The Wilmina in Berlin: A Design Gem
January 16, 2026
Our train across Germany to Berlin was easy and fast, and we arrived at sunset. Our Berlin welcome involved drizzle. The Wilmina glowed with welcome.
Room 107 is a garden view room, spacious and clean, but configured for handicap access.
Each room in the hotel was adapted from some aspect of a historical women’s prison.
Though the shower was not plastic, it was not glass either. It was mostly too big.
What a property.
The bar is something to write home about. Absolute world class excellence with house made infusions and highly creative cocktails. Best hotel bar in Germany for sure.
Time for some reading by the fire.
The associated bakery.
We were only in Berlin for a short while, but we crammed in some great food, some excellent company, and some art. Seri Melayu was a nice reprive from brown food. The House of Small Wonder lives up to its reputation. Itarei was good but needs a service and wine overhaul.
Four showerheads leaning hard into five for the Wilmina. If we find the right room, the rating will improve.
Hotel Monaco Pittsburgh with Billy Strings and Bear
November 11, 2025
As you may recall, we got married this May (on five fives) and the hotel Monaco was our base of operations. We have a special place in our hearts for Pittsburgh and for the Monaco. Our most recent visit did not disappoint.
I mean not only were we in town to see Billy Strings play two great shows. We also chatted with Billy Strings himself and his dog Bear in the elevator. He is a sweet guy and his dog is awesome. The encounter made us miss our own goldendoodle, Maybelline, even more.
Since the band was in town and there was at least one wedding full of fraternity type people in the house, there were no suites to be had at reservation time. That is, unless Rob Malinger is pulling strings for you. Always have Rob pull strings. He is all powerful! We were put in 318 this time.
Which like most Monaco suites features lots of room, a cool bathroom, and a birdcage (of the sort that apparently flummoxes Madou).
Sydney wrote us a nice note and had an amenity placed in our room. Thanks Sydney.
The shower in 318 has its own internal bathtub.
Getting in and out of the hotel was “fucktangular” this visit. When we arrived it was rush hour and raining. And there were idiots from Tennessee with very huge jeep wagoneers (but no actual moxy) trying to lead us into the left. After waiting 8 lights we just went around them and taught them how to turn left on red. LOL. Then on Saturday morning we had to refactor our breakfast plans when the car took over two hours to get from the parking lot to the valet stand (due to a veterans day parade). It really was not awful but it was also not convenient. Only in Pittsburgh.
We headed straight to dinner when we arrived so we could get to the show. The mushroom thing at the Commoner is great. The show was very good indeed. So fun to be with our Billy Strings expert Betty.
We had some coffee at De Fer before the commoner was open.
And we went to the Mattress Factory for a dose of contemporary art.
And Randyland of course…
Then it was back to Billy after a very early dinner at Ritual House. Betty was in true outstanding leadership mode for this one. We secured some special bands and entered in the first 100 to hang with the true Billy fans. One fella had seen 333 shows! The people were really welcoming and friendly. And yeah, they knew all the songs and everyone around us. It was great. We owe Betty a big one now.
After each show we had a night cap in the Commoner and met some fellow Billy enthusiasts. Great bar.
On Sunday we made our leisurely way to Gepetto for breakfast, the headed out through Maggie’s Farm Distillery.
Five showerheads and special dispensation for the Monaco. Pittsburgh just gets better and better.
The Rosewood São Paulo: Excellence and the Disney Effect
September 23, 2025
First of all, the Rosewood is a gorgeous facility, centrally located in São Paulo and yet somehow an oasis of sorts. Two blocks from the main drag (Av. Paulista), as soon as you enter the driveway you enter a different world, lush and green like the jungle. Having an oasis to retreat to from the chaotic third world aspects of São Paulo is a necessity when you are old and spoiled.
344 is a luxury king category that is almost sufficient for several days. The best aspect is a balcony that overlooks the real street. In case you wonder whether you are actually in a big city, a look out the window banks makes that clear. Fortunately the room is seriously soundproofed.
