Front entrance to Le Germain Toronto.

My husband and I recently stayed twice at the Hotel Le Germain Toronto. I chose the hotel because of its affiliation with Tablet Hotels. I’m a member of the fee-based Tablet Plus program, which provides upgrades and amenities at certain of their properties.

Le Germain is a 122-room boutique hotel; while part of a (small) premium hotel group, it doesn’t feel anything like a chain. The ambiance is more urban chic than brash bling.

Our experience at the hotel was delightful, and we wish we could have stayed longer. Here, in no particular order, are 9 things we absolutely loved:

1. The staff were all friendly and courteous, and the valet remembered us from one stay to the next. Admittedly only two days separated our stays, but it was nice to be welcomed back in such a personal way.
2. We were upgraded on both stays, thanks to the TabletPlus* program. The first time to a Deluxe Room, the second time to a Luxury Room. Both were fantastic. We were partial to the walk-in shower in the Deluxe and the in-room wine bar in the Luxury.
3. We loved the fresh apples and drinking water available in each floor’s lobby.
4. It’s worth staying there JUST for the showers. The hotel is in a converted warehouse, so each floor has very high ceilings. The showers feature rainfall shower heads, positioned at about 8 feet. Pair that up with the Aveda toiletries and you’ve got bliss.
   

   Click through for a better view of the amazing shower.

5. The location is superb (depending on the purpose of your visit, of course). TIFF Bell Lightbox on one side, Second City on the other, a block away from the Sky Dome and the CN Tower, in the heart of the entertainment district. While there we never needed our car.
6. A memorable (and complimentary) breakfast buffet. Six kinds of organic granolas; fresh and dried fruit; yogurt; toast, croissants, bagels and pastries, breeakfast meats, fresh fruit juices, coffee (latte, etc.) to order, and more.
7. Free wireless throughout the property. THANK YOU.
8. Bathroom stocked with a premium blowdryer (not the kind attached to the wall) and makeup mirror, PLUS a 3-way vanity mirror. Ladies, you know what I’m talking about here.
9. All the room lights (as well as the built-in reading lights) can be controlled from the bed. Nice touch.

*Further amenities we received each stay, thanks to Tablet Plus: a welcome snack and note, a round of drinks from the bar, and a $20 credit to the hotel’s restaurant, Victor. We didn’t get to eat there, sadly, but hope to do so next time.

We did make use of the (complimentary) gym. It’s small but has a fine selection of cardio and weight equipment befitting the hotel’s size. Meeting and private dining rooms are available. The the hotel is dog-friendly for those who travel with canine family members.

Note: No consideration was sought or received for this post. We paid for our hotel room both nights, and I’m a paying member of Tablet Plus.

We look forward to returning!

Hotel Le Germain
30 Mercer Street
Toronto, ON M5V 1H3, Canada
(416) 345-9500

http://www.germaintoronto.com/en/home

Last month we spent a wonderful – and all-too-brief – night at the lovely Hotel Keppler in Paris. It is exactly the kind of place we love: small, discreet, chic. We made the booking through Tablet Hotels (I’m a member of their Tablet Plus program). The hotel is located in the fashion district, a block and a half from the Champs-Elysees, a walk from L’Arc de Triomphe, The Grand Palais, and dozens of restaurants and designer boutiques.

One of the reasons we selected the Keppler is because they have rooms that can sleep three adults (our college-age son was with us).

Upon our arrival, the Tablet Plus program kicked in: we were given a welcome glass of Champagne, guaranteed late checkout, free wireless for all our devices and – best of all – an upgrade to the Penthouse Suite, pictured below. Such bliss: two full bedrooms, two full bathrooms, and a living room with a proper desk, a well-stocked fridge, a Nespresso machine AND a view of La Tour Eiffel.

This is the Penthouse suite in which we stayed.

We slept in and so were unable to take advantage of our complimentary (again thanks to Tablet Plus) breakfast in their charming dining room, or to use the fitness room. However, we very much look forward to going back as soon as we can and rectifying that!

Hotel Keppler
12, Rue Keppler
75116 Paris, France
+33 01 47 20 65 05

http://www.keppler.fr/

Catching up on two days worth of notable links:

April 4

• From the Heifer International site: Kids can make a difference this summer as they participate in your local Read to Feed library program.
• AOL bought Engadget, but forgot to make sure they’d retain the site’s editorial staff along with it. Oops.
• E One Entertainment is seeking a Toronto-area web designer to revamp its large record label site. Send CV and quote w/examples to ealper@entonegroup.com.
• Wine Expo, a favorite Santa Monica wine shop, will have the Eat Phamish Vietnamese food truck parked outside its Wine Bar this Wednesday, April 6.
• A fantastic story from The Guardian: “I’m a 91-Year Old Body Builder.” Proof that it’s never too late!
• Have mad organizational skills and enjoy working with video? Consumer electronic review and how-to site Tecca wants you.
• Fantastic news for F1 fans as well as fans of gripping documentary: SENNA: The Movie finally comes to the States this summer.
• Walt Disney World’s Haunted Mansion unveils enhanced hitchhiking ghosts.

