As I mentioned, my beautiful wife and I went downtown and had a date night which ended at the Hotel Vandivort where we spent the night, paying double what we might have if we had checked hotel prices first and bought tickets to match. I suggested the excursion because 1) I just read 1001 Ways To Be Romantic and realized that I’m responsible for suggesting/setting up date nights which are not professional events and 2) one of the members of my BJJ school whom I have never met posted on the school’s Facebook group that he and his young daughter were in Les Misérables, but since his daughter is in elementary school, she was pairing in her role with another kid, so we had to pick a night when both were performing (for some reason; I don’t actually know the fellow, but I guess both of them study at the school?). A convenient Friday night performance coincided with the night before a big MSU football game, though, and after buying tickets, I discovered that the hotels downtown were almost booked up. Except for the Vandivort, which had rooms, but, as I said, double what they were most nights. Surge/algorithmic pricing for the loss!
At any rate, the Vandivort is a new boutique hotel (right next to the historic Landers Theater where the show performed? What verb does a show do?). It’s really nice, though, with spacious rooms and actual robes in the closet (when putting the luggage away, I thought, “Why did we bring coats?” because it was almost 100 degrees outside).
But: It is a converted industrial building, so the room had a loft feel to it. The room was larger than you get at some boutique hotels, especially the ones like Tru which are smaller rooms with no furniture in them. Also, the Vandivort is not tall; it’s four stories, and we were on the third floor. So it’s not sold for the view.
My beautiful wife went to the window and noted the green she could see: A little square below us with a planter with elephant ears and what looked like banana leaves in a planter; a patch of grass next to a small parking lot by the Vandivort’s second building; and a tree on South Street.
Ah, but gentle reader, maybe I am just a city boy, but I find this view entertaining and fascinating as well.
There’s a ramp to…. What, an old loading dock? We’re looking out on the back of what used to be the Outland Ballroom which closed down. We’ve got some textures in the different brick buildings, including one that has what looks to be a shed atop it, but that’s really where the old elevator equipment was housed (thanks, Answer Man!). If you go all the way to the window, you can see the lit alley below. Springfield is a relatively safe little city (this shooting was blocks away!), so people will walk down this alley without fear.
You know, gentle reader, that when I go on vacation, I like a balcony or deck that looks out on trees and/or water where I can sit and read. Most hotels do not offer this amenity, but I still like to sit and look out the window at whatever the city or location has to offer. A parking lot, distant buildings, and a highway? I’ll watch the cars go by. The backside of office buildings and electrical transformers? I will watch the birds as they settle on the facades.
I dunno if that makes me an outlier of some sort who can appreciate even different walls to look at. Although I guess the exception is really old hotels where your room looks out on an air shaft or a U-shaped hotel where you’re deep in the U and can only see a sliver of the street.
Perhaps, too, I travel seldom enough that all of this is always novel.