The bathroom is awesome with nary a plastic shower in sight. In fact, the shower controls are complex enough to require a manual.
The bar and coffee center went unused.
We spent some time at the pool, meeting people sadly from Florida (or as from Florida as you can get when you are a french boat designer with a Russian designer wife
The only issue that needs attention at the Rosewood may, ironically, be that the staff is a bit too well trained. Lots of them are Disney alums, and it shows in the way they execute the script. Less script and more human would fit the vibe of Brazil better.
We experienced our first Brazilian live music at Cabo de Galo, a supposedly “secret” mixology speakeasy directly in the middle of the breakfast restaurant. Part of the Disneyesque script is to insert an unnecessary delay in all productions in order to give the illusion of exclusivity; like waiting for an open table to be open; or waiting to be seated at breakfast when open tables are all over the place. That stitch can be dropped.
Hell? Maybe.
We enjoyed some cashaça. (Throughout Brazil, the argument WRT whose cashaça is best continues apace even 20 years after my first visit.)
And a Brazilian cocktail involving not enough Fernet called macunaÃma.
Greater São Paulo outside the Rosewood oasis has plenty to offer. Some things we saw before our arrival at the Rosewood, like the Jardim Botânico and Esperanza Spalding.
Our post-business side quests included some time in Liberdade at the open market (pretty down scale to be honest).
Av. Paulista. is close by and on Sunday the road is closed to traffic. The MASP (day one) (and MASP (day two)) are very close by indeed. Pinacoteca de São Paulo is a quick car ride away in the rain, and it is open on Monday.
We experienced an incredible dinner (among the best in the world) at DOM.
All in all, five showerheads for the Rosewood. An excellent, though slightly too Disney, experience. We will return.
Lets Get Married: Hotel Monaco Pittsburgh
August 26, 2025
The Monaco in Pittsburgh has always held a special place in NPS circuits. We stayed at the property way back when it first opened. And then we stayed at the property on an important first date. Throughout every stay, the Kimpton flame kept burning bright and true, even through the IHG corporate nonsense. Rob Mallinger is an excellent GM.
So, of course, the Monaco was top of mind when we decided to get married at the Warhol in Pittsburgh on 5.25.25. What better place to put on a world class party and put up our guests (none of whom were from Pittsburgh)?! Rob and his staff did a spectacular job making our complex plans burst into life with great attention to detail.
We especially thank Allan Hughes (room czar) and Sydney Kurywchak (catering) and their respective staffs for their diligent effort to make our guests feel as if no effort at all was involved. You made our day(s) amazing. Thank you.
We put all of our guests up in the hotel on the night of our wedding, assigning each guest a particular room on the eighth or ninth floors. Having everyone all together was a special touch. So in some sense NPS has “stayed” in each and every room on the upper floors of the Monaco. Allan did an amazing job coaxing the computer system into doing what we envisioned.
Of course we started in 835 before moving up to the Emperor Suite for our wedding day. (Allan pulled some strings and got us moved Saturday so that we didn’t have to switch rooms on our wedding day itself…which was a big relief for the bride.)
We’ve shared plenty of pictures of 835 in other entries, and we were too busy to properly document the Emperor Suite, so these will have to suffice.
We held two separate events at the Monaco, a rooftop champagne toast (replete with a piper), and a wild reception in the big rooms downstairs, expertly transformed by Alexis Allen into different realities. Just wow.
Here’s how the rooftop looked for cocktail hour. Also see this posting.
Everyone moved downstairs for the reception, which started in Sheffield Ballroom and then proceeded by stages into the Sheffield foyer to the Sophia Ballroom. Each space was differently decorated, with the foyer reserved for dancing to DJ Williams’s amazing music and the Sophia set up as a late night speakeasy. Also see this posting.
Moving guests around throughout the wedding day made for a delightful experience. We all started out at the Warhol, and then proceeded through the Monaco spaces until midnight.
It was an incredible lifetime event for all involved.
Six showerheads (out of five max) for the Hotel Monaco. We’ll always remember this hotel with great fondness. Thanks you guys!
