Pestana Plaza Mayor: An Unexpected Refuge
July 22, 2022
We came to Spain for an in person meeting—our first encounter as a group since COVID struck the planet. High bandwidth. Full of energy. Intense and productive.
The meeting was organized by the best of professionals who discovered an excellent location in the Pestana Plaza Mayor, a refuge in the heart of the tourist zone which manages to avoid most (but not all) of the Disneyfication of Plaza Mayor. The location really couldn’t be better for first timers to Madrid.
The Pestana is squarely in four star category, like right smack in the middle. This kind of hotel is perfectly suited for its demographic.
Our arrival process in Madrid was definitely a let down after all the rumors of long lines at customs, COVID QR codes, and lost luggage. The QR code that took so much effort to secure was not even glanced at in the blue lane. Our plane was first in. Customs took less than 2 minutes. Our luggage arrived within 5 minutes, barely enough time to get our bearings.
About the only challenge at arrival was the absolutely cocaine-addled Serbian taxi driver who insisted on aggressively hauling ass through Madrid, unceremoniously dropping us off at the wrong corner past the hotel and insisting on being paid cash. Anyway, we made it in quick.
So quick, in fact, that we were way way way too early to check in. We were offered a shower in the (common) spa area. Which was OK if you don’t mind other people stopping by while you are in your underwear. The spa was very hot and not properly cleaned and cared for, but the showers work. Management could do with a better solution to offer early arrivals a more civilized welcome. FWIW, this problem happens all over the world.
Somewhat freshened, we crossed paths with a colleague just in from Chicago and sought out some espresso and juice for breakfast.
The irony of having an intensely good tiny espresso and some fresh squeezed orange juice just next door to a generic Starbucks was not lost on us.
We stopped in at the Mercado San Miguel for some tourist-priced street food and made our way through old Madrid. Finally it was time to check in.
We were assigned room 117, a superior room in a classic hamster cage design (nothing like a rectangle with some strategic mirrors). This room is too tight to spend a week in (more about that to come), but it is fine for a day or three.
The superior category rating comes from the balcony which overlooks Plaza Mayor. All of that seems awesome until the fourth or fifth night of listening to the hack “musicians” loop through Hit the Road Jack or the Disney princess medley accompanied by a Casio soundtrack on accordion. Someone should invent a pandemic that wipes out the accordion players in one fell swoop. The most amusing part of the street music problem is the cat and mouse game they play with the police.
The view from the balcony is excellent. It is hot as the Dickens in Madrid this week, with temperatures above 101 Farenheit every day. The breeze through the balcony door is hot. The A/C in our room is almost up to the task. Almost.
The shower in 117 is fantastic. Glass. Lots of hot water. Plenty of room to get clean. 100% NPS approved.
Lunch with the team from the company we’re advising was incredible at Sa Brisa Restaurante en El Retiro. We started at 2:30 and finished at 5. Very Spanish of us!
The rooftop pool at the Pestana is a long skinny rectangle maybe a lane and a half wide. It is unlikely that the Madrid summer olympics will be held here anytime in the future. But the water is refreshing and the beer is, well, beer (don’t tell Markus).
After this excellent start, a major setback in our trip happened on day one. After receiving an email from NH about a positive COVID test among the people I was on stage performing with, I decided to test myself in the morning even though I was pretty much asymptomatic. One positive test result later, it was isolation time and worry for my partner who was also well exposed by that time.
We are still in isolation and recovery mode. By now I am almost fully recovered and plan to retest tomorrow. My partner is still in the heart of it (though she has never tested positive we are treating her as if she did).
Anyway, the pretty much constant view became this as the table was shifted over to the balcony door for a day long zoom meeting. AUGH! Honestly, I know we are all done with zoom by now, but imagine being fully prepared to chair an in person meeting full of great people from all over the world and then being relegated to zoom less than 200 yards away from the actual meeting.
Lets just say we’ve spent an inordinate amount of time trapped in 117, venturing out to walk the city in the evening once or twice, remaining masked and socially distanced. Eating room service food, take away pizza, and breakfasts fetched by whichever one of us was the most healthy. Masking even in our room together.
The hotel has been a very good base of operations, the staff accommodating to the highest degree (we are being very careful and mindful of them), and the interstitial time long and full of nothing. We even streamed 21 grams one night.
Speaking of which, the room TV/Internet tech all needs to be replaced here. It is old and it does not work with modern gear. Good luck making it stream anything.
We are existing on Spanish time, getting up late, lunching well into the 4pm hour, and eating after 10pm. Can’t wait until we can do that with other humans.
A special breakfast salad brought up for consumption.
A socially distanced Negroni. This plaza (Plaza de Santa Ana) was filled with packed restaurants at 9:30pm. We asked for a table far from everyone, and had our first proper Negroni of the trip. We were hoping that would cure us.
That night it was ice cream and potato chips for dinner.
Incidentally, our room is on the first floor above the plaza the bottom right of the lighted doorway square.
Great take out pizza can be found at Pizzamascalzone.
Have an Aperol Spritz…if you can find one.
Be a human.
Walk madrid.
Finally, a word about the common areas of the hotel. The grand stairway leading to the Plaza Mayor (and to the breakfast room).
Breakfast is excellent. Having it in the breakfast room and hotel restaurant would be nice. But so far, no dice. Fortunately there is Paula. Paula helped arrange for special treatment for my partner during a number of breakfasts this week. She was the most helpful and friendly person we encountered. Be like Paula.
We did finally venture out (carefully, slowly, and fully masked) to do some shopping at Paloma del Pozo and to see some art at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. See our blog entry here.
And we greatly enjoyed an in house Aperol Spritz conjured up by Paula. (See Aaron? We fiigured it all out.)
There is obviously much more of Madrid to see. Until our next visit!
All told, four showerheads and escape from the global pandemic woes for the Pestana Plaza Mayor. Can’t wait to experience Madrid properly.
The Lorien for Battery Recharge Through Cocktails, Art, and Conversation
December 16, 2019
Ah the Lorien, it has been a while! Since NPS last visited, IHG has done all it can to change the Kimpton chain it acquired into something we don’t recognize. The good news is that many excellent people remain, like Steph Vogel who we count as a friend.
We were assigned little nicely renovated rooms without plastic showers. Just right for this one night extravaganza. NPS was in 414.

