Palace @ Versailles

The other day, my parents took me to a place called Versailles. Apparently, it was a very popular tourist attraction because there were tons of people from all over the world visiting.

Being only 19 months old, I had no idea about what it was or even where it was. My father said we'd be going on a train ride, so I was excited for that. I love trains.

But unfortunately, the train station to catch the train to Versailles was a bit of a walk from our Vendôme hotel.

We left our hotel around 11:30AM and walked across the River Seine from the Musée Louvre and walked along the Left Bank until we reached Musée D'Orsay. Right by the entrance to the museum, we saw the sign for the RER (Paris' railroad system - not to be confused with their underground Metro) and stairs heading under the museum. My father didn't see an elevator, so he picked up my stroller and took me down while my mother followed closely behind, supervising the process. Around the corner, we found the ticket office and asked for some return (round-trip) tickets to Versailles.

The man was very nice and spoke great English. He informed us that we needed to take the VICK train on Platform A. He gave us our tickets and informed us to keep the tickets away from our cell phones so they wouldn't lose their magnetic info. You'll need your used ticket to exit at your destination station.

The turnstiles were electronic and you slid your paper ticket into the slot and pulled it out when it came back out. Fortunately for parents, they had a larger turnstile made especially for strollers but it took a little bit of time. First you put your ticket in, then the turnstile doors shut behind you. Then you waited 4 seconds while the machine calibrated and then the exit doors opened. Odd, but whatever. It sure beat having to lift my stroller over the turnstiles.

We finally made our way up to the platform (more stairs to carry me up) and found the screen with the schedule of trains. Next VICK train was due to arrive at 12:31PM and we'd be on our way.

After about 30 minutes on the train, we arrived at the Versailles Chateau Rive Gauche train stop, the very last one on the VICK line. It's important to remember, because there's another Versailles train stop as well as Viroflay Rive Gauche (which sounds the same, but is obviously different).

Following the crowds, you found the exits, but needed your ticket to get through the turnstiles. They had one for strollers again, but it didn't seem to work, so we just pushed my umbrella stroller through the regular turnstile.

From the station, you turn right and walk up the main street through the town. By now, it was a bit after 1PM and we were a bit hungry, so we decided to stop at one of the restaurants we saw along the way.

Despite it looking like a tourist trap, we opted for the Spanish restaurant and had their €12.50 lunch special which came with a choice of appetizer and an entree. My parents chose the foie gras app and the paella for each of them as well as a bottle of bordeaux (€20). I passed on the red wine, as I was saving space for that delicious Spanish saffron rice, but also because I'm a baby.

By now, it was close to 2PM and we were ready to check out Versailles. We continued down the large street until we reached the big intersection and saw tree lined boulevard we needed to turn left onto.

From there, you could see a large statue of Louis XIV and the magnificent palace ahead. We had already purchased our tickets via the 2 Day Paris Museum Pass, so we skipped the ticket line and went to the entrance.

Unfortunately, I had to check my stroller and be carried or walk. Fortunately, it was free to do so, but the stroller/coat check closed at 6PM (a fact we almost learned the hard way).

 

After checking out the interior, we walked outside to the gardens. They had a shuttle (€7/person) that would take you around the grounds like you were in Disneyland. At first, my father said it wasn't worth paying for, but I explained that I was just a baby and was tired of walking, so he agreed and off we were.

 

Unfortunately, by the time we got off the shuttle and made our way back to the exit, it was 6:10PM. We went to reclaim my stroller and saw the signs that they closed at 6PM! My father was holding me so my mother had to sprint to the entrance where we claimed our stroller. First the signs were confusing and we went the wrong way but eventually she found the right place and barely caught the last employee as he was leaving for the night. Thankfully, he unlocked the doors and retrieved our stroller! Lesson learned.

The Palace of Versaille was indeed beautiful, and all and the surrounding Gardens were immaculately taken care of. It seemed like a great place for a young baby prince or princess to grow up, but what I liked best about Versailles was how friendly all the French pigeons were!

Bolivia to France - 5 Years Later

Some of you may recall that my father traveled around the world by himself 5 years ago. One of his stops was in Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia - the salt flats.

