Day 3 was a triumph of luxury over crappy orange sofas and substance over fluff. After sorting through the options, we booked a room at the Radisson, across town from the scary shower. (I failed to note in yesterday’s litany that there is no temperature control on Scary Shower, so it is susceptible to toilets and sinks everywhere in the hotel. This added a nice hot potato gaming aspect to the experience. Also, SS’s drain cover, directly in the center of the Designated Showering Circle Area, is pressure sensitive, so about every minute and a half, when you accidentally step on it, you have to re-set the lever on the wall so that the midget doesn’t drown.)
The Radisson is one of the nicest hotels at which I have ever stayed. It’s mostly pewter grey and crimson in the lobby, which gives it a subtlety and class lacking in our previous accomodation. (Turquoise was big over there.) Our room is on the top floor – 6th – and has a full-wall-of-windows view of an old building that looks like it’s out of Harry Potter. Most importantly, the Radisson has wireless and there are no tacky 1960’s used sofas anywhere. Aside from the luxuries, the coolest thing in the hotel is the electrical system. Right above the light switches is a slot for the room key. This turns on all the fuses. When you leave, presumably taking your room key from this convenient storage slot, the lights all go out 2 minutes later. Cool. (Except when you are in the shower. Which is how I found out about this.)
What pisses me off, looking back on the awful Novotel, is that they charge about $18 less than the Radisson for about 75% less stuff. The Novotel is like what this comedian said about Motel 6: “Their motto is, `You’re outside. We’re inside. Want to come in?'” The Radisson, on the other hand, has everything and then some: fridge, safe, cool soaps, great bed, swivel TV, view, yummy breakfast, neat-o lobby, interesting drapes, and no cartoons anywhere. I guess you get to charge whatever the market will bear, but I am definitely reserving a teeny grudge slot that will prompt a full background check on hotels prior to future arrivals. Never assume that the awesome places are too expensive.
The new location did cause me to get massively lost on the way home tonight – I saw the entire Merchant City due to an incredibly incomplete map and a total absence of a sense of direction. Somebody should really have stopped me when I walked by for the ninth time.
On the fluff note, I would just like to say that whatever you read about Glasgow being equal to Edinburgh, the new cultural hub of Europe, blah blah blah is total garbage. Not having been to Edinburgh in almost 15 years, I thought, reading all the happy Glasgow hype, that I might have forgotten what it was like. Nope. I took the train over today. Edinburgh is drop-dead beautiful. It’s green and old. Glasgow is not. Mind you, Glasgow has its own charms and I’m delighted to be here – we’re off to Makintosh on Saturday and I can’t wait – but the over-statement seems unnecessary. Let’s just be honest: Edinburgh is the hottie of Scottish cities.
Displaced 