Paper LJ: Welcome to the Castle
Nov. 29th, 2012 09:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
janestarzIt feels quite wonderful to be steering a car down a lane towards a castle. I can tell you: it also feels pretty damn good. A lovely lane, trees on either side, their roots cushioned by the fresh fall leaves, and a lovely little castle at the end of it.
Not a soul in sight, which makes our arrival even more special. Even though we are not the only guests and we park the rental on quite a busy parking lot behind the priory building, as we crunch our way over the gravel towards the entrance we sure feel special.
Our room is a 25 sqm dream with a high beamed ceiling, two tall stained glass paned windows, and the blissful absence of a tv. An ex-fireplace, a sink and an antique cupboard fit the style of the room, where the double bed is a comfortable modern arrangement hidden by a knit afghan.
We arrive a little early for dinner, but we go down at 17:20 anyway. After the long drive I'm more than a little peckish. The hotel's restaurant is in the original kitchen catacombs, where the ceiling is claustrophobically low (only a little over 2 meters, my brother's hair might brush it!) and NoKey's greatest guitar hits are obliterated by a keyboard set to "mouth organ".
We are the first (and for a long time, the only) guests, and are hailed by a nice woman recommending us the week menu. NoKey's cucumber-and-goat-cheese carpaccio is nearly as good as my italian meats entrée, but nothing quite beats the flavour of my medium-baked Austrian beef rib-eye steak. It tastes like candy, and paired with a Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile (I really shouldn't, but that's why it's vacation!) it is really quite perfect. NoKey's salmon seems to evaporate.
After dinner, we explore the castle. We've seen one other couple and several people doing a training course, but the castle-part of the hotel is very empty. The priory, connected to the castle and with luxuriously modern rooms, seems to be the accommodation of choice. One pair of women asked to be relocated there because their castle room had no TV. We gape and giggle as they leave the lobby, and continue reading a newspaper under the impressive staircase.
As I tiptoe in my bathrobe and hotel-provided slippers to the showers, I realise it is quite a mix. Our room does not have its own toilet or shower, but going into the hall for these things feels resort-like, larp-like, exciting. The ladies' room is tucked under an errant staircase, the shower room is divided into smaller rooms each outfitted with sink, mirror and shower cell, numbered to match the room numbers. It's not big, but the shower is ample and good.
I've been to hotels abroad (Malta, Greece, London and Paris*) but never to a castle like this. It's certainly something else.
-----
*) Granted, the hotel in Paris had cobalt blue everything and you could only tell which way was up by which way the sink was facing. Who comes up with painting a ceiling blue anyway?
Not a soul in sight, which makes our arrival even more special. Even though we are not the only guests and we park the rental on quite a busy parking lot behind the priory building, as we crunch our way over the gravel towards the entrance we sure feel special.
Our room is a 25 sqm dream with a high beamed ceiling, two tall stained glass paned windows, and the blissful absence of a tv. An ex-fireplace, a sink and an antique cupboard fit the style of the room, where the double bed is a comfortable modern arrangement hidden by a knit afghan.
We arrive a little early for dinner, but we go down at 17:20 anyway. After the long drive I'm more than a little peckish. The hotel's restaurant is in the original kitchen catacombs, where the ceiling is claustrophobically low (only a little over 2 meters, my brother's hair might brush it!) and NoKey's greatest guitar hits are obliterated by a keyboard set to "mouth organ".
We are the first (and for a long time, the only) guests, and are hailed by a nice woman recommending us the week menu. NoKey's cucumber-and-goat-cheese carpaccio is nearly as good as my italian meats entrée, but nothing quite beats the flavour of my medium-baked Austrian beef rib-eye steak. It tastes like candy, and paired with a Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile (I really shouldn't, but that's why it's vacation!) it is really quite perfect. NoKey's salmon seems to evaporate.
After dinner, we explore the castle. We've seen one other couple and several people doing a training course, but the castle-part of the hotel is very empty. The priory, connected to the castle and with luxuriously modern rooms, seems to be the accommodation of choice. One pair of women asked to be relocated there because their castle room had no TV. We gape and giggle as they leave the lobby, and continue reading a newspaper under the impressive staircase.
As I tiptoe in my bathrobe and hotel-provided slippers to the showers, I realise it is quite a mix. Our room does not have its own toilet or shower, but going into the hall for these things feels resort-like, larp-like, exciting. The ladies' room is tucked under an errant staircase, the shower room is divided into smaller rooms each outfitted with sink, mirror and shower cell, numbered to match the room numbers. It's not big, but the shower is ample and good.
I've been to hotels abroad (Malta, Greece, London and Paris*) but never to a castle like this. It's certainly something else.
-----
*) Granted, the hotel in Paris had cobalt blue everything and you could only tell which way was up by which way the sink was facing. Who comes up with painting a ceiling blue anyway?