If you've never been (and I'm guessing most of you have not been), it's a very remote part of Bolivia (10 hour bus ride from the capital, La Paz).

There's not a lot to do there, so hopefully you've already booked the 3 day/2 night tour where you and 6 strangers will be crammed into a Toyota Landrover driving for hours through the massive salt flats to see some of the most unique and interesting natural sights you'll ever see.

 

 

 

The reason I bring up my father's Bolivia adventure 5 years later is because on that trip, he met a few new friends, including Markus.

Markus (seen here in the light grey jacket) was from Austria and was going to spend a lot of time in South America for work. He and my father were around the same age (which was ancient for a backpacker) and when they weren't traveling, they were both working professionals. Along with some of the others in the group, everyone on their tour made some new international friends.

As it turned out, both my father and Markus were heading to Buenos Aires, Argentina after Boliva so they decided to meet up when they both arrived and explore BA with a familiar face.

My father wanted some Argentine steak so they went to La Cabrera, a famous BA steakhouse in the Palermo district. Despite Markus being a vegetarian at the time, my father coerced convinced him to try some of the world renowned beef.

After Buenos Aires, my father went off to Iguazu Falls, then met up with Rob (a New York friend) in Brazil where he relaxed on the beaches of Morro de Sao Paulo, explored the Afro-Brazilian culture of Salvador and indulged in the urban charms of Rio de Janiero.

One day in Rio, he and Rob were visiting the favelas (slums) on an organized favela tour. As he was going through the dilapidated homes, he heard his name called. It was Markus.

Markus and his friends were on the same organized Favela tour in Rio. Small world? Or perhaps it's a common occurrence when you're on the "Gringo Trail" from Lima to Buenos Aires.

Fast forward to 2013. In those short five years, my father and mother got married (2009), my mother moved to the United States (2010), I was born (2011), my father left his job again (2012) and we were off traveling around the world. This time, we were in Paris.

As an avid reader of my blog, Markus saw that we'd be in Paris the same week he and his family would be there. So he reached out to my father, and they met up for lunch to catch up. Interestingly enough, Markus also met the love of his life on that 2008 trip. They too were married soon after and had their first child, a beautiful daughter named Sara. Sara was about 1 year older than me, but we got along swimmingly. Here we all are in the Tuileries Garden near the Louvre.

I guess whenever you think your life is so unique, there might be someone else in the world along that same exact path. And the discovery of that fellow traveler doesn't make your individual life any less special, but rather, makes Life that much more amazing.

Westin Paris - Vendôme

Hotel Stay Detail 
Hotel: Westin Paris - Vendôme
Dates: June 1-2, 2013 
Rate Paid: Free Night Coupon 
Regular Room Rate: $625/night (incl. tax) 
Total $ Benefit: $625
Point Redemption: N/A

Background
If you recall, my parents and I stayed in San Francisco back in early February 2013 as a stopover to Thailand. A few months before that, my mother had signed up for her own Starwood Preferred Guest loyalty account. But of course, since my father had SPG Gold Status already, we typically used his account to book our Starwood hotel stays. Unlike airline frequent flyer programs, the hotel loyalty programs usually don't make sense to have multiple accounts in the same household, except...

...when the hotel companies try to encourage new but inactive members to book a stay and try out their properties by offering them special promotions. Most of the time, it's extra hotel points or enhanced amenities (free breakfasts, drinks, internet, etc.), but sometimes you truly get an amazing deal(s).

This past December, my mother was targeted for SPG Bonus Beginnings:

"No time like the present — book now and complete an eligible stay¹ with us between December 1, 2012, and February 28, 2013, and we'll add a Free Weekend Night Award to your account, redeemable through February 28, 2014, at any of our more than 1,100 Category 1–6 hotels and resorts worldwide. No blackouts, no hassles."

Then came another promotion from TravelZoo:

"Experience the "City by the Bay" with this 55%-off special at the upscale Le Meridien San Francisco. Visit Dec. 9 - March 3, including weekends, to nab this $149-per-night package that includes $101 worth of extras (valet parking, 2 cocktails, wireless internet access)"

So being the travel-hacker my father was, he registered my mother's SPG account for the Bonus Beginnings promotion and then used the TravelZoo discount code to book 1 night at the Westin San Francisco for $149/night (vs regular rates of $320/night).

