Széchenyi Baths

Take the metro #1. to the next-last stop.

I went to this thermal bath at a day with 30 degrees c. Not the best day to visit I think. It was crowded and it looked like they had some problems with cleaning because of all the people. The water in this bath has a temp. at 40 degrees c. Since it was very warm in the air, I never entered the hot bath, but lots of other people did. I can believe it must be amazing at this bath in winter-time!

The spa at Corinthia Grand

The spa was great. It was not very big, but it was clean and had some beds to sit/lay down in. Two saunas and one steam-room. Two jacuzzies. The swimming-pool contains real hot-spring water! I read, somewhere at the internet, that there were some workers who accidentally stumbled upon the underground spring that now feeds the hotel's spa facilities!

I missed some more steam-rooms and bubbles in the pool! There were drinking-water from a dispenser. There were some people when we were there. I can believe it can be crowded. After all, the hotel has over 400 rooms and I don’t think there were more than 30-40 beds. I wished there were some individual soaps/shampoos/body-lotions.

Swine-flu "detector" at the airport!

When we arrived to the airport in Budapest, men in white met us and we all had to go through a heat-detector. I take it it was to trace if we had any signs of fever. I have been to several airports the last two weeks and this was the first time I have been scanned for fever.

Corinthia Grand Hotel, Budapest, Hungary

This is a true 5* hotel!

We had booked an executive room with lounge access in the mezzanine/lounge. It cost a little bit more, but I can now say it was worth it. When we checked in we were told to check in at the mezzanine. We went upstairs for check in and while we did the paper-work, we were given a glass of sparkling wine. We were told we had been upgraded to a suit!

The suit was HUGE. We had one bathroom with toilet and one separate toilet. There were a sleeping-room with television and a desk and there were a huge living-room with a television and a desk. In between the two rooms were a hall.

The living-room

The living-room

The hall which connect the two rooms

The bedroom

Our very small, but nice, balcony.

The toiletries. With turn-down we were given new toiletries.

The bathroom

The toilet

When we were going down to the lounge we met a porter. He smiled and wished us a good afternoon. The same happened later, when we met another person from the staff. How nice to meet people who care. However I don’t think they care, but at least they have been tought to pretend to care. I don’t care WHY they are polite and friendly, I just like it.

In the lounge we were given drinks and ”finger-food” and cakes. Because we were tired we decided to not eat dinner, but simply eat there. It’s not enough for a real dinner, but it was enough to not be hungry.

In the halls, reception, public toilets and lounge they played classical music. I liked this. It gave me an even better feeling of being at an old, luxurious place.

From the main-restaurant. The picture is taken from a little bridge at the second floor.

If I am going to Budapest again, I will stay at this hotel. I just LOVE the hotel. Even if it is a big hotel, with over 400 rooms, they have managed to make it personnel. Next time I will also book the executive room, to get the access to the lounge. I would not bother to pay extra to get a suite as I really don't need all the space. After all we have mostly used the bedroom. Some evenings we have used the living-room just because we felt we HAD to use it...:-D

Downtown Dough, Cedarburg, WI, USA

Wow! This is some of the BEST shops I have ever seen, for bakery-things. There were walls of walls with baking-forms. Well... the pictures tells it all... I wished I lived here... I will make sure to have an extra suitcase next time I am visiting Cedarburg!

The owner of Downtown Dough, Patricia, told me they send all over the world!

Cedarburg, WI, USA

What a friendly and romantic city! When taking a walk, everybody said "hi", "good morning" or "good afternoon". The city center is one road, besides, it IS a city!

All the shops had painted, kind of old, signs like this.

And there were lots of small, "cosy" and strange shops. If you like "nick-knack" (is that a word, or did I make a new word?) this is the city for you.

In between the shops I found this little, romantic house!

This is from Amy's chocolate house (I think). YUMMI!

Washington House Inn, Cedarburg, WI, USA

This is not a hotel, so no stars here!

I had written an e-mail to tell the that I would have a late arrival. When I came, they already knew who I was. Very smooth and easy.

Well, this is not Chicago Intercontinental, but it was a very romantic and charming (although I am sure my son would have called it a home for old people....:-D). The sink was not in the bathroom, but outside. The toiletries were Neutrogena, and surprisingly, they were very good!

I got two of these small bottles with water, every day.



I did only eat breakfast once. Not because it wasn't good but because I didn't have time to eat the other days. This is the breakfast room. The breakfast was continental and it was included.

The hotel also had free wireless internet.

If I would stay here again? Well, if this hotel was in another city, with lots of 5* hotels, I think I would have chosen different. In Cedarburg I don't think there are many other options. Besides that, the hotel fits very well into this small, "cosy", romantic city, so yes, next time I am going to Cedarburg, I'll stay here again. I may choose a bigger room if going with my family, but for only me, this was more than enough.