From Paris to the Paris of Appalachia ... and yinz call your mother

The Canadians have landed

And we are back.

Actually we have been back for some time.

I don't know if hectic is the right word, but a great many things have been happening around here.

But now we are mere hours from June, and I guess I should get you caught up.

TG and I went to Pittsburgh. Quaintly nicknamed The Paris of Appalachia.

Mike and Audrey a/k/a Maudrey, atop the Eiffel Tower

Yes! Pittsburgh again! We have been twice before: in March of 2017 and again in October of 2022.

We love the Steel City. It has a unique charm and we can't get enough of it. Yinz know what I mean?

(Yinz is Pittsburgh for y'all.)

The last time we were there, we toured PNC Park. We are baseball fans and I am a pirate so it worked out really well. It is a stunning facility.

Erica made this trifle and gave me those pretty roses

This time, the purpose of our visit was to again visit PNC Park, but this time for a game.

Cubs versus Pirates! Being a pirate, naturally I am a fan of the Chicago Cubs.

If you know, you know.

Pittsburgh from one of its yellow bridges

And I'll tell you about our experience at the game but first I need to tell you what happened.

When we decided to make the trip, I began searching for accommodations. We would be staying for two nights.

I won't go into specifics about my method of searching but the end result was that I zeroed in on a property across the street from the main entrance of the ball park.

Dagny and Mike at Heathrow, preparing to fly home

It was a Marriott residence type place, where you have a kitchenette and can stow your soft drinks in the fridge and also make coffee and even cook something if you're so inclined.

Anyway this is not like me AT ALL -- usually I read reviews for HOURS before booking a room -- but I got all emotional envisioning TG and me just popping out the door and across the street to the baseball game, that I booked two nights -- non changeable, non cancelable unless we wanted to lose our money -- on the spot.

The price was okay; not the best but by no means the worst I have encountered in downtown hotels.

The month of May was Mom and spring on my table

And then I read the reviews.

Oh no. Nooooooooo. Bad. Very bad. Filthy rooms. Holes in the sheets. No hot water. Negligible housekeeping. Indifferent front desk staff. Bad smells in the hallways. Expensive parking. All-but-inedible "free" breakfast. 

My heart stopped. What have I done? I wondered. And whatever shall I do?

The trip was a month away. I pondered my options.

TG chilling before the game, between two thunderstorms

And then I consulted with our Mike, who for decades has been a world traveler, both for business and for leisure pursuits.

You can't get out of it? He asked. Nope, I said. Ugh.

He advised that, when we got closer to the date when we would check in, I make a call to the hotel itself.

Mike and Audrey atop the Arc de Triomphe

Ask to speak to a manager. Tell them of my concerns -- as in, I cannot spend the money I am spending and be given the key card to a disgusting room. That dog won't hunt.

So I tucked that bit of wisdom away and determined not to stress about the situation.

But when we packed the car in preparation for heading out, I included cleaning supplies. Yes! I guess that's where we are in a post-plandemic world ... you're going to pay more but get way less when it comes to hotel accommodations. And be prepared to clean your own room.

The view from our tenth-floor room

I mean, the basics are barely covered anymore. Remember when they changed your sheets and sparkled the bathroom and left fresh towels and emptied the trash cans and vacuumed the room EVERY DAY of your stay?

I would venture to say that unless you are booked at a five-star property -- and perhaps not even then -- you are not going to see that level of involvement with guest comfort, ever again.

Now, they come right out and tell you that any attention from housekeeping staff will be on a three-day basis; as in, if you stay for two days, unless you specifically ask, they are coming nowhere near your room.

Dagny at the Tower of London

And so we have gotten used to having to go searching for dry towels, and making our own bed, and dealing with overflowing trash, and what have you.

But a filthy room? At check-in? As dozens of recent guests had described? I was going to draw the line there.

And so, as we headed north on the day, I called the hotel. I asked to speak to a manager.

It took three to four hours and at least half a dozen calls before I was able to speak to a person identifying as such.

We weathered some storms on our trip to Pittsburgh

And she was professional and courteous, and, after I'd explained why I was reaching out, said she was embarrassed that I felt I had to make such a call.

I said, Have you read the reviews?

She declined to answer and went off in another direction, reading from their script that says in essence, we strive every day to provide every guest with an exceptional stay, and so on and so forth.

I asked again: Have you read the online reviews of your hotel?

Each of my children sent me a sweet card

I read every review, she said.

So, I said, you know why I am calling. I mean, filthy rooms? No hot water? Holes in the sheets? At these prices?

She said, We did have an issue with the water temperature but we have fixed it.

