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Today we are travelling from Meredith to Newport Rhode Island for a one night stay at the Hotel Viking.
The journey today was pretty good, long but of little consequence. Although I must say that drivers are the same the world over, don't adhere to speed restrictions, undertake and cut you up, just like driving at home! The only good thing about driving here is the space, much of our route today was on a five lane motorway, heaven! I've also found a great radio station which makes driving even more of a pleasure, at least for me. Anne I'm not too sure about as she has to listen to me sing along to the music, not a good thing! Only sort of took one wrong turn but Anne soon had us back on track, I've started calling her Janey.
We arrived at the Vikings Hotel about 1500hrs, a bit swanky I thought as we pulled up. I was not to be disappointed. Walking in the place just oozed class and we were treated very nicely as we booked in. "does sir wish for valet parking or if you wish you can park yourself, the charge is the same" I was asked. Never entered my head to ask what the charge was, valet, I answered and off we went to the car. As we got there a young uniformed man arrived, took the cases, gave me a ticket for the car and took the keys. He then took us to our room, on the 5th floor. I'm thinking 5th floor it will be some pokey loft room. But no, it's a mini suite, lounge, bathroom and bedroom. Two televisions, a shower as big as a small room and another bed the size of a small kingdom. He even offered to unpack for us, how sweet. I gave him $20 dollars and off he went to park the car. This is a very swanky place, have I mentioned that before?
We decided to take a walk into town, all downhill, I did point out to Anne that it would be uphill on the way back (nothing much gets past me) but she didn't seem to care. The centre of town has expensive shops and lots of yachts, of the expensive large sort. But on a good note we did find a Starbucks which we duly honoured with our patronage getting some sort of iced coffee milkshake thing. It was very nice but Anne ended up with ice-cream head!! Having satisfied our thirst (at least for coffee) we made our way back to the hotel where we adjourned to the bar for a beer and more Hendricks Gin, very popular over here especially with Anne!! Once again there are no optics in use here you get a slug and it's topped up with a bit of tonic. Every alcoholic drink Anne has had over here has been a triple, no wonder I've had bother with her!! We also decided to make an 8pm reservation for diner at the hotel restaurant, Anne reckons it will be an experience. Personally I think it will be an experience my wallet could do without!! We shall wait and see. I'm wondering if in a swanky hotel like this (have I previously mentioned it's swanky?), you still only get one knife, fork and spoon? I wait to find out in eager anticipation.
I'm about to go and try out the shower, it looks wonderful and had three containers mounted on the wall for, shampoo, conditioner and shower gel, how cool is that? No fumbling about on the floor for dropped packets or little bottle tops, told you swanky it is!!
8pm arrived and down for dinner we went, nice dining room but as we approached our table what did I spy? Yes the dreaded one knife and fork but hey ho no spoon to be seen. How could this be in a swanky hotel? We chose our starters and main course, my main was to be shark stuffed with crab. I'd finished my starter (French onion soup) but Anne was still eating her starter of ceased salad when a waiter arrived with our mains and deposited them in the table. To say we were a little surprised was an understatement!! Almost immediately our waitress arrived to ask how things were and we said the starters were fine but we didn't understand why our mains had arrived before we were both finished? Profuse Apologies, the mains were removed then the Maitre Dee arrived again apologies etc. After Anne had finished the mains duly returned, they were fine and after several visits to ensure we were happy the main course was complete. The MD then asked about a sweet and we plumbed for creme brûlée which duly arrived compliments of the MD. Having finished our meal with coffee, no spoon to stir in sugar/milk we left having paid the bill. We adjourned to the bar for a night cap, Anne on triple Disarano over ice and me with, well I'm not sure, I asked for Southern Comfort and lemonade, which was made in a cocktail shaker and served with ice, a slice if lemon and a draw. It tasted okay but certainly wasn't what I was expecting! All in all an interesting meal/evening. The standards accepted by the Americans for quality food and service is quite low, this hotel where we are staying is top notch in there world , 5 star, but in the UK would at best merit 3 stars. Maybe our expectations are too high, I need to go camping again to bring me back to earth!!
Time for bed and sleep once more, Anne is already snoring away beside me so it's goodnight from her and its goodnight from me, sleep tight hopefully with someone you love.
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