After perhaps more deliberation than was necessary, we decided on Brugge as our side trip destination during our winter vacation. Next step then was to find a hotel.
During the deliberation process, Brugge had just edged out Luxembourg City.
Luxembourg had two big 'pros' in my mind:
(1) It's kind of random. You don't often hear about people going to Luxembourg. That appealed to the competitive traveler in me.
(2) The Sofitel Luxembourg Le Grand Ducal looked like a pretty sweet hotel.
And if I'm going to do one random night in a somewhat random place, I'm going to make it pleasant. So on the hotel front, the bar was set kind of high for Brugge.
Overall, though, Brugge was clearly the better option. Multiple friends had told me "Brugge is cool". Brugge is renowned for its Christmas Market. And Brugge promotes itself on YouTube.
Edge: Brugge.
But I was having a hard time finding the 'perfect' hotel.
I checked out some suggestions from the NYTimes, without much luck.
I tried the listings from Venere.com, which yielded a couple of interesting candidates in the Hotel Aragon the Hotel Crowne Plaza and the Hotel Heritage. But each of them gave me some pause. Whether it was the photos on Venere, something said in a review or just flat out 'no vacancy', I was still coming up with nada.
That's when I hopped over to the hotel reviews on TripAdvisor and wound up finding the Kempinski (officially the Kempinski Hotel Dukes' Palace).
I have no idea why this place is #20 (20?!?) on the most popular list on TripAdvisor. Most of the reviews were pretty positive, and we found that it definitely lived up to the hype.
It was visually impressive on the outside...
... and charming on the inside, with a nice mix of vintage and contemporary features.
Our room was fairly compact, but well appointed.
Forgive the disheveled state - totally blanked on taking pictures until just before check out
The bathroom was excellent.
And we had a pretty cool view of the courtyard.
There's also a chill little bar on the first floor, where we enjoyed a nightcap after dinner.
Loved the snacks they provided - an Asian mix, including Wasabi coated soy nuts. Surprisingly good complement to the Sauternes, in my opinion.
Finally, this is where we made back some of the money on the cost of the room. Free chocolates. We weren't here more than 24 hours, but Judy hit this bowl 4 or 5 times. After eating a handful over the rest of our trip, we still came home with more than 20 in our bags. Ridiculous. Might need a 12-step program.
UPDATE 2/21/09:
Finally got a couple of brief video clips up on YouTube so I can embed them here. Nothing amazing, just a bit more life than a still shot, obviously.
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