Altogether, we stayed in four hotels.
The first three nights were at the NH Barbizon Palace - a five-star hotel.
The next two, were at the Hampshire Hotel (4*) in the Hague.
The next night was in Uttrecht, at the Best Western -also 4*.
The last night was originally booked, at my travel agent's suggestion, at a hotel labeled "close to Schipol airport," as we were supposed to be at the airport for departure at 730am. However, after I realized how close Amsterdam is to the airport, especially if you are near a tram line, and that the actual hotel i booked was "close" if you had a car, but "far" if you wanted to use public transportation, or "expensive" if you had to add in the cost of a taxi (not to mention having to GET to it in the first place), I cancelled it while still in the Hague, and found a 3-star hotel in Amsterdam.
This was the City Plaza.
You can tell the resturants rating by the size and quality of the breakfast (aside from other things, like size of room, etc, and price....!!)
The Barbizon had EVERYTHING...pancakes, potato fritters, tiny pancakes, crullers, bacon, eggs, beans, ham, granola and tons of cereals, cheeses, cakes, pies, rolls, breads and bowls of fresh cut-up fruit. Even the pineapple was fresh.
The 4-star hotels didn't have the pancakes and stuff...just the usual eggs, cheese, rolls etc. And the fruit salad was all mixed together and the pineapple was canned.
Finally, the 3-star hotel's fruit salad was the totally canned variety.
And that, my dears, is how to rate a hotel...the pineapple rating.
We filled up heartilly on the breakfasts. I had managed to find deals wherein breakfasts were included in the price. And since eating "out" in Holland is not cheap, we wanted to have a fortifying meal to start the day.
Other than that, most nights we went to the AH grocery store, which is ubiquitous, and got ready-made salads, youghure drinks and breads and stuff to eat in the hotel room. We had an occasional meal out, not too expensive, and thus not really something to write about, and I did indulge twice in "chips and mayonnaise" (this is actually quite good!, served in paper cones.
I tried to be really good about drinking water. Which I was. Haven't weighed myself yet though.
