On our recent road-trip we had chosen to stay in the 'Ibis Styles' hotel in Albi - which, as you can see from the above pic., should not have been hard to find. Our Google sat-nav host for the journey had been a charming English chap until we had a slight blip due to odd interference just outside the town when an American lady cut in - we approached the hotel from the right of this pic and on the roundabout under the trees,she informed us we had 'arrived at our destination'. As you can see from the 'Google maps' screenshot below there is no obvious indication at street level that you 'have arrived', indeed you have to make that small sharp turn right off the roundabout to get in front of the hotel. Plus it was difficult for my navigator to look up due the foliage on the trees when we 'arrived'.
The sat-nav lady had said 'turn right', so we did, just after the entrance! - she of course then went a little berserk as did the peeps in the car, as after having driven four hours to get there, we were in no mood to be messed around! We set off on a little mystery tour around the town and tried again but unfortunately approached it the same way and as we had already and took the same right-hand turn with my navigator searching the horizon to check if we had missed the hotel first time round - we had of course but at this stage we did not know that! The 'lady' started to take us around again but was by this time, having to take a bit of stick from her controllers. The driver decided to ignore her and take matters into his own hands by going off-piste with the intention of stopping someone to ask where the hotel was but by a stroke of good luck we arrived back at our favourite roundabout but from the road you see in the first pic. - and lo and behold there she was!!
We managed to take the sharp right into the street in front of the hotel this time but to our dismay found that there was only limited,expensive, paid parking on the street just around the corner. We decided to risk a short 'no pay' stay while we sussed out where the access to the hotel carpark was. We had arrived a little early but the very helpful young man on reception said we could drop off our luggage before parking the car. We asked how we accessed the parking - ah well, you actually have to go over to their sister 'budget' hotel and use their underground parking but not to worry it was only minutes away. That was true if you were walking but to drive meant taking instructions from the 'lady'! Now, whether it was because we were tired and stresses,or she was, she had a panic attack due to one-way streets and had us 'turn right' no 'turn left' - an hour later (I know) we arrived at an up-and-over garage door on a one-way street with someone up my bumper only to find that when it opened we were met by a BMW trying to exit .- there was only one way in and out! Stressed?, not us! After eventually descending the ramp and finding a space we did the (short) walk back in the direction of the hotel, which was simple without a car.
We headed straight to a restaurant,had lunch and a big glass of wine before heading back to the hotel,still a little early for check-in but 'helpful young man' informed us there was a restaurant on the top of the building where we could have a coffee before he called us back down to collect our 'key'. He directed us to the special elevator that took us to the eight floor. We decided more wine was the order of the day and enjoyed taking in our surroundings while awaiting the 'call. It came and we were given our luggage and key - fourth floor and were directed to another elevator which was for hotel residents only. Pressed button 4 but no movement - went in and out a few times without any joy, Pauline by this time had had enough and took to the stairs! I was about to ask the 'helpful young man for assistance' when someone else joined me and ask what floor - "quatrième s'il vous plaît" and miraculously off we went. Me and the luggage got there before Pauline and I used the keycard to enter the room. I knew from my non-extensive travelling experience that I should then find the slot to put it in to get the lights to work - only could not find it. Neither of the two round light switches seemed to work - Pauline duly arrived and took charge of the situation but couldn't find it either. After much self-ridicule we eventually found a very fine slot in one of the round switches and were much relieved that we did not have to call on the very 'helpful young man'
the riverside walk...
As we were exploring we found the spot where we would have dinner later and it took on an even prettier look in the evening.
Turned out to be an excellent choice.
So after a very eventful day it was back to the hotel and a nightcap on the roof terrace. Tired but content we entered the elevator to take us back to our room on the fourth floor but it was back to button problems - Pauline again took the initiative and headed for the stairs, I took the keycard, certain that I would be there before her but no, it took me a while to solve the riddle - well it was actually solved when after quite a while a fellow visitor to the roof top explained that if you wanted to stop at one of the floors that were part of the hotel you had to first swipe a pad on the wall with your key card - who knew? By the time I made it to our floor Pauline had already arrived and had been patiently waiting for me and the key to get there!
Thinking about it the keycard security idea is, on the face of it, a good idea but what if you come down the elevator with a non-resident - what's to stop them following you out onto your floor?
Footnote: 'the helpful young man' was called Jérémy.
No comments:
Post a Comment