I told her that I wasn't asking for anything besides what I had already paid for: A clean, reasonably up-to-date room with intact linens and running hot water.

Pittsburgh is famous for yellow bridges and fabulous views

She was gracious enough to offer to let me off the hook with regard to my non-changeable, non-cancelable reservation.

I thought that was classy but I said, No, we want to stay there. We want to stay across the street from the ball park. We're on our way and the game is tomorrow. I asked her to just please take care of us.

And so we rang off as friends and I said I hoped I could meet her when we arrived. Her name was Margaret.

Cherica with our pastor on Mother's Day

When we got to Pittsburgh and checked in, there was no sign of Margaret but we were taken care of by a pleasant young lady. I asked if I could check out the room before committing to it, and she said certainly.

I took the key card and got on the elevator and went to the tenth floor. Top floor.

When I opened the door of the room, it was perfectly lovely. Everything was spotless. I went to the tub and turned on the water to make sure it got warm. It did.

Maudag at monument to St. Magnus the Martyr in London

The view was stunning -- we were looking right down on the People's Gate at PNC Park -- and I realized that my call to Margaret had yielded, if not an upgrade -- because this was the type of room I had booked -- then at least some extra care and attention being given in light of my expressed anxieties.

In other words, the room was what you used to get without asking, for about half the money that it costs now.

TG and I checked in and, since we'd had a wonderful meal at a Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen in Beckley, West Virginia, earlier that day, settled down for a quiet evening and a good sleep.

The Sixth Street/Roberto Clemente Bridge

But then, I decided to take a shower and wash my hair.

I ran the water and rotated the lever to warm/hot water, and turned on the shower.

When I got in, I noticed that the shower head, high above me, was turned to the wall. I wondered who would do that, and why.

Word to your mother

And then I found out. The water was scalding. I mean, scalding -- as in, if you put your hand under it, within a few seconds you'd be burned.

I fiddled with the half-moon lever type thing that had blue on one side and red on the other. I stopped every fourth of an inch all across that area, until I'd gone back and forth three times. It took several minutes.

And the water was scalding no matter what I did.

Audrey in Paris

I managed to get it all done by flinging splashes of water in my direction and I don't even want to tell you how painful it was when I had to rinse my hair.

The next morning, we reported the problem and, while I took a walk, TG stayed in the room with the "repairman" to describe and monitor the situation.

According to said "repairman", a faulty mixing valve was replaced.

Minutes later, it was practically a monsoon

Except, later that night, when I went to take another shower after shivering through the Cubs at Pirates game (more on that momentarily), it was the same. Scalding.

TG had had slightly better luck than me finding water that was a temperature he could stand under, so I called him in and asked him to please kindly find that same water for me.

He fiddled with the controls for several minutes and the scalding water went away. But then, the water could not rise above cool to tepid. Only. No scalding, no hot, no warm. Just cool.

Home of the Pirates

Again, I did the best I could under the circumstances. I was still shivering when I got into bed. 

When we checked out the next morning and again reported the defect, I was talking when the "repairman" materialized and interrupted me in mid-sentence to say I fixed it.

I said: No. You didn't fix it.

Maudrey atop St. Paul's Cathedral, London

The desk young lady (different from the day before) said, I'm sorry.

And we went on our way, and that evening we reached home where I enjoyed a spectacular warm shower.

Try to understand it and let me know what you come up with.

Sappy makes me happy

I know it's a common trope that, no matter where you live, if you don't like the weather, wait ten minutes.

But in Pittsburgh, they live that. Literally.

When we visited in the fall of the year, the weather was as close to perfection as you can get, in my mind at least.

Dagny checking out Parliament and Big Ben

But if you decide to stay in Pittsburgh anywhere from late spring to early summer, you'd better pack an umbrella and sunscreen and flip-flops and a heavy coat. Because you're likely to get anything.

On game day the wind blew, the sun shone, the rain fell, the wind blew some more, and the temps wavered wildly between fifty and sixty degrees.

I had kept abreast of the weather patterns while packing, but I must have been in denial about how cold it can be in Pittsburgh in May, because I was not prepared.

Entrance to PNC Park

In actual fact I don't think it reached sixty degrees, but when I walked across the Roberto Clemente bridge to take the pictures you see in this post, I wasn't the least bit cold and in fact it was refreshing.

But about three hours before game time, the skies lowered and the rain fell and the wind whipped and the temperature dropped into the mid fifties.

After sitting outside at a café to enjoy coffee (me) and a Coke (him), TG and I walked across the street in a sudden spate of driving rain, to a Rally House store.