arty bed
The shower is OK, not plastic, but who picked out that shower head?!
Thanks for the Negroni Steph!

Negroni with Watershed by Catoctin Creek
Chef prepared us dinner (we didn’t order, just reveled in what arrived). Delicious.
Must say that all of the cocktails are too sweet at the Lorien now.
We called in the usual set of favors to get the booth at the Colimbia Room. Perfect evening for talking, drinking and figuring out life.

Columbia Room menu
Breakfast the next morning was the highlight of the visit! Great to see Steph and catch up.
Then it was off to a day of art at the Hirshhorn, the Phillips, and the Renwick…oh yeah and Richard’;s house too! Just look.

Make sure to go back to the Hirshhorn. It is vastly improved
Lunch at Bistrôt du coin. Always French as all getout.

The Phillips is a favorite most anytime
Dinner with Richard was followed by an evening of conversation. Anytime.
All in all, an incredible visit. Life affirming on all counts.
Four showerheads for the Lorien. This IHG thing. Harumph.
Rydges South Bank Brisbane: Back on Top (part two)
December 2, 2018
Our first taste of Rydges South Bank Brisbane left a bad taste in the mouth. But a meeting with the GM in the morning cleared things up.
While we were off having breakfast, our room was switched to a very nice suite (room 1028).
There is plenty of room in 1028. And two balconies to boot.

Wrap around balconies

Room to exist

Working desk

A separate bedroom
The bathroom is big enough for two, and has a big tub.
Much better shower. Ahhh!

The shower is very nice
Breakfast at the Gunshop Cafe is delicious. Great espresso and juice.

Gunshop cafe Sunday brunch
After which, an excursion to Stradbroke Island (called “straddie”). Ferry ride on a bus, picnic lunch, beer, hiking, gelato, swimming in the ocean. A great day.

