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] /boston/2013/04/19/thumb-p4190008.jpg

[6] /boston/2013/04/19/p4190008.jpg

[7] /boston/2013/04/19/thumb-p4190005.jpg

[8] /boston/2013/04/19/p4190005.jpg

[9] /boston/2013/04/19.3

[10] /boston/2013/04/19/thumb-p4190010.jpg

[11] /boston/2013/04/19/p4190010.jpg