* * * * * First impressions of Chalet Suzanne So Bunny and I arrive at Chalet Suzanne [1] in lovely Lake Wales, Florida [2]. Bunny made the plans a few months ago, wanting to stay at the historic hotel and eat the six course dinner at its renowned dining room. How renowned? It has its own airstrip! [3] We arrive and I am … underwhelmed. I heard “Chalet Suzanne,” “4-star dining,” “private airstrip” and I'm picturing something along the lines of Biltmore [4], a stately building reminiscent of classical French or Swiss architecture, and yet, here we are, at … um … eclectic Disneyesque. [It's … eclectic] [5] [6] [But this is said to be a 4-star restaurant] [7] [8] It certainly has character [9]. But the staff is proving to be very nice and helpful. We're lead to our room, which is above the dining lounge, towards the back of the building. [Character! It has character!] [10] [11] [They sure made it easy to get to the roof.] [12] [13] [The Governor North Room, where we are staying] [14] [15] [The porch continues on around the room] [16] [17] As we were lead to the room, I couldn't help but feel like I was on the set of Popeye [18]. [I did not realize this is now a tourist attraction in Malta] [19] [20] I have to keep reminding myself that this has character, although I doubt that the Popeye set was across the water from a modern housing development. [It seems the Hinshaw family did not own all the property around the lake] [21] [22] The Governor North Room itself is quite nice, if you don't mind its non- Euclidean geometry. There's the low and uneven ceiling; the slight north- sloping floor of the entry hall and sitting room; the bedroom is about six inches lower than the rest of the suite, and the color, which some would call “pastel green” I would characterize as “institutional mint green” (in other words—it's not a color I would use). Character, in other words. [The sitting room, no television, amazingly enough] [23] [24] [The writing desk—granted, one can move the chair] [25] [26] [The bedroom; this room has the television, viewable from the bed] [27] [28] [The bathroom. It's … uh … pink] [29] [30] [Dispite how ridiculous it looks, it is quite comfortable] [31] [32] [Complimentary bathrobes in the pinkest closet I've ever seen] [33] [34] As we were getting settled in, one of the staff hand delivered (did I mention how nice the staff is?) a plate of two chocolate truffles. If these were anything to go by, the food should be quite good here. Our plans for tomorrow include dinner at this renowned 4-star restaurant, plus a possible visit to Isengard [35], weather permitting. [1] http://www.chaletsuzanne.com/ [2] http://www.cityoflakewales.com/ [3] http://www.chaletsuzanne.com/about/airstrip.htm [4] http://www.biltmore.com/ [5] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2013/04/19/thumb-p4190008.jpg [6] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2013/04/19/p4190008.jpg [7] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2013/04/19/thumb-p4190005.jpg [8] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2013/04/19/p4190005.jpg [9] gopher://gopher.conman.org/0Phlog:2013/04/19.3 [10] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2013/04/19/thumb-p4190010.jpg [11] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2013/04/19/p4190010.jpg [12] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2013/04/19/thumb-p4190012.jpg [13] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2013/04/19/p4190012.jpg [14] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2013/04/19/thumb-p4190014.jpg [15] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2013/04/19/p4190014.jpg [16] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2013/04/19/thumb-p4190018.jpg [17] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2013/04/19/p4190018.jpg [18] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popeye_(film) [19] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2013/04/19/Sweethaven.jpg [20] http://senninha.redbubble.com/sets/133141/works/5502157-popeye-village-mellieha-malta [21] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2013/04/19/thumb-p4190020.jpg [22] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2013/04/19/p4190020.jpg [23] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2013/04/19/thumb-p4190025.jpg [24] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2013/04/19/p4190025.jpg [25] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2013/04/19/thumb-p4190027.jpg [26] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2013/04/19/p4190027.jpg [27] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2013/04/19/thumb-p4190030.jpg [28] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2013/04/19/p4190030.jpg [29] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2013/04/19/thumb-p4190031.jpg [30] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2013/04/19/p4190031.jpg [31] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2013/04/19/thumb-p4190033.jpg [32] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2013/04/19/p4190033.jpg [33] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2013/04/19/thumb-p4190034.jpg [34] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2013/04/19/p4190034.jpg [35] http://www.boksanctuary.org/ Email Sean Conner at sean@conman.org .