Audag at the Palais Garnier (Paris Opera)

There, TG bought me a zip-up hoodie sweatshirt so that I could be warm at the game. I would have been desperately uncomfortable without it.

(I'm a Cubs fan but it says Pirates on the front so I'm good wiv' it. Go Bucs! I wore my Cubs t-shirt underneath and I did get some comments, haha. Like, make up your mind, lady.)

We walked across the street from our hotel and entered the park as soon as the gates opened. Within minutes it was nothing but torrential rain.

Skippy has been dedicated to the Lord

We ordered hamburgers and fries and soft drinks from a kiosk, paid our fifty dollars, and, in five minutes, our number was called and our supper was served.

The food was delicious. We ate it while standing at provided tables looking out at the rain falling on the field, which they had covered.

But no sooner had we consumed the last crumb and refilled our drinks than the skies were blue again. We found our seats.

Maudrey, ready to come home

But no sooner had we found our seats than the skies lowered again and the rain returned.

We moved up higher, under cover, and waited. It wasn't long before we were able to go back to our wet seats but the game start time had been delayed for a full hour.

No further incident weather-wise after that though, and the game was wonderful -- CUBS WIN! CUBS WIN! -- and was played in full with no interruption.

Keep moving forward

Our Cubbies are currently having what one might describe as a semi-dismal season, but as TG always says, philosophically: That's baseball.

Indeed.

We traveled home on the day before Mother's Day. Audrey, Dagny, and Mike were spending two days in London at the end of their trip. They'd taken the high-speed rail through the Chunnel from Paris to London, the previous morning.

Delays are sometimes inevitable

Erica had come by the house on the day we traveled home, to bring Rizzo who'd stayed with her, and check on Sweetness who'd stayed by herself, well-stocked with kibble and water and with the run of the sun room, and found Mother's Day flowers from our Andrew on the front porch.

He's back from his deployment and so happy to be home.

On Mother's Day itself, Maudag flew nonstop from London to Charlotte, getting home that night.

Audag at Westminster Abbey

The rest of us were in our pews at church, and that night there was a baby dedication, and two babies were presented, and one of them was our Elliott.

He's eight months old now and by far the cutest baby in the world, haha. I call him Skippy. Just because.

We enjoyed a wonderful Mother's Day but we deferred celebrating until Monday evening, when I cooked supper and the returned travelers could join us.

Ducks don't worry about rain delays

Audrey and Mike and Dagny had thought of everyone, and there were gifts to give and stories to tell, and we ate grilled chicken and hot dogs and all the sides, and it was a truly memorable evening.

Since my deck is still torn up, I haven't been able to get into my new shed and pull out a tote containing a switch-out of table decorations from Mother's Day month to something creative for June, but I'll figure it out.

TG left this morning, en route to Charlotte-Douglas International Airport where he will board a nonstop flight to Detroit, where he will be met by his brother, Ron.

My son remembered me with this lovely bouquet

It was a last-minute trip so that TG can attend the funeral of his beloved high school basketball coach, Mr. Joe Stalma. TG visited him in the nursing home in 2021, when we were in the Toledo area for his fiftieth high school reunion, one year delayed.

My sweetheart will be back tomorrow night.

Additional important events are on the horizon! Stay tuned.

And that is all for now.

=0=0=0=

Happy Thursday

Comments

[Ginny Hartzler]

Your flowers are gorgeous What a story about the hotel!!. And I am so surprised that you continued on with rinsing your hair in the first shower!! One of my favorite pics is your view from your room. But my absolute favorites are the yellow bridges. I did not know anything about this, they are so awesome!!! I especially like the last photo of the bridge, with the duck walking along. You were amazing in the way you dealt with the hotel manager and staff!!!

[Jennifer]

@Ginny ... hahaha well, what I did was, I put my head under for one second, then jerked it out, then did that again and again until the soap was reasonably out! It was awful! Yes the yellow bridges are SO awesome. They just POP! Especially when the skies are grayish white with scudding clouds! And there are so many of them! It's an awesome city. I have learned to stand up for myself when it comes to hotel stays, hahaha! We have a good number coming up throughout the summer so we shall see how I do going forward. xoxo

[Mari]

I'm ever so happy to see this post,; I've been suffering from pirate withdrawal. But, I know the pirate's been busy, so I'll say no more.
The hotel! These kinds of things seem to happen to you more often than the average person. Why is that? Sometimes it's good things though - I remember a wonderful upgrade you got on your birthday a few years ago. Anyway, I'm thankful you had a clean room with a marvelous view and thankful you and TG didn't get 1st degree burns!
Maudrags trip was incredible and I thoroughly enjoyed the photos.
Congrats to Cherica and Skippy who was blessed to be born into this Christian family.
Last - I'm so glad Andrew is back!

