A Night in Le Puy

Trip Start Apr 30, 2004
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25
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Trip End May 09, 2004


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Where I stayed
ibis hotel
(Paris hotels)

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Thursday, May 6, 2004

It was almost 11:00pm as we pile back into the car and drive through the rain to the station. There we find the hotel, locked tight as a drum and no sign of any human being. We look carefully at the entrance, and find a machine resembling an ATM. With our limited French, we discover that by inserting a credit card, it will charge for a room, and open the door. Apprehensively Cecilia places her card in the machine. The idea of identity theft in Le Puy en Velay did not appeal to us, but we go ahead anyway. Imagine our surprise and delight when the machine spits out the card minus € 33.00. It also prints out a room number and a code to open the main door. Now I place my card in the machine so we can get another room. Within seconds it is expelled. I try my trusty Washington Mutual debit card. Same response. Now Cecilia tries hers, and it is also ejected. What is going on? We try one more time, and this time read the instructions of the screen. We were unable to believe our eyes when it tells us that Cecilia has taken the last available room! There is speaker phone beside the machine, so we press the buttons, and a distant voice (probably in Paris) confirms that as per his computer, Cecilia has indeed taken the last room. We contemplate all five of us using the one room, but on reconsideration, we need a decent night's sleep due to the long drive tomorrow to the Loire Valley.
http://www.etaphotel.com/etaphotel/fichehotel/gb/etp/2495/fiche_hotel.shtml.

So, Miryam, Cecilia and Rocio occupy the room, which is as basic as a room can be. It has a double lower bed and a single bunk bed above. The bathroom is the size of a closet. Nevertheless it is spotlessly clean and after such a long day, it's as comfortable as a Ritz Carlton. It doesn't hurt that full continental breakfast is included in the price. We agree upon a time to meet next morning, and then Bryan and I drive off to the Ibis Hotel we had seen earlier near the city centre.

Unlike the Etap, the Ibis has a lighted foyer and two receptionists. We enter and request the room rates, and are told to our horror that the hotel is completely full. What is going on? Even in Paris on the May Day holiday we were able to get accommodation. Here at Le Puy, on a Thursday night in the middle of France, a gazillion miles from any tourist route, we are shut out. Nevertheless, the kind receptionists start phoning around, and finally find a room at the Hotel du Park, just a couple of blocks from the Café du Palais. At € 69.00, it's over double the cost of the Etap, but at this time of night it's a deal, and we snap it up. It is now midnight, and the receptionist there has woken up to attend us. He unlocks the rather strange revolving front door and checks us in. It was a very nice room, and we were sorry we would be making such little use of it.
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