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[travel] Calgary notes, hotel ramblings
Aug. 12th, 2007 03:32 pmWhen I mapped the location of my hotel here in Calgary, I looked at the grid and figured it looked nicely city-like. It would seem that I missed a couple of levels of zoom, though. Good thing I opted to rent a car. I did manage to see hay bales and a nice long train within a mile of the airport, though.
The hotel is kind of... concrete and hulking. There was a car in the parking lot with what looked like just-married ribbons on it; the idea that someone is either getting married here or honeymooning here is kind of depressing. Also, while it makes perfect sense for a parking garage to have height-limit barriers, it makes less sense for the top deck (at ground level) to also have them, seeing as there are no other things to bump into. Perhaps it's a weight limit/truck deterrent by proxy?
For no apparent reason, I'm on the "Club Floor". As a result, I have a fully-stocked minibar. Still a rip-off, and the beer includes scary Canadian brands I've never heard of (Kokanee Glacier Beer?). Also, wouldn't it make more sense to have the mounted bottle-opener somewhere near the minibar and its bottles (inside the console, maybe), rather than in the bathroom? There must be some traditional reason to have it there; I've seen it in other hotels and I didn't think it made sense there, either.
Charging separately for wired and wireless internet access - both of which are available in the room - feels like a scam, especially since they give you a password to re-login to their system.
As I drove through the strip mall/auto mile between the highway and the hotel, I was starting to despair of the possibility for food that was at all different from home. Burger King? Chilis? Come on, how about some local tacky chains, at least? However, at the last minute I spotted "The Cattle Baron - Alberta Steakhouse", which seems like it will do nicely for a sort of local color.
The hotel is kind of... concrete and hulking. There was a car in the parking lot with what looked like just-married ribbons on it; the idea that someone is either getting married here or honeymooning here is kind of depressing. Also, while it makes perfect sense for a parking garage to have height-limit barriers, it makes less sense for the top deck (at ground level) to also have them, seeing as there are no other things to bump into. Perhaps it's a weight limit/truck deterrent by proxy?
For no apparent reason, I'm on the "Club Floor". As a result, I have a fully-stocked minibar. Still a rip-off, and the beer includes scary Canadian brands I've never heard of (Kokanee Glacier Beer?). Also, wouldn't it make more sense to have the mounted bottle-opener somewhere near the minibar and its bottles (inside the console, maybe), rather than in the bathroom? There must be some traditional reason to have it there; I've seen it in other hotels and I didn't think it made sense there, either.
Charging separately for wired and wireless internet access - both of which are available in the room - feels like a scam, especially since they give you a password to re-login to their system.
As I drove through the strip mall/auto mile between the highway and the hotel, I was starting to despair of the possibility for food that was at all different from home. Burger King? Chilis? Come on, how about some local tacky chains, at least? However, at the last minute I spotted "The Cattle Baron - Alberta Steakhouse", which seems like it will do nicely for a sort of local color.