Marriott Does Corporate: Alida Hotel Savannah
February 15, 2025
We’re in town for a TAB meeting attended by nobody even remotely from Georgia. So we all arrived from everywhere and convened at the Alida. The tribute portfolio properties by Marriott are designed to attract middle management and they execute their mission to a T. They try so hard to be hip that they miss by a mile—like coming to a chess game with a bag of checkers.
NPS was assigned a long skinny room on the ground floor (102) with a window bank overlooking the pool. You might thing that sounds fun, but in their quest to “be young,” the Alida pipes crappy music of no discernible genre into the pool area 24/7. At 4am, that sucks. Hazy bass thomp and ever repeating generic rhythms are so much worse than NY city noise or even, say, silence deep in the night.
As you can see by the pictures, what we have here is standard hamster cage. Who even uses two king beds in one room?!
The bathroom shower situation seems to be becoming common now. The shower features a glass door (nice) but the shower stall is hollow plastic simulated tile. Cheap. We’re trying to decide whether that constitutes the new “plastic shower” of which we want none.
But we are in Savannah and we’re not here to sleep. Perhaps a Negroni will help?
I mean there is one of those fireplace things that runs on gas (also near the pool). We wonder if it burns all night as the music thomps to itself.
The meeting was excellent, though the room down by the restaurant in the basement is cold. The A/V system down there is ungovernable by usual algorithms it seems.
We had some time in the morning to see the trees and walk up to Forsyth after breakfast at the ’80s themed Traylor Park. The newish southern chain is fun, but the trees are magical. And the trees in the morning fog are otherworldly.
Tea at Gryphon (worth a visit).
Lunch at Wright Square Bistro was excellent. Coffee at the Coffee Fox. Later, dinner at Husk was really fun but not really up to Savannah standards it turns out.
Late night cocktails and planning at Congress Street Up were outstanding. (We did not attempt the museum nonsense.) As we discussed how AI is taking over software development, Regan Cannon made us a Good Advice:
1 oz Hayman’s Old Tom
.5 oz Plymouth Navy Strength
.5 oz CioCiaro
.75 oz Ciocci Bianco
2 dashes orange bitters (unspecified)
2 dashes cardamom bitters (Boizers)
absynthe spray
Orange and lemon peel expressed and dropped in.
All told we were here for work, and work was excellent.
Three showerheads and an off switch for the all night music for the Alida. Too corporate for Savannah. But we were not done with Savannah…it was off to the Brice!
The Peninsula Chicago: High End for the Win
November 30, 2024
Fancy some art in Chicago? Stay at the Peninsula in high luxury while you’re there! Our visit to the city was excellent in most of the ways.
Of course our room was not ready when we arrived before noon on Sunday, and then the powers that be switched our assigned room out from under us while we visited the MCA. The switch was very much likely for the better as we moved from an executive suite on 12 to a grand deluxe suite on 9.
The room was, in fact, amazing. Comfortable, well-designed, modern, and spacious. We were in 910 overlooking the Water Tower and Michigan avenue. Christmas was upon us (and winter too).
910 has banks of windows.
The shower is not plastic. In fact, there might not be any plastic at all in the entire room.
One of the best aspects of the peninsula is breakfast. No really. Just exquisite and interesting: fresh juice, great coffee, myriad international offerings. Possibly the best breakfast in Chicago. We had two.
The MCA is terrific, including the Maripol restaurant inside.
Tiffany is a good place to visit after some art.
The Art Institute of Chicago is absolutely world class.
Duck Duck Goat is very good mid-level Chinese. Sadly, we couldn’t get the Peking duck.
About the only thing not up to snuff during our visit was pizza at Pequod (an old school Chicago deep dish institution). The pizza is great, but the decor is dirty even for an old Denny’s. And the ordering app? Don’t get us started. Just skip it.
Cocktails at the Peninsula bar, Z bar, are solid, but the experience is not worth writing home about or paying extra for.
Oh, and the Spa at the Peninsula…your mileage may very, but your bill will not.