[Jennifer]

@Mari ... hahaha I think I invite controversy, is all I can say. Or maybe I am hard to please. It is what it is, hahaha! But I do believe in complaining when it's called for, and sometimes you HAVE to, in order to get results! About hotel reviews, though ... I don't leave negative reviews, but then I don't leave positive reviews either. I mean, it would have to be so extreme either way before I would bother. I think that some people complain no matter what, and some will never complain, no matter what. Somewhere in the middle is the truth. But I was relieved that my call to Margaret got us the room we'd paid for and not some nightmare that I would have had to clean myself! Ugh! And yes, I walked into the Skirvin Hilton in Oklahoma City on my 65th birthday, and told them that was the case, and they put us in the Presidential Suite! That was awesome!!!! Truly though, we had a wonderful time in Pittsburgh! You and Bon have got to go! xoxo

[Plain Jane]

I'm glad Andrew is back. The flowers are beautiful. I've enjoyed the pictures of Audrey and Dagny's trip. I also enjoyed the pictures of your trip-and hearing about your adventure with the hotel.

[Dianna]

Jenny! It's so wonderful to see a post from you! It sounds as though you had a very interesting month of May! Would you believe that we were only two hours away from one another when you and TG were in Pittsburgh? ! As a matter of fact, my husband and I will be heading to Pittsburgh (International Airport) on Tuesday of next week to fly to Maine for our granddaughter's highschool graduation!

I love that you wore your Cubs shirt under your Pirates hoodie! :) We would get along just fine! ~wink!

I enjoyed all of your pictures, as always! Glad that Mike, Audry, and Dagny had such a wonderful time in Paris.

I am hoping that the next time you visit Pittsburgh that you don't have scalding water to deal with!

Have a wonderful weekend, my friend!

[Jennifer]

@Jane ... thank you my friend! Hope you're doing well. xoxo

@Dianna ... Only two hours away!!! I wish we could have met in the middle, for coffee and a chat! Our trips are always on such a tight schedule though! Yes I repped the Cubs (next to my heart, I told anyone who asked), but showed respect to the Pirates and stayed warm too! I thought it was a winning plan. Have a wonderful time in Maine! I know you will be so proud of your granddaughter! xoxo

[Jim and Barb]

I like the idea of traveling the country and going to ballparks in the major league cities. The problem is, is that they are in cities, and we just do not like cities or crowds. See my dilemma? Looks like you had a great time despite the hotel issues though!

[Jennifer]

@Jim and Barb ... I see your dilemma and I hear you! I love cities but I do not like crowds; I have to mentally prepare myself for that. We do love visiting different ballparks and it's just such a happy, positive experience that it's worth it for us. Can't wait to stop by your blog and see if y'all have set off for Alaska! Thanks for taking the time to drop by. xoxo

[Jeanette]

I always get so nervous booking hotels when we travel because you just never know,! I try to stick with one or two companies and find one as close as possible to where we want to be! Every time we have an extended stay in hotels, I swear I'm going to buy a RV to travel in! At least it's our dirt! I'm easily grossed out these days! Sounds like you had a good time in spite of the hot water deal! I love the pictures of Maudrey! They look so in love! XO

[Skunk (aka Mike Bay)]

You can always have...wherever happiness is found together. Always.

[hena]

Thank god your room situation worked out. I too obsessively read reviews and always book refundable rooms. But have still had a booking or two gone wrong.

[Jennifer]

@Jeanette ... Ugh I could not do the RV thing, I guess I'm just too lazy and in fact I LOVE staying in hotels ... I just want it to be all in working order, hahaha! And there is a standard I will not go below. We have several trips coming up this summer and fall, and I think I've done my homework better this time ... we shall see, hahaha! xoxo

@Mike ... beautifully said and so true, my friend. Love to Seymour. xoxo

@Hena ... You're a world traveler and so have lots more experience than me, but I blew it on this one. I'm lucky that it worked out as well as it did, haha! xoxo

[Carla TePaske]

Oh my... what a crazy hotel story... I have to admit, I have not stayed in a hotel/motel since February 2020.
I had to laugh at the comment about buying an RV.. at least it is our own dirt. ;-)

I am so happy about all the good news!!! Andrew is back!!!!!!! Prayers are answered.
Love, Carla

[Jennifer]

@Carla ... I know I thought that was so funny too. There is a certain amount of wisdom in that, hahaha! Yes there is so much to celebrate and rejoice over! xoxo