Point Lookout
The seas were high, and we got wet, which was a blast!
See more pictures from the Stradbroke trip.
Dinner at Julius Pizzeria was authentically Italian. Great pizza and great people.

Julius Pizzeria
There is a budding cocktail scene in Brisbane. Thanks to Rachel at Wickham we were looped in. We can confirm that Saville Row is top notch. (Look for the orange door.)
Likewise Electric Avenue is a great place for a cocktail. Jess created a drink for us.

Jess at Electric Avenue
Rye Surprise
45ml Bulliet Rye
20ml dry vermouth
15ml lemon
20ml kiwi puree
40ml pineapple
8 dashes peychauds
shake. double strain. serve up in a coupette. garnish with dehydrated pineapple.

Rye Surprise
Apparently a Brisbane cocktail called the clockwork orange was a contest winner…which contest we don’t recall. It falls squarely in the tiki category.
Clockwork Orange
20ml aperol
20ml cherry heering
20ml passionfruit syrup
30ml gin (monkey 47)
25ml lemon
2 dashes orange bitters
shake. strain. serve over crushed ice in a tall collins glass.
Bars we were unable to visit but heard tell are good include: Legends Speakeasy (find the passcode on the net) and Tomcat (behind Bill Murray).
Skip the Pancake Manor. Though it is built in an old church the food is awful and the espresso is worse. Greasy spoons should be greasy but not just bad.
QAGOMA is an excellent museum. The modern art collection is far superior to the science museum’s stuff. Just stick with the art. Have a beer in the courtyard.
The botanical gardens are also worth a visit.
Four showerheads and a tip of the hat to Rydges. Thanks for fixing things. Now for some sleep!
Though NPS has been to Austria on multiple occasions, Graz is a new city for us. Of course, Graz is not really new — it has been here since the Copper Age (5000 BCE). So where do you stay when you go to Graz? Hotel Wiesler fits the bill.

Graz
After a fitful trip across the pond (in United Polaris First no less) and a connection made by less than three minutes, we arrived early at the very small Graz airport. A taxi into town took 30 minutes.
Fortunately, our room was ready to go. Boy did we need a long shower after all of that metal tubing! We were assigned room 418.
Like Graz itself, Hotel Wiesler is in an old facade but is quirky and modern inside. 418 reflects its metropolitan surroundings.

One bit room 418

Movable study nook

Sink in the room (mexican pottery?! OK)
The very nice shower indeed is built right into the room. Excellent design, and no plastic in sight.

NPS approved shower
You can see the old coming through in the design, with rough walls exposed. Graz did the same thing with Kuntshaus Graz, a modern museum seemingly dropped from space right into the middle of town. Sadly, the Kuntshaus was full of nothing as they are between exhibitions at the moment. But the architecture is remarkable and remarkably weird.

kunsthaus graz

View from Kuntshaus

Nothing more need be said
One of the most popular old restaurants in a town that likes to eat is just behind hotel Wiesler. In fact, you can see it out the windows of 418.

Gasthaus zur Alten Press

see
Beware the weiner schnitzel, which comes in very delicious but huge servings.
Dinner on top of the hill at Aiola Upstairs was pretty not bad. Getting up there via stairs is the way to do it!

The dreaded stairs

Hotel Wiesler in view

pagota

top castle and armory from 1500s
Cocktails in Graz is a possibility. See Landhaus Keller.
Hote Wiesler makes the grade. Four showerheads and a big thank you for the very early checkin!
LACMA
January 24, 2017
When in LA, we do try to go to see our old friends at the LACMA.
Like this.