April 5

• Funny or Die gives us its version of the talking twins from the viral video. This time they’re all grown up and have turned into Michael Chiklis and Patton Oswalt. Now, if Patton had shaved his noggin it might have been even funnier…
• Gawker cites a Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center study that meditation can be more effective than morphine, even for people with little meditation training. That’s good news for me since morphine wreaked havoc on my tummy the last time I had it.
• The Wall St. Journal looks into why some (lucky) people can function well on relatively little sleep. Sadly I’m not one of them.
• The Huffington Post picked up on ThinkProgress’ report that Bristol Palin’s teen pregnancy prevention nonprofit paid her over $250,000 in 2009 – over seven times more in 2009 than it actually dispersed for teen pregnancy prevention programs.

I’m not privy to their (social) marketing plans, and I’ve not yet seen the property (although I plan to visit next week when I’m at CES). But I’m impressed and a bit charmed by The Cosmopolitan LV‘s approach to Twitter.

It doesn’t merely tout its rooms, rates, restaurants and entertainment offerings, thank those who do so, or respond to feedback.

Rather, the Twitter stream strikes me as a complementary extension of the property’s overall branding: self-confident; interested in a wide swath of (smart) popular culture; unafraid to extol the virtues of others’ brands and accomplishments; playful; fun. They tweet about art, architecture, film, food (and not just their own restaurateurs), drink, music, and more. Some recent examples:

In short, by telling us what IT likes, the Cosmopolitan is subtly suggesting why WE might very well like IT as well. That’s refreshing and clever. To whoever’s behind the feed, and the overall marketing strategy, I say “well done.” If the property itself is as creative and entertaining as the marketing – and from early anecdotal reports, it is – I’m sure I and many others will have lots of fun there.

Links:
Cosmopolitan LV Twitter Feed
Cosmopolitan LV website

Several times a year we spend the weekend with our longtime friends Steve and Sims at their home in the Upper Ojai Valley. Good food, wine and fellowship prevail, as do good photo ops! Here are a few from our stay there over the July 4th holiday weekend.

From the front porch toward the pergola

Still life on the kitchen island

Looking west through the Upper Ojai Valley

Artichokes gone to flower

Stephen, SIms and Tom on the drive

The main house, from the side

As if we need another reason to visit Palm Springs… SHAG The Store has just opened there. Loves me some SHAG, and can’t wait to check this place out!

Shag: The Store.

I snapped up this Balanzza Digital Luggage Scale before heading back East to bring my son home from college for summer break. Since bags over 50 pounds can incur hefty ($50 and up) surcharges, I wanted to make sure our luggage stayed within the weight limits. The $20 I spent on it more than paid itself back. It’s accurate; we filled a few of the bags to 49 pounds, and sure enough, that’s exactly how they tipped the scale at the airport check-in counter. Zero overweight baggage surcharge = one happy camper.

It would also come in handy on international flights when carry-on cabin baggage can be subject to weight limits.

This particular model displays either pounds or kilograms, and uses a strap as opposed to a hook to attach the bag for weighing. That makes it somewhat easier to secure the bag, although it can still be a strain on your back and leg muscles when you’re using it to hoist a 49-pound bag off the floor (trust me on that one) to get a reading.

Ever few months we’re lucky to spend a weekend at Lavender Hill Farm, the home of our friends Sims and Steve in the picturesque Upper Ojai Valley. Here are some pictures we took on April 16 and 17.

We picked vegetables from Steve’s extensive gardens and prepared them for lunch and dinner. Artichokes are in high season and we had them three different ways: with fava beans as an accompaniment to pork chops for dinner; with onions, lardons and egg as a pasta sauce for one lunch; and with tuna and cracked pepper on toast for another lunch. We also had the fava beans, straight from the pods, with cheese and bites of salami as an appetizer before dinner one evening.

The Valley was resplendent with springtime color and fragrance. My iPhone got the color fairly well; the scent you’ll have to imagine as you peruse the photos. Click on the thumbnails to see larger versions of any of them, and click again for a yet larger version.