But those wrinkles aside, the trip was excellent. Here are some more pictures.
Rebranding Chicago, one building at a time.
The view from 910.
The windows are really clean. Really really clean.
Five showerheads for the Peninsula and for Chicago art. Yes please. We would do it all over again.
Terre Haute, Indiana
October 31, 2024
Welp, its not a hotel, but if you can, stay at Sid’s house. Terre Haute was a really fun place to visit.
It all started with a talk at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, which you can watch here.
The campus is full of art.
And it features the largest collection of hot sauce in the entire Midwest.
There is world class mixology to be found between the beers in Terre Haute. Try Bar Bosco if you can.
And dinner at J Ford’s Black Angus is not to be missed. The wine list has some secret hidden gems. We split the porterhouse.
But really the best thing in Terre Haute is Sid’s Waffle House.
In and out through Indy. A picture courtesy of Kurt.
The Morrison Dublin: Almost not a Hilton
October 6, 2024
OK, so we really don’t do Hilton much. We mostly avoid American chains ever since Kimpton bit the dust. But the Morrison came up on a bunch of separate lists and it looked good in bits. And you know what? It was good all told—one of Dublin’s big hotel gems.
Once again it was a beautiful bright day. We needed our American sun glasses. And once again the room wasn’t ready. But Lemon was close by and quite excellent. We had a crepe.
The room was very nice indeed. Great windows over the river. And a very Hilton-design. The only thing missing is any real tech other than wifi (a bare minimum in anyone’s book). Can’t connect to TV? No bluetooth? What?! Apparently google took back their chromecasts leaving the Hilton literally stranded in the tech desert. Not good.
Anyway the room was comfortable and nicely laid out.
The shower was not plastic. It was a good shower.
We did some things in Dublin. Like business…
Stage cocktails followed by a few too many pints of guinness at O’Brien’s Pub (the family pub of a friend).
We hit Kilmainham Gaol early, sobering and excellent.
We had an excellent but very late breakfast at Riggers D8. It was here that we met our fifth very friendly and talkative irishman. Good lord so friendly. But all ever so slightly lonely and all pretty sexist to be honest. An older way of life evolving fast.
We did some shopping near Trinity College.
We had an early Japanese dinner at Kyodai Izakaya after an ill-fated “brazilian drop in”.
And we saw a very good but very old fashioned play (Grania) at the Abbey Theater where we met even more friendly Irish.
We had a huge and very good brunch at PÓG Tara Street on our way to Windmill Lane Studio for a tour.
We spent some time decompressing in St Stephen’s Green.
We paid a visit to Farrier and Draper, ostensibly for a good cocktail. LOL. Dublin may be gentrifying but it has a ways to go. I guess the real bar was bought out for a private event. We had a martini with black olives?!
Which kind of sums it all up nicely. We want to spend some quality time in the real countryside next time we are in Ireland and play some music. The Morrison is a nice place to stay in Dublin, but we are not really the Dublin kind. Four showerheads for the Morrison.
Mandeville Hotel London: NOPE
October 6, 2024
The Mandeville Hotel is worth not visiting. Just don’t go. And whatever you do, do not ignore all the red flags on your way to not staying there. Like say, the inability to book a room category in a reasonable process. Or emails that take three days to answer. Or a room that not only is not ready when you arrive for five nights, but isn’t even worth the wait. Those kinds of red flag.
Billing itself as a “boutique hotel,” everything about the hotel itself is a stretch. What the Mandeville turns out to be, is a business hotel gussied up in an ill-fitting hand-me-down suit with a very wide tie that doesn’t match. But his sister is nice. Some people may be fooled. We are not.
We arrived from an excellent flight across the pond in United Polaris kind of wanting a good espresso and a shower (not necessarily in that order). We did end up getting a nice breakfast on a brilliant bright morning at the Ivy about a block from the hotel. You see, the one very good thing about the Mandeville is its location smack dab in the middle of Marylebone. You may recall from previous entries here in this spectacular blog that the Ivy is a top notch brunch chain (see Manchester and London entries).
