The Stills Day 1, To Toronto, (9-23-08)
So one of the things about a city like Toronto is that it's frequently busy with conventions, events, etc... We learned the hard way what happens when you wait to long to book hotel rooms. Our standby and favourite, the Delta Chelsea, was sold out and we couldn't find anything at all. Enter The Grange, the only hotel with rooms available, and now we know why.
With a Google rating of a solid 1 star (on 5), we were trying to keep our hopes up. It was after all in the Kensington nieghbourhood, which is pretty cool and we hang out there all the time anyways. So, knowing the neighbourhood, I confidently directed the cab driver to the hotel, thinking it could be ok, but I did have a little bit of fear in my stomach.
So we get close, turn down the street, there's a few nice houses, so I'm thinking it might not be so bad. And then we go around the corner and things changed. Drastically. Instant ghetto. Like garbage and clothes hanging off balconies, no grass in the yards, just dirt, beat up, rusted cars and corner kids trying to make a quick buck. The driver stopped, looked over at me (and I try to look decent when I travel) and said: "Do you really live here?" Slightly shocked, I paused for a second and pointed at the hotel across the street and said I was staying there. He half scoffed, half grunted, with a look of disgust on his face, and I hightailed it out of the cab and entered the "hotel", highly embarrassed.
So this place is an old apartment building, mostly studios, that have been transformed in to "hotel rooms". At least there was a stove for the long term people, but hopefully no one ever has to stay there longer than us. The beds were crap, just random springs sticking out, the bathroom was disgusting, the tv had 4 channels and internet access was provided by a cable hanging from the ceiling. Ghetto.
I got out of there fast, went for some spectacular coffee at Manic to brighten my spirits, and made plans for the night. I happened to have some friends in town, so that made things a bit better, and I spent most of the night at the Horseshoe winning free Jack Daniels promo crap and explaining to the reps why their drink sucks. But they just kept giving me more things that I would just give away 2 minutes later. Whatever... Once the guys got in town, we hung out there for a bit and then went our separate ways. I stayed out long enough to get exhausted so at least I would pass out when I went back to the "hotel", and made plans to get out of there early again in the morning.
With a Google rating of a solid 1 star (on 5), we were trying to keep our hopes up. It was after all in the Kensington nieghbourhood, which is pretty cool and we hang out there all the time anyways. So, knowing the neighbourhood, I confidently directed the cab driver to the hotel, thinking it could be ok, but I did have a little bit of fear in my stomach.
So we get close, turn down the street, there's a few nice houses, so I'm thinking it might not be so bad. And then we go around the corner and things changed. Drastically. Instant ghetto. Like garbage and clothes hanging off balconies, no grass in the yards, just dirt, beat up, rusted cars and corner kids trying to make a quick buck. The driver stopped, looked over at me (and I try to look decent when I travel) and said: "Do you really live here?" Slightly shocked, I paused for a second and pointed at the hotel across the street and said I was staying there. He half scoffed, half grunted, with a look of disgust on his face, and I hightailed it out of the cab and entered the "hotel", highly embarrassed.
So this place is an old apartment building, mostly studios, that have been transformed in to "hotel rooms". At least there was a stove for the long term people, but hopefully no one ever has to stay there longer than us. The beds were crap, just random springs sticking out, the bathroom was disgusting, the tv had 4 channels and internet access was provided by a cable hanging from the ceiling. Ghetto.
I got out of there fast, went for some spectacular coffee at Manic to brighten my spirits, and made plans for the night. I happened to have some friends in town, so that made things a bit better, and I spent most of the night at the Horseshoe winning free Jack Daniels promo crap and explaining to the reps why their drink sucks. But they just kept giving me more things that I would just give away 2 minutes later. Whatever... Once the guys got in town, we hung out there for a bit and then went our separate ways. I stayed out long enough to get exhausted so at least I would pass out when I went back to the "hotel", and made plans to get out of there early again in the morning.
posted by t. at 3:27 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home