Pensione and Hotels and Hostels, oh my!

One drawback to traveling in the United States is that most hotels don't seem to cater to families very well. Your standard chain hotel is usually going to consist of 2 double or 2 queen beds. Unless you get a suite. And even then, "suite" often just means "living room", not "extra beds". You have to make arrangements for an extra rollaway bed (often at an additional charge).

Not so in Germany, where it was common to find hotels that offered a variety of room arrangements: double room (for 2), 3-bed room, 4-bed room, etc. I discovered a chain called B&B Hotels all throughout Germany, and that's where we stayed in most of the major cities.They seem to be a fairly new chain (i.e. built within the last decade), because the accommodations were clean and modern, the buildings well-built and insulated.

I favored the B&B Hotel chain not only because it was reasonably priced, but because it seemed perfect for families-- I booked a "family room for 3" at each one we stayed at, and there were enough beds for 3-4 people each time: either a double bed and a bunk bed, or a double bed and a single bed. Perfect for our little family!

In Dresden, we had a 3-bed room that looked like this:

 

 

And in Heidelberg, Nuremberg and Frankfurt, we had a 4-bed room like this:

 

 

Whenever there was a bunk bed, Todd slept on the top, and Allan slept on the bottom, meaning I had a nice, spacious double bed all to myself! :-D As you can see, the bunk bed is extra long-- so long that Allan had no trouble fitting in it!

In Berlin, however, I decided to try a hostel. I found one in a good location (within walking distance from Checkpoint Charlie and the Currywurst Museum), and it was an interesting experience! First, because the hostel was so centrally located, parking was extremely limited. We were lucky to get the last open spot, and then made sure to LEAVE our car there until we left Berlin. Secondly, the building is a lot older, which leads to other problems: the walls and floors are thinner and thus less insulated against noise and weather, the furnishings are old and creaky, the pillows lumpy, and the shower wouldn't drain properly. Finally, remember what I said about thin walls/floors? And remember that is a hostel, which primarily caters to younger folk. And what are younger folk really good at? Making lots of loud noise in the middle of the night without regard to others! Thank God for earplugs ;-)

Looking back, public transportation was so plentiful in Berlin that I should've just paid a little more to stay at one of the B&Bs there. But hey-- at least I've gotten to experience a hostel! Won't ever do it again, but at least I've tried it once in my life :-)

View of our room from the entrance. Bathrooms immediately to your left, closet to your right.

A closer look at the beds. This time, Allan and I shared the double bed and Todd got the rickety, creaky bunk bed. The stuffed animals got the bottom bunk ;-)

You can just make out the in-room sink. On the other side of the wall of the sink is the toilet, and next to it, in its own separate room, is the shower.

Finally, in the smaller towns of Lueneburg and Muenster, you couldn't find chain hotels like B&B. Instead, we booked rooms at small bed & breakfasts, which were really nice! Because the towns were smaller, it was much quieter. And because the facilities were likewise smaller, it felt more homey, especially at breakfast, where there was more of a homemade touch to the food. In each of the towns, we got a room with a double bed and a pull-out sofa (that pulled out to make a single bed).

Our room in our Lueneburg hotel looked exactly like this one. Cozy and with a door leading to a small back patio outside!

One final note on German hotels: most of them are seriously lacking in outlets! Each of our B&B hotel rooms had a grand total of three: one by the small table, one on the floor near the door, and one in the bathroom! So we had to get creative in divying up the outlets to charge our devices!

Todd just couldn't wait to play on his phone!

I'm posting every day in October as part of the 31-Day Writing Challenge. Click here to read more about it and to see the rest of my posts this month!