Brisbane Marriott, Brisbane, Australia

Great Check-In Experience

The first impression was amazing, the lady at the front desk (I wish I was better at obtaining and remembering names) calmed by frazzled  nerves because I couldn’t find the vehicular entrance and took my car keys and arranged to move the rental car from the street in front of the hotel to the parking garage.  She made me feel welcome in Brisbane and at the Marriott.  

The room on the 16^th floor was large and comfortable and had a great view of the Brisbane river and one of the older bridges crossing the river, the executive lounge had an even better view of the river.  

The location of the hotel is superb, the concierge entrance is 50 feet from the river-walk where there is a plethora of restaurants and bars with food and drinks at all price ranges.  

The exercise room was excellent, with treadmills, ellipticals, stationary bicycles and a weight area.  It was great to exercise in the early morning with the eastward facing windows open and the sun streaming in and lighting up the whole gym and a pleasant breeze blowing off the river.

Sydney Courtyard Marriott North Ryde, Australia

Nice hotel on outskirts of Sydney

I chose to stay at the Courtyard North Ryde rather than the Marriott downtown because this hotel was equidistant from our office in Parramatta and the Sydney Motorsports park which was hosting the Top Gear festival.  

It was a good choice.  

The staff were, as usual at Marriott hotels, exceptionally nice, making me feel welcome when I checked in and providing a pleasant option at breakfast when all I wanted was a bowl of fresh fruit from the buffet.   

My room was large and comfortable and had two large windows, one of which opened to let the fresh air in.  

It was also a pleasure to have a large well-appointed exercise room in the hotel with treadmills, an elliptical, stationary bicycles and a other equipment.

Sydney Marriott, Sydney, Australia

Excellent stop for a night

Another great stay, though this was only for one night. As usual the staff at check in made me feel welcome and my luggage was taken from the hire car and delivered quickly to my room.  The executive lounge is excellent, though it was a little crowded in the evening but it was quiet for a late breakfast the next morning.  The gym was excellent, with a plethora of machines, a weight area, and other activities.

Mercure Grosvenor, Adelaide, Australia

Good value for money if you can ignore the annoyances

The Mercure Grosvenor is a pleasant mid-tier hotel located in an enviable spot in Adelaide.  It is opposite the railway station and the Adelaide casino, a block away from a metro tram stop and close to the main shopping area and restaurants.  

The staff at the hotel were pleasant at all times and the night manager went out of her way to return to the hotel to open the room safe that held my passport when, presumably, I had mis-entered my lock code.  

My room was large and had plenty of room for working and had a nice large shower in the bathroom (but no bath).  

Four rather minor complaints that may not affect the majority of guests.  

• First was the small amount of shelf / closet space in both the bedroom and bathroom.  This is a European trait that we do not need to extend to the USA.  There was little space to put my toiletries in the bathroom and the closet was only big enough for a gnome’s clothes.  
• Second was the poor effort at providing a gym.  The exercise room contained two machines, a stationary bicycle that was on its last legs (wheels!!) and essentially unusable and a treadmill that worked with a lot of noise.  The TV in the exercise room did not work even after I requested it be fixed.  
• Third was the lack of natural light in my room.  The windows were perhaps a foot deep from the ceiling, I could only look out by standing on a chair.  
• Fourth was the very annoying wifi service.  The basic service for email was free, but it was very intermittent.  Some of the time it worked well, some of the time it did not work at all.  I use Viber and WhatsAp to communicate regularly with my wife in the US and the continual breakdowns in service were very annoying. 

Despite these minor annoyances, I would stay again.  All the staff I met made the difference, they were smiling and helpful at all times and I particularly liked the option they have of not using maid service to change sheets and towels during your stay, I strongly support the conservation efforts, though it would be nice to get a discount if you refuse room service for a day or two.

CA, Westlake Village, Wolfgang Puck's

Wolfgang Puck’s LA Bistro
30990 Russell Ranch Road,
Westlake Village, CA, 91362.
Phone: (818) 597-1902
Web: http://www.wolfgangpuck.com/bistro/


Here I am back in California again for two nights and one day on personnel issues. But at least it gives me a chance to try out another of the restaurants in the area and this time it is a late evening stop at Wolfgang Puck’s. Mr. Puck has taken his culinary expertise and morphed his image and his reputation into an mini-empire that now contains more than 90 restaurants. His newest concept is “the Bistro” an entrepreneurs franchising opportunity to cash in on the Wolfgang Puck name, with an investment of say, $2.5 million.

There are four Bistro’s around the country, three in California and one in

CA, Thousand Oaks, The Wine Yard

In a converted Taco Bell next to the Civic Arts Center in Thousand Oaks, young professionals gather at a wine bar to sip the nectar of the Gods and wax lyrical about the tribulations of the drive home from nearby Los Angeles, or the latest game of the Lakers, or plans for the house party this weekend at the Jackson’s.

One man, of age with many of the men In the bar but much older than most of the ladies, sits on a bar stool in the corner by the door and watches the well-dressed patrons sip wine and talk animatedly. The noise level is high, and all conversations blend together as they rise from the bar and the small tables so it is difficult to pick out sentences from the individual words and phrases that fly around the room.

http://www.wineyardinc.com/

Firestone Vineyard, Los Olivios, CA

Approximately 40 miles north west of Santa Barbara on Highway 101 or via the more direct route of Highway 154 is the Santa Ynez grape growing region. There are a dozen or so wineries in the area and wine tours are offered by several operators in Santa Barbara, but on this trip we elected what is arguably the most famous winery in the region – The Firestone Winery and Vineyard.

The drive to or from the winery is through beautiful country on either road. Highway 101 is the Pacific Coast Highway and for almost two thirds of the drive the road hugs the coast with spectacular views of the ocean and beaches. At Gaviota highway 101 turns sharply north and winds through pretty mountain scenery. The drive down highway 154 winds through mountain passes and across valley floors, reminding Patricia of the scenery around her home town in Cali, Colombia. We drove to the winery on Highway 154.

The Firestone family did an excellent job of building a winery that architecturally fits with the surroundings. The Firestone family (of Firestone tire fame) no longer owns the winery having sold it to a title company magnate a couple of years ago, but there are still many pictures of the Firestones in the tasting room and small museum.
As with many wineries tasting is no longer free. At Firestone, for a $15 charge you get to taste three white and four red wines and keep the large engraved wine glass. My palate is not good enough to discern the nuances of blackberry and apples and tannins in the wine that the tasting notes described, but we agreed we liked the Sauvignon Blanc white and the Cabernet Sauvignon red and bought a bottle of each to bring back to Houston.

Since there was little going on at the winery because of the season, the winery tour was short and succinct, but still quite interesting. The tour guide was knowledgeable and personable and gave out lots of facts that kept the tour interesting.

We drove back to Santa Barbara on Highway 101 with a stop at the Firestone Walker brew-pub and restaurant.