little details.

many of the places we stay on tour are big corporate entities that attempt to squash out any bit of personality and difference, encouraging the big box fast food mentality of same-same. the identical lobbies, the safe carpet choices...fooey. give me something like the ducks in the peabody hotel in memphis.. there is a big ritual of bringing the ducks in and out of the lobby fountain each morning and evening. really charming. (silly me, i forgot to take photos)


my routine when i get into a hotel for a day involves a hot bath, a visit to the hotel gym and/or a walk around the building to check out the surroundings. a proper recon mission, usually. i always find the pool...room service will be a whole seperate journal entry... sometimes, i just lay about the place, thinking: i must really get something done. on days when it is raining in our day-off city, sometimes comes a relief of knowing, well, it is just not necessary to go out in this... we do work hard and have to have a bit mental battery recharging...

that said, here are a few details of hotel rooms past & present.
this is a nice version of the hotel room chain guard, here in baton rouge:
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i stayed on the 13th floor for the first time ever on the tour:
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reno had slot machines right up to the front desk of the hotel. good thing i have no gambling in my DNA.
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this is oklahoma city's version of the batphone.
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this is a personal favorite, the sounding out of the alarm system---
or as tommy lee would say: can i get a whoop whoop?!:
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sometimes you get a nice robe (& don't steal it, not good for your karmic tally):
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sometimes you get shelter (tornado alley,baby!):
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sometimes, you just really can't be armed (yes, this was in the midwest):Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

and almost always, the view from the hotel room window can break your homesick heart:
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today is a day off baton rouge, lousiana.
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket..abby just called and gave me some tour-guide tips for the area. she is out on josh groban in the UK, and she still knew i was having a day off here, thanks, doll! the thirsty tiger, tsunami sushi @ shaw & the bike path along the water...hmmm. what to do first?
oh wait...it is raining outside...

7 comments:

Hera said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Hera said...

Hello Kitty!
So many smiles to you :)
Touring the UK a couple of years ago, was my
first time using a tour-bus.. very nice to be able to
go to sleep-in a bed -and wake up in the next place..
xox

Yoga Gal said...

Love the story about the daily duck parade through the lobby, I would love to see that! I love ducks! When I went to Berlin with my then fiancee one of the big daily events at the Berlin Zoo was when they walked the penguins through the zoo, it was just too precious!
I must attempt I love staying in four star hotels but I'm always happy when I come home and sleep in my own bed. Don't you miss home, Thor and Batman the cat?
When happy trails; as always your blog is a delight to read.
Namaste.

Dan Guy said...

The Charlesmark Hotel in Boston, MA is my favorite hotel ever. It's the complete antithesis of bland/cookie-cutter.

FabulousLorraine said...

I love the photos!!!! I think the sounding out of the alarm bell is the best!

It's got to be so hard being in a different place every night. I've done it, but not on such a long tour, two weeks is my top.

( and no tour bus. Hmmph. I want to go on a bus. Hera, you and me and Malena on the road! With Miss Kitty as the Tour Manager!

Yoga Gal said...

Rules of the road , don't eat at a place call Mom's, don't play poker with a guy called Doc, (third I can't mention in mix company) and don't write to a blog when you have drank far too much champagne! Yesterday was my mother's birthday, I took her to Paradise Cove Cafe off PCH and then drove her up the coast to Camarillo to shop like two women possessed. I cooked a gourmet feast for dinner with a homemade choc.choc. birthday cake! So by the evening I was exhausted! Then I have the bad habit of typing fast without proof reading what I write.
I do have one question for you, don't you find touring on a bus a little nerve racking? I love long drives but I prefer being in the driver's seat and get a little stir crazy just being a passenger. What do you do to pass the time? Can you get comfortable enough in a bus to sleep? And seeing the same people everyday, every minute of the day, can't that be a liitle annoying? Then, I'm a very independent woman and even when I'm deeply in love with a man I can't keep my lustful hands off I need to take some away from him for "me time". Do you take any "me time". Just wondering.
Happy trails! Love - shanti - namaste.

spacedlaw said...

Interesting pictures !
Not sure I envy you, even if you DO get places.
Nathalie