In any case, our executive suite (so to speak) was ready when brunch was over. But what a disappointment room 105 was. Don’t stay in this room: weird bank of windows directly over the noisy-at-night restaurant, overlooking an alley of sorts, decor from that decade where polyesther was a good thing, uncomfortable couches. Just all around terrible. This room should be demoted to a much lesser category…like “very large broom closet” or “place to store old wallpaper swatches. We only stayed in this room one night because the other three rooms in our reserved category were not available. Right.
But judge for yourself! I mean look at that wallpaper. And the way the bathroom opens directly to the bed.
The shower was not plastic. Instead it was dangerous. Fortunately nobody broke a leg during our one night in this room. The shower was very nice, danger aside.
When you’re in Marylebone, retail therapy is in order. We spent time wandering the shops, hitting up me+em, theory, selfridges, varvatos, and more. Too much money was spent, but when you are a country mouse like we are, all of the city things are so shiny!
On our first day in London we found Scales bar which is well worth a revisit. Excellent cocktails (limited but creative and nicely concocted).
Fortunately, we were able to switch rooms to Executive Suite 216 after our first night (which was ridiculously overpriced for what it was). 216 was much better situated in the new purple part of the hotel. But the suite itself was still small and very poorly laid out. We’re sorry, but a bathroom opening directly on the bed is just not classy in the least.
The bathroom was much better. So what made us dislike this hotel so much? Well on our last night in London (a Wednesday night no less), a private party rented out the restaurant and bar and proceeded to put on a loud, obnoxious disco starting around 9pm and stretching nicely to 1am. Since we were to be up at 5:00am to fly to Dublin this was not a good thing. Complaints to management on checkout were ignored (so far anyway). We do plan to ride this one down to completion.
In the meantime, by no means stay at the Mandeville. Stay anywhere else.
Of course, London is a fantastic place to visit, and we had some very good experiences this round…
We spent some time at Hyde park checking out the icebergs.
We spent some time conducting business (which by the way will bring us to London regularly, but not again to the Mandeville).
We spent some time at both Tate galleries (Tate Modern and Tate Collection) and on a boat between. If you like the Kandinsky below, check out the others.
And we hit a number of excellent restaurants, including Roka, Carlotta, Tamarind, Chez Roux.
You will find stunning art at Henson’s Bar (in Mimi’s hotel). Apparently Mimi was a collector. We had excellent drinks surrounded by even better art. Need a cult classic like a Paper Plane or a Industry Sour? Of course you do.
Closing out our stay at the Mandeville was the coup de grace. The staff in the morning had no power to make us whole, and the manager who was instructed to get in touch never did. One showerhead for the Mandeville, we will not return.
Learn to Twerk at Hotel Washington
September 17, 2024
It started in the country.
And ended in the city.
With some Springsteen in between.
The Hotel Washington is our chosen destination in DC, and for obvious reasons—excellent hospitality. We hear rumors that this hotel is aptly run my Steph Vogel, but honestly we have not seen him for years. Anyway, from our base in the middle of nowhere, Washington DC is the big metropolis. This time we came in to see Bruce perform at the Nationals Park. An excellent show.
Back in the country, there were cocktails to be had and plans to be hatched. Somehow we overlooked the twerking in our planning.
We headed into DC in the early afternoon. We were greeted at the hotel with dueling amenities and greetings from Steph in our adjoining rooms 710 and 711.
The shower situation was non-plastic, though shutting the sliding door to the bathroom was nigh on impossible. The sink was in the hall.
After the show, we headed up to Vue to have a Corpse Reviver #2 or 2 and damage our hearing. Who knew that the night would end up with twerking lessons from the large group of (young) 50-turning women?! Much fun was had. All of a sudden it was 2am.
Did we need twerking lessons? Judge for yourself. Here is a before video.
Sadly no video of the after has been made available.
Five showerheads, a big thank you, and a fervent wish to get to the bottom of the Vogel disappearance for Hotel Washington.
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