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Numerology and Hotels
Sep. 3rd, 2010 09:41 pmNow some of you are aware that for many years my beloved spouse taught Renaissance dance. One of his popular favorites was an Italian ballo called Cassoulle. Casoulle has a repetitive pattern of steps in the form 5-1-5-1-3. Naturally, it is became known coloquially as the "zip code dance". Well, in planning this trip to Australia, it turns out that we are taking the "phone number trip": 3-3-5 - 4-1-5-1.
We've already completed 3 days at Yulura, 3 days on the Great Ocean Road, and 5 days at the Westin in Melbourne. That's the first half of our trip, and yesterday morning (after Kent went off to run the WSFS Business Meeting) I pulled together all our luggage and took a cab from the Westin Hotel in central Melbourne to the Hilton South Wharf Hotel adjoining the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Center. So last night was our first of 4 nights at the HIlton.
I know I complained a bit about the Westin, but the Hilton, although very similar, is not quite as posh. The room is a little smaller, the desk a little more usable, but the chair a great deal less comfortable and doesn't have an ottoman for your feet. The bed at the Hilton is more comfortable although it has the new-fangled linens that include a duvet but no top sheet. The room is done in Asian minimalist with a six-foot-wide sliding glass door (milk glass) from the bedroom to the large bathroom. Only the glass door is right next to the bed - meaning that if you get up to use the bathroom at night it lights up the whole bedroom and shines bright lights directly on the pillow where your bedmate is trying to sleep! And it doesn't HAVE to be that way, the bathroom entrance could just as easily have been arranged from the hallway by the door to the room. Perhaps I'll have to set myself up as a consultant to international hotels and come in - for an extravagant fee - and tell them what they need to do to make the rooms practical as well as decorative.
All in all it was a day full of various tasks. First settling the bill at the Westin (their exchange rate was 10% higher than the standard exchange rate!!!) and moving out. Then checking in to the Hilton, then spending several hours at the MCEC working with the clubs and bids who have fan tables, then watching a panel on the archaeological excavations at Es-Safi in Israel, then participating in a panel on Star Trek (in all it's various incarnations). Last task of the day was laundering. Laundering is one of the things that simply has to happen if you are traveling for more than a week. As you can tell from totting up the "phone number" above, we are on the road for 22 days, and that involves some laundering.
I found Laundry Spa (201 Park Street, Melbourne, VIC) on the web and headed there last night in a taxi with two suitcases of clothes. The website made it seem like something huge and spiff and elegant, but like most laundromats it was small and somewhat crowded. It was, however, very clean, and the pleasant attendant provided me with the dozens of $1 AU coins needed to do wash and dry four loads of laundry. Wash is $5, soap is $1, and dry is $3-4 depending on whether it's jeans or hankies. I'm working on a "Laundromats of the World" web sites, and this is definitely going on the list.
After returning the folded laundry to the hotel (it took up MUCH less space in the suitcases clean and folded than it did wadded iinto laundry bags), Kent and I went out to dinner at a local Greek place called Spitiki (270 Park Street, Melbourne, VIC). It was small and local (not quite a hole in the wall) and had very loud but quite good live music (it was Friday night, go figure). The food was spectacular. For starters, I had kolokithakia (thin sliced fried zucchini) that was as good or better than any I've had in Greece, and Kent had tzatziki that was thick, nicely sour, and well-seasoned. For mains I had lamb souvlaki that was quite well marinated in lemon and oregano and served with a bit of Greek salad and some additional pita and tzatziki. Kent had roast lamb that was falling off the bone tender. The lamb souvlaki was, amazingly, not overdone and was very tender. We shared an order of roasted potatoes and they were also excellent.
Having finished the hotel move, finished the laundry, checked in all the bids and clubs for fan tables, I kind of get to relax for the next three days of the con and just enjoy. More on all that later.
We've already completed 3 days at Yulura, 3 days on the Great Ocean Road, and 5 days at the Westin in Melbourne. That's the first half of our trip, and yesterday morning (after Kent went off to run the WSFS Business Meeting) I pulled together all our luggage and took a cab from the Westin Hotel in central Melbourne to the Hilton South Wharf Hotel adjoining the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Center. So last night was our first of 4 nights at the HIlton.
I know I complained a bit about the Westin, but the Hilton, although very similar, is not quite as posh. The room is a little smaller, the desk a little more usable, but the chair a great deal less comfortable and doesn't have an ottoman for your feet. The bed at the Hilton is more comfortable although it has the new-fangled linens that include a duvet but no top sheet. The room is done in Asian minimalist with a six-foot-wide sliding glass door (milk glass) from the bedroom to the large bathroom. Only the glass door is right next to the bed - meaning that if you get up to use the bathroom at night it lights up the whole bedroom and shines bright lights directly on the pillow where your bedmate is trying to sleep! And it doesn't HAVE to be that way, the bathroom entrance could just as easily have been arranged from the hallway by the door to the room. Perhaps I'll have to set myself up as a consultant to international hotels and come in - for an extravagant fee - and tell them what they need to do to make the rooms practical as well as decorative.
All in all it was a day full of various tasks. First settling the bill at the Westin (their exchange rate was 10% higher than the standard exchange rate!!!) and moving out. Then checking in to the Hilton, then spending several hours at the MCEC working with the clubs and bids who have fan tables, then watching a panel on the archaeological excavations at Es-Safi in Israel, then participating in a panel on Star Trek (in all it's various incarnations). Last task of the day was laundering. Laundering is one of the things that simply has to happen if you are traveling for more than a week. As you can tell from totting up the "phone number" above, we are on the road for 22 days, and that involves some laundering.
I found Laundry Spa (201 Park Street, Melbourne, VIC) on the web and headed there last night in a taxi with two suitcases of clothes. The website made it seem like something huge and spiff and elegant, but like most laundromats it was small and somewhat crowded. It was, however, very clean, and the pleasant attendant provided me with the dozens of $1 AU coins needed to do wash and dry four loads of laundry. Wash is $5, soap is $1, and dry is $3-4 depending on whether it's jeans or hankies. I'm working on a "Laundromats of the World" web sites, and this is definitely going on the list.
After returning the folded laundry to the hotel (it took up MUCH less space in the suitcases clean and folded than it did wadded iinto laundry bags), Kent and I went out to dinner at a local Greek place called Spitiki (270 Park Street, Melbourne, VIC). It was small and local (not quite a hole in the wall) and had very loud but quite good live music (it was Friday night, go figure). The food was spectacular. For starters, I had kolokithakia (thin sliced fried zucchini) that was as good or better than any I've had in Greece, and Kent had tzatziki that was thick, nicely sour, and well-seasoned. For mains I had lamb souvlaki that was quite well marinated in lemon and oregano and served with a bit of Greek salad and some additional pita and tzatziki. Kent had roast lamb that was falling off the bone tender. The lamb souvlaki was, amazingly, not overdone and was very tender. We shared an order of roasted potatoes and they were also excellent.
Having finished the hotel move, finished the laundry, checked in all the bids and clubs for fan tables, I kind of get to relax for the next three days of the con and just enjoy. More on all that later.
