The Belgian city of Brussels was a
lovely trip for 24 hours. My only
complaint with this town was where we stayed.
In fact, I’m now in a fight with Rick Steves, the author of dozens of
popular guidebooks, over the situation.
Here, the Rick Steves’ Amsterdam, Bruges & Brussels book let me down
tremendously (this also happened in Milan,
which is pretty much my least favorite city ever). The book said because Brussels, being the
capital of the European Union, is so busy during the week with business people,
rates drop tremendously on the weekends.
Rick Steves recommended going through a travel website (like Booking.com or Orbitz) or booking in person at a tourist
information desk (called a TI). Before
we went to a TI, we went to Hotel ‘la Madeleine and they quoted us at €90 per
night. At the TI, we were quoted €100
per night, not any better than what we found on our own! So, strike one against Rick Steves on this
trip.
Strike two came when we got into
the elevator of Hotel ‘la Madeleine. The
elevator was like an inch big and had no walls!
I will ask in advance for your forgiveness of my awful recording skills.
I’m usually up for an adventure,
but all I could see was us free-falling the five stories from our floor. And then came strike three.
The hotel room actually
sucked. Frank proclaimed it was one of
the worst rooms he ever stay in, and he has stayed in a $3 a night hotel in
Nicaragua. I don’t know if the room was
just plain awful, or if paying $120 for it was the bad part. Or maybe the bad part was the small-ass
window that made me claustrophobic.
The room wasn’t dirty though, so
that was a plus. Also, the bathroom,
though as small as a shoebox, was updated.
On the up side, there was a free
breakfast in the morning that was decent. And the staff was nice enough, but I’ve had
better service at a Holiday Inn.
Luckily, the location was
great, right on Agora square, which is just a few hundred feet from the Central
Station, where most trains stop.
Our hotel is around the right corner, the train station is around the left corner |
This hotel touts itself for
business people, but if I were a business person in this room, I would blow my
lid. Luckily, I am a pretty laid-back
tourist, so I’m just going to get into a silent argument with a guy who writes
guidebooks.
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