After completing the stay, my mother received an email from Starwood with her coupon code for her Free Weekend Night Award. With these awards, you get the most value out of them by picking the most expensive hotel. But the catch is that you only get 1 night. Chances are, however, that you'd want to stay the full weekend, meaning you'd have to pay cash/points for the 2nd weekend night.

But as luck would have it, we were already staying in Paris over the weekend and there was a Starwood Category 6 Westin Paris Vendôme only 2 blocks down the street from the Park Hyatt Paris Vendôme. So after staying 3 nights at the Park Hyatt, we checked out and switched to the Westin to use our free night.

So for only $149 (plus another $30 of taxes), we received a $320 hotel room at the San Francisco Westin AND a $625 hotel room at the Westin Paris - Vendôme. And now, for the requisite 1980's Pop Culture reference: "I just love it when a plan comes together."

Hotel Room

When we arrived to the Westin early at 11AM, they actually had a room ready for us to check into (4 hours before we were supposed to). But since this was an unexpected surprise, we had already made plans to do the Hop On-Hop Off Tourist bus. So we just dropped off our bags and left the hotel, but thought about having coffee in the beautiful atrium cafe downstairs.

The room itself was pretty standard and a smaller than what we had at the Park Hyatt, but it suited our needs perfectly. Honestly, the fact the room was available early was the biggest plus, because my anal father really gets nervous leaving his passport and other valuables in the luggage storage room. (I didn't bother tell him that virtually NO ONE wants to steal the identify of a short stocky Asian man, but that wouldn't have helped the situation).

In terms of Paris hotels in general, we really just needed a place to stay for the night and didn't spend much time at all inside them. That's why we usually stay in more moderately priced hotels when we're in fun cities like Paris, but when you have a SPG Free Night Coupon staring at you in the face, we sure weren't going to let it expire!

Park Hyatt Paris Vendôme

Hotel Stay Detail
Hotel: Park Hyatt Paris Vendôme
Dates: May 29-June 1, 2013
Rate Paid: 22,000 Gold Passport Points/night 
Regular Room Rate: $976/night (incl. tax)
Total $ Benefit: $2,928 
Point Redemption: 4.4 cents/pt

After a long wait and excruciatingly detailed planning, we finally checked into the Park Hyatt Paris Vendôme.

For regular LCD readers, you'll recall this is the third Park Hyatt we've been lucky enough to stay at. The first was the PH Mendoza (amazing Presidential suite) and the second was the PH Buenos Aires (phenomenal VIP service). And they say, "The third time's the charm."

But I have to say, the PHPV was very nice, but overall, it wasn't all that they made it out to be. Don't get me wrong, it would have been an amazing stay had I not been to the Park Hyatts in Argentina a few months before. But you never really felt comfortable in your own skin here.

Location - Amazing. Right on 5 Rue de la Paix and within walking distance to the Louvre, Royal Palace, Rue Saint-Honoré and Tuileries Garden. The street is also full of luxury goods retailers like Cartier, Montblanc, Charvet, and Louis Vitton to name just a few.

The area is very similar to Manhattan's Upper East Side (Madison Ave, not York Ave). Very posh and well-heeled individuals everywhere along with the entitled polished service industry that supports them.


Room - Very nicely appointed and classically modern (isn't that an oxymoron?). A lot of gold trim (but not in a Donald Trump sort of way) and dark wood paneling/furniture. We were "upgraded" to a King Deluxe room as Diamond status members from the regular Park Queen room we had booked using Hyatt points. We did notice a small difference after we saw a Park Queen room which didn't have our walk in closet or extended bathroom.

The room also came with 2 complimentary bottles of Evian water, a coffee maker with some very nice coffee that my mother raves about as well as an iPod docking station, DVD player and a US electrical plug adapter.

Housekeeping and evening turn down service did a great job. In fact, every day, they replaced our bar soaps from just 1 day's use with entirely new packages. The baby liberal environmentalist in me was shocked, but the young hotel traveler in me was quite impressed.

