Wednesday, 4/17

Six days left to go, and everything seems to be set, including the hotels at which we'll be staying in both Berlin and Leipzig.

Whenever we're in Germany we usually stay at a Motel One. It's a European chain that's kind of like a budget hotel but not really. The hotels don't have things like phones in the rooms, and the rooms themselves aren't suite sized, but the locations are great, the staff amazing, the bars and breakfast rooms funky, and the look of the hotels are stellar, if only because just about everywhere you look you see this color blue--

It's a trademark of the chain. The staff wears that color; the ever-present mints they have lying around in massive jars are that color; and if you go more than 3 meters without seeing that particular shade of blue, you know you've left the hotel (or, at the very least, this plane of reality). They take pride in the way their hotels look—in fact, their slogan is “Like The Price, Love the Design”--and that blue is the centerpiece of it.

It would be like McDonald's without the red, or the Detroit Lions without losing. I mean the Detroit Lions without silver and blue. That's how central it is to the chain.

The other reason we like Motel One so much? Loraine's fish.

It's actually not Loraine's personal fish, so much as a fish she likes to see. You see, each Motel One room has a loop of a fish aquarium on their TV system that you can play in the background. It's actually quite relaxing, and we've gotten into the habit of just leaving it on when we're doing other stuff. Loraine's favorite fish is the blue & yellow one in the lower right hand corner (the one that kinda looks like Dory from “Finding Nemo”) We've gotten pretty good at knowing when in the loop her fish will show up, so we'll make sure we say “hey” to it when we first get in.

Now, not all Motel One's play the same fish loop, sad to say. For instance, in Munich last year we didn't get to see Loraine's fish. But we're spending five nights at the Motel One in Leipzig, where we first saw Loraine's fish (and where I took the above picture), so with any luck we'll see it there again. And since we haven't been to the Motel One Tiergarten in Berlin yet, we'll just have to see if we can say “hey” to her fish there, as well.

Yes, apparently we're easily amused.

So if you ever find yourself in a city with a Motel One I highly recommend trying it out. Like I said, the rooms aren't huge, but they have fish. And a blue that will soon sear itself into your brain.

(jim@wmqt.com)