Chris Mac’s ancestor

Blue period Picasso

Frenimy

No pictures of the shadow

Ahead of its time

Burn brightly while you can

Rodin

Blue sky (by me)
The Umstead: NC Strives for Perfection
April 4, 2015
So close and yet so not close. We’ve been to the umstead many times, but they don’t seem to know that. Hey guys, maybe a computer??
As predicted, in the Spring it is just gorgeous here.
But all is not perfection. Arrival after midnight should pay attention to reservation constraints. Like: 2 beds (actually made), the fact that we have been here multiple times (?!), the fact that we like sparkling water, and so on. The umstead has slipped management-wise over the last few years. Who is the general manager? Great property, but not managed very tightly at all. Get it together, umstead, if you want to be world class and not just the best property in NC.
Room 107 is beautiful as all of the rooms here are.
The shower is to write home about. Really. Bench. 4 shower heads. Plenty of pressure. World class.
Note that the patio is a superior place to have a leisurely dinner on a fine Spring evening. Delicious. The company was the best part of course. Oh, and there is real mixology here now too, mostly stolen wholesale from NY. Nothing if not good mimics here.
However, we’re looking for perfection. Four point five showerheads for the Umstead. Time for management to wake up and figure out that being great means serious attention to detail and a history on your guests.
During college and the arts, there was a visit to Duke and UNC. Both schools are to be avoided for different reasons. Duke thinks it is Stanford (uh, nope). UNC thinks it is a sports franchise. Ouch.
Hey look what North Carolina collected when you weren’t watching. ART.
They Said There Would be Cupcakes: Palomar Washington DC
February 15, 2014
First things first. We left this:
For this:
So that was good.
Getting in to DC was going swimmingly until Pennsylvania Avenue was blocked by police just at the wrong time (Whitehurst Freeway doom). Must be a White House thing going on. That debacle cost us 30 minutes and an excruciating crawl through Georgetown. Traffic thereby ate most of the allocated Phillips time.
A quick dash through the Phillips. Bees and Picasso.
Then time for a tea at Soho Cafe just across the street from the DC Palomar. (The Soho is a great find, way better than the Starbucks next door.) There was even time for the tail end of a particularly crowded Kimpton wine hour. 30-year-olds everywhere.
Checkin was chaotic. I do believe the Palomar is full to the gills for the dregs of Valentines Day. At checkin, the computer had a hell of a time time finding us, mostly since newly minted GM Abe Liao had plussed us up to avoid plastic shower despair. Thanks Abe! You rock. (Steph Vogel has moved on to become GM of George. Time for a visit to the George it seems!)
Because of Abe, we’re back in the Presidential Suite at the DC Palomar. Sweet.
But due to a massive shortage of cheese, the amenity we were told about at checkin (as Kristen spoofed Abe to deliver a “personal” message) was not in the room when we walked in. Eventually it arrived, cheese included, and all was well with the universe. Great hotel on valentines weekend? Chaos! Chaos I say!
Chaos tilted our way. Cheese, sparkling water, and cupcakes. Awesome.
Plus the Presidential Suite?! Yay. You should know that we’re here reaping the benefit of staying many nights at various Kimptons all over creation. The Kimpton InTouch program free night thing? Superb. No other hotel chain does it like this. And an quadruple upgrade to boot. As predicted, Kimpton is rocking our little world.
Dinner tonight was arranged by Larry Kilbourne aka “baker Bob,” executive baker at Le Diplomate. So fun to have friends who include the best baker in North America.
Le Diplomate is excellent. And Baker Bob’s bread is truly out of this world. The only thing we took home in a “doggy bag” was some slices of the gorgeous walnut/cranberry bread.
BTW, their bar is top notch too, though way overcrowded.
Let there be cupcakes!
Palomar DC Does its Wonky Thing
May 15, 2013
Things can be a bit chunky at the Palomar DC—sometimes hot, sometimes not—just like the political situation in this city. After my last whirlwind stay here, Hotel Manager Stephane Vogel noticed and promised a better stay this time. He delivered. Thanks Steph. Hotels that listen and respond are high on my list. Kimpton is really outstanding at that. (FWIW, as I was typing this entry, Steph dropped in to say hello and chat. Great guy.)
I find myself in civilization between meetings with no desire to fight traffic in and out of the city. But I know DC pretty well since I live 60 miles door to door from the White House. Beltway traffic can suck.
Room 539 beats 438 hands down. More space, much better design, and a glass shower that rocks in the morning with great water pressure. Without further ado…