Food - As Hyatt Diamond members, we were entitled to complimentary breakfast either downstairs in the hotel restaurant as a buffet or via room service as a fixed a la carte. Of course, my ravenous parents opted for the unlimited buffet.

The complimentary breakfast choice was the "American Breakfast" which runs for a pretty eye popping €49  ($64 USD)... per person.

For that price, in addition to the buffet of pastries, cereals, yogurts, fruit, cold cuts and cheeses, you were also given fresh squeezed fruit juices (orange, mango, carrott, grapefruit), coffee/tea and an egg dish (omelette, scrambled, poached).

I immediately went online on our family iPad and confirmed that at Trader Joe's in NYC, you could buy an entire gallon of orange juice, a few pounds of organic fruit, and a full carton of eggs for under $10 USD total. Could have saved $114 per breakfast!

But since our American Breakfast was provided 100% free (thank you, Hyatt), we indulged ourselves (i.e., pretended like we paid in cash and had to get our money's worth).

The buffet choice were very good, especially the fresh salmon, which was actually sushi grade quality. But you can only eat so much pastries, fruit and cold cuts before you want your breakfast entree.

The hot egg dishes, however, left a lot to be desired. Their version of scrambled eggs was more like a soup. They even gave you a spoon instead of a fork. My father had read how amazing they were, so he tried it, but was not a fan. My mother's omelette was fine, but it didn't have much taste to it (the way the egg disc in the Egg McMuffin tastes). Neither of them finished their plate, which gave me some ammo the next time they want me to finish the food on my plate!

Baby Friendliness - Like most high end luxury hotels, the Park Hyatt did a great job catering to me. When we walked into our room, my pack and play was already set up with some pretty nice baby blankets.

Then in the bathroom, we found not only a baby bathtub, but also a tiny mini-potty. I'm not even 19 months old yet, but I appreciate the vote of confidence! And as you can see in the earlier photo, they also had high chairs for me in their restaurant.

So a solid A- in this area (no A+ because they didn't have any baby shampoo or baby lotion like at the Conrad Koh Samui or a baby bathrobe like they did at the Intercontinental Berchtesgaden).

Service - Here's where the Park Hyatt Paris fell short of its other Park Hyatt peers. As you may know, my parents are not the flashiest of people. They keep themselves relatively well groomed, but always appear somewhat casual. Despite this fashion choice (or lack thereof), every single member of the Argentina Park Hyatt staff (at both properties) treated them like VIP guests. Granted, perhaps it was because my father was a Hyatt Diamond, but I'm pretty sure it's just how they treated all their Park Hyatt hotel guests.

The PH Paris staff was a bit more inconsistent. While some exuded the amazingly high level of customer service that the Park Hyatt's are known for (front desk and restaurant wait staff in particular), several others (some doormen/concierge and especially one restaurant hostess) seemed to calibrate their level of engagement based on their visual assessment of your social status.

We realized early on that when they randomly asked for your room number, it was a passive way to determine if you "belonged" in the hotel or not. A few times, they seemed to want to stop us from entering the hotel or the restaurant - like we had mistakenly wandered into a private dinner party accidentally looking for a McDonalds. My mother also noticed that she drew a lot of suspicious stares from the female staff as if she threw out their last copy of 50 Shades of Gray. Let's just say the prevalence of this attitude wasn't everywhere, but it was very noticeable and became very annoying very quickly.

My parents would never say so, but I'm pretty sure it was because my stroller was pretty cheap looking. Perhaps if I had the latest Bugaboo, I would have garnered some more respect, but alas, my umbrella stroller's been with me through the rough times, so I'm not going to ditch it now to impress some naive French restaurant hostess.

Overall - In conclusion, we had a nice stay here, but it wasn't quite as "amazing" as the Park Hyatt in Buenos Aires or what I expect the Park Hyatts to be in Tokyo and Sydney. And I know Europe is expensive in general, especially with the USD:EUR conversion rate, but it's hard to imagine we'd ever even think about spending cash for the hotel instead of using our Hyatt points.