Day 41 - Loosers, Part Deux

We drove around our hotel Alma in circles trying to approach it closer with our enormous luggage. The neighborhood looks plenty eclectic, with the buildings being the only part Belgian left. Finally we pulled over behind some car where the guy was furiously doing something underneath the wheel (car jacking?). A bunch of men who, at best, looked like workers after a long day, sat nearby smoking. I took Isabella and our passports and walked over to the hotel to register. The lobby looked simple but updated. The older gentleman at the counter was surprisingly courteous. I read many reports of the hotel staff and this hotel being unfriendly but this was definitely not the case here. He showed me the Grand Place parking about a block away and explained how to get there.

We parked, grabbed our immediate stuff and walked into our room. We reserved a triple, thinking that Georgia would get the third bed and Isabella will sleep in the corner like before. The counter guy gave us two keys - for the rooms on the third and fourth floor and said that they are connected. It looked strange but we went in.

Here I pause effectively. 

There was a winding staircase in the room on the third floor to get to the fourth floor. The same nasty crickety "I have way too many 4-year olds" staircase. We went back to the guy downstairs. He was nice and helpful but essentially said that there no triples or quadrupples at the hotel. That this is what they call the rooms that are connected by the staircase. And the most that he could do is try to move us to the larger room and stick another bed in there, tomorrow, and that's not for sure.

We walked around for a bit trying to sort things out. While one is in this special kind of mood everything is affected. All we could see were dilapidated old buildings with graffiti. Massage specialists inside Shanghai massage parlor, definitely did not come from China. Even though we were meters away from the Grand Place, walking to it we passed scores Greek, Indian, Chinese, Lebanese eateries and started to despair of seeing a place that sold waffles or chocolate. We finally found one (checkmark!) and went back to the hotel.

Next Dan went out to a pleasant square next to the underground parking and checked with Novotel and Ibis that were located there. Novotel had family rooms that cost less than what we were paying with breakfast included. I think we missed it because online prices are higher. So that's our new home for the final week.

The room is really nice, the linens and the girl at the desk brought Isabella a crib and gave kids some stuffed animals. The view outside is definitely better. Wow. When the kids went to sleep, I went downstairs and got a drink and online. Ready to re-discover the city tomorrow. A shawarma for lunch would be great.