The welcome package was set out on a customized placemat map of DC. Very silly and fun. And also wonky. (Hey, am I a “Mr” or a “Dr”? The placemat says both.)
The all important glass shower is situated in a really cool bathroom design with a window over the gigantic tub overlooking the bedroom.
A visit with my brother and Esther to the bar revealed a nice space with a decent bar run by Obi and Joe. There is some trace residual Jacques evidence, but all in all the bar is not quite where it needs to be yet.
Obi is a tiki-influenced barman. We sampled two of his concoctions. The Southern Belle
1.5 oz bourbon (they are stuck with Makers but Blantons would be far better)
muddled mint, lime, and cucumber
a splash of simple syrup
Stir down and serve on a highball on the rocks.
The other drink had a name, but the menu on the net is stale. We’ll call it the DC Stinkbug Tiki
1.5 oz Appleton Rum (I would switch this out for Mt Gay Eclipse)
.5 falernum
.5 lime juice
3 muddled springs of cilantro
Stir down. Serve with a splash of club soda on ice in a tall cup.
All in all, five showerheads for the DC Palomar. They’re not quite ready for the Palomar wars, but they will be soon.
This afternoon is an outing (on quasi business) to the National Gallery to see the Durer exhibit followed by a Cyber War discussion over dinner.
And do I miss United airlines from this trip? Nope.
In Piazza Della Signoria a Disneyfied Location in Florence
March 28, 2013
Firenze (or Florence as we English-speakers call it) is the tourist mecca of the Renaissance. Things have been pretty much the same here for 1000 years. Except for the swarm of Americans that is.
We’re staying at a small hotel (pretending that it is a B&B) called In Piazza Delle Signoria. It’s a hotel. The Leonardo room and the Botticelli room are both very nicely appointed in a sort of nouveau rich way—almost tasteful but not quite.
But the view? Unbelievable. And the location? Could not be beat.
The Leonardo room is large and has beautiful huge windows that open on the square. The only issue with the room (and this has more to do with this part of Florence than anything…kinda) is a tendency to fill with a whiff of sewer gas when it is sealed up. Opening the windows solves that problem.
The bedroom.
The bathroom is about as tiled as possible. It’s also a bit hot since the towel heater is on perpetual hellfire and damnation mode (it should be called fra savonarola). No turning that thing down. I suppose it would be nice if it burned up the swamp gas?!
We should also say that though the local wifi net is fast and well-designed, the ISP that the hotel is connected through must use a straw or semaphore flags. Expect delays and dropped connections.
And no need to practice your Italian, because I met only Americans staying here (if you count Canadians as Americans, that is). All very nice, interesting people.
On the other hand, the shower is awesome (esp for Europe).
All in all this is a very nice place to stay. We’ll give it a high four showerheads rating.
Some advice if you stay at this hotel. Do not ask the night managers (as the case may be) where to eat. We were directed to the worst meal on this trip at the truly awful Acqua al 2. We have heard from locals that it used to be good. It is not good at all now. How could you be any good shoving 300 Americans through night after night?! After complaining (in Italian no less), the owner cooked me some very nice penne with their signature sauce. But the stuff we were served before that was truly awful. Avoid this horrible restaurant. (And note for the record that picking a non-tourist restaurant in Florence is an NP Hard problem.) A discussion with Monica cleared up the bad data problem I hope. She seemed to know better than the very nice but clueless night manager (a labrador retriever?).
Fortunately we were joined by Stefano the next night for a delightful and delicious meal at Il Latini which was so much more genuine, delicious, and Florentine that it is hard to imagine the difference.
Day 1: San Lorenzo market (many leather goods). The Uffizi. Shopping in Oltrarno. Buying shoes and all the other stuff that entails from Jennifer Tattanelli at Casini.
Day 2: Bargello, then Academia delle belli arti (for David of course), followed by a very late lunch at a local enoteca. Then the most important part of the day. Eli’s haircut at Ciro (thank you Jennifer) where Marco was not only fabuloso, but careful and kind as Eli had his first real cut in 8 years. He looks great. We topped things off before dinner with a trip up the Torre.
Dinner at Golden View was excellent. Not only was everything superb: there was jazz, modern art, buontalenti gelato, and Grappa della cantina privata bocchino 1994. Best meal in Firenze by several kilometers.
But the devil may care, even as its head is removed.