Category: lodgings

  • A short hop to the UK

    Traditional Shopping Arcade in Bournemouth downtown – the mall of yesteryears. A couple of weekends ago, we hopped over to England to visit Westbourne, near Bournemouth on the south coast. When I was in boarding school, I spent many of my half-term breaks in this area with a family. The last time I was in…

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  • Hotel Le Morgane at Chamonix

    Hotel Le Morgane is located at the entrance of the village center just outside of the pedestrianized area.  We parked the car in a private lot behind the hotel – which was very convenient. Sue managed to find a good deal at this hotel.  We scored a superior room at the top floor with an…

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  • Piscolabis / The Praktik

    Piscolabis is the first restaurant we ate at after we rendez-vous with IT.  The restaurant is next to her hotel –  The Praktik which she raved about – “5-star interiors at a 3-star rate”.  I did not see the room but the location of the hotel is definitely 5 star – at Rambla Catalunya no.…

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  • Macau casino hotels 2: Grand Lisboa versus Wynn

    Big casino hotels appear in clusters in Macau.  There is a cluster at the Outer harbor (新口岸) anchored by the Grand Lisboa at one end, the Mandarin Oriental at the other, and with the Wynn, MGM Grand, L’Arc, and Star World scattered in the middle.  Another cluster of hotels is located at the Cotai strip…

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  • Macau casino hotels 1: Mermaid versus Jellyfish

    This is the view out of our hotel room window (16th floor) day and night – Hard Rock, Crown and Grand Hyatt – the City of Dreams – all on the Cotai Strip – the reclaimed land located between the islands of Taipa and Coloane.  The pool belongs to our neighboring hotel complex – the…

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  • The Shopping Arcades: vrai ou faux

    One thing you cannot avoid in these Macau hotels is the shopping arcade, each with the same ubiquitous luxury brands – some more exclusive than the others – all expensive but boring – and they were mostly empty when we were visiting.  The masses had not yet descended on these hotels and shopping centers as…

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