Trafalgar Hotel: Boscolo Plaza (Nice)

Here's the Boscolo Plaza hotel in Nice, where Misterpiggy spent two nights. The building facade certainly looked impressive.   The hotel was divided into two sections, one side for business travellers and one side for tourists.   Having seen the tourist rooms, Misterpiggy wonders if the business traveller rooms might be better.

Here is the tourist side lobby.  It is connected to the business side by a large rotunda.  The rotunda is also where you go downstairs to the dining room for breakfast.

The hotel had a rooftop terrace which would have been nice if it hadn't rained both nights that Misterpiggy was staying there.  It had nice views of Place Massena. 

Location wise, the hotel is strolling distance to place massena, the beach and the flower market.  It was also close to lots of high end shopping on the adjacent streets.

The hotel room wasn't large nor small, and while the room was nicely painted it still exhibited signs of age.  The floors were quite uneven and misterpiggy could feel the floor tilt downwards from the full height transom doors.

Here's the view from the doors which could open.

The bathroom seemed somewhat neglected and could have used refurbishment.  Showering was awkward because there was no shower curtain, so there was always a puddle on the floor afterwards.
There was a separate toilet room which had a toilet and about 4 feet in front of it, a bidet facing the toilet.  Kind of a strange setup if you ask misterpiggy.

There was a safe in the room but it was dislodged from the wall and didn't work.  Also, there was only free wifi in the lobby, but not in the room themselves.

Misterpiggy was really impressed with the breakfast service each morning.  It was a large dining room with a large center island. It had scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon, different sliced meats and cheeses, lots of fresh juice and fruits, and heaps of pastries.  The waiters would bring over pots of coffee or hot water for tea and they would clear away the plates every  so often.  Oh and did misterpiggy mention that their paper napkins were really nice?

Misterpiggy's rating:

Size: 1
Comfort and storage: 1
Bathroom: 0
Roomsafe: 0
Breakfast: 1
Convenience and access: 1
Cleanliness: 1
View: 1
Quiet: 1
Free Internet/Wifi: 0.5

Score: 7.5 out of 10. Misterpiggy would stay here again, just to enjoy the excellent breakfast and the convenient location.

Trafalgar Hotel: Escale Oceania (Aix-En-Provence)

Misterpiggy stayed at the Escale Oceania while in Aix-En-Provence. It appeared to be recently renovated throughout.   The hotel was situated in a residential area and wasn't really close to anything.  It was about a twenty minute ride by tour bus to get to the center of Aix-En-Provence.

The rooms, while modern looking, were the smallest of all the hotels on the tour. The toilet had a separate room and the bathroom was separated from the sleeping area by a glass wall. No privacy for the squeamish.

Being a small room, there wasn't much storage other than the cubbyholes next to the small desk.  The wifi did work, however.  Misterpiggy can't remember if there was a room safe or not.  probably not, but he will check the hotel's website and update this post if there was.

There wasn't much to see out the window of the room other than the parking lot and a bit of the highway beyond the barrier.

The tour group had breakfast in a conference room which was setup with long tables.  The breakfast offerings were decent and you could make your own caffes and lattes via the machine at the bar.

Misterpiggy's rating:

Size: 0
Comfort and storage: 0.5
Bathroom: 1
Roomsafe: 1
Breakfast: 1
Convenience and access: 0
Cleanliness: 1
View: 0
Quiet: 1
Free Internet/Wifi: 1

Score: 6.5 out of 10.   Misterpiggy would stay here again.

Trafalgar Hotel: Best Western International (Annecy)

Misterpiggy didn't have any expectations as the tour bus pulled up to the front entrance of the Best Western Internation in Annecy. From the street, the hotel looked rather small.  The dull gray of the hotel exterior even matched the sky.

The lobby quickly filled up as the tour group all entered the hotel.  After getting the room assignments, misterpiggy opted for the stairs as the elevators were so small (4 people with luggage was a squeeze, if he recalls correctly).

It felt like a rooming house and misterpiggy counted 3 doors inside his dwarfish room. One for the separate toilet room, one of the bathroom and one for the sleeping area. there was a small extension at the end of the room that didn't seem to serve any purpose. Maybe they should have turned it into a closet or something.  New laminate floors and paint didn't seem to hide how old and tired the room was.  Luckily it was only a one night stay.

There was supposed to be free Wi-fi but Marie advised that it was not working during the stay.

Two twin beds.

The small desk.  Oh, there was a flat screen TV mounted on the wall, but misterpiggy never used it.

View from the room.

Bathrooms as small as Japan.

Lots of storage though and a room safe behind the doors.

Breakfast was a rather dismal affair.  There was a rather nice looking restaurant at the front of the hotel, but the tour group ended up having breakfast in a back room where the food selection and quantity was quite limited.  Here's a picture of where misterpiggy didn't eat.

On the plus side, the hotel was only a ten minute stroll to the old part of town.

Misterpiggy's rating:

Size: 0
Comfort and storage: 1
Bathroom: 0
Roomsafe: 1
Breakfast: 0
Convenience and access: 1
Cleanliness: 1
View: 0
Quiet: 1
Free Internet/Wifi: 0

Score: 5 out of 10.  Misterpiggy would not stay here again.

Trafalgar Hotel: Hilton La Defense (Paris)

Misterpiggy stayed at the Hilton La Defense while in Paris.  The La Defense is a business district with lots of office buildings and home to the Grande Arche and the Quatre Temps giant shopping mall.  The hotel looks like an aircraft hangar from the outside and piggy read somewhere that it used to be an exhibition/convention centre? Anyways, now there are offices, shops, eateries and the hotel inside.  

The outside.

from the shops looking up at the hotel.

and inside views, these are the views from the room looking out.

There is a main shopping concourse at street level and two more shopping levels below that. Also convenient access to the Metro "1" line.

The rooms are spacious and modern.  With 3 phones even. one between the beds.

a phone on the desk and even one in the bathroom.  mini fridge and safe too.

giant sized bathroom.

All the usual toiletries. shampoo not necessary for misterpiggy and muki as neither one has any hair.

Muki doesn't need any Qtips either.

Misterpiggy found the room to be very comfortable.  No noise leakage from adjacent rooms.  It would have scored ten out of ten if there was free wi-fi.

Misterpiggy enjoyed his breakfasts on in the hotel restaurant located on the main level. The croissants and fresh juices were the best!

Misterpiggy's rating:

Size: 1
Comfort and storage: 1
Bathroom: 1
Roomsafe: 1
Breakfast: 1
Convenience and access: 1
Cleanliness: 1
View: 1
Quiet: 1
Free Internet/Wifi: 0

Score: 9 out of 10.  Misterpiggy would definitely stay here again (assuming cost was no object).

Day 11: Au Revoir to France

Although Marie had advised that the Hilton La Defense breakfast room would not be opened until 6:30 am, misterpiggy was lucky to be let in early and he savoured his last breakfast of fresh juices and croissants. 



Marie was there to bid Adieu to those leaving at 7 am to catch their morning flights.  The check in line up was long so it was lucky that misterpiggy got to the Charles De Gaulle airport early that day.
Thanks again to Marc, our competent and skilled driver!

In summary, Misterpiggy was impressed with the professionalism of all the Trafalgar staff and would highly recommend the French Escapade tour to anyone wanting to get a taste of Paris and the south of France.

Misterpiggy enjoyed many aspects of the tour including the chance to visit a perfumery and a winery, because he would never have done this on his own.   The villages of St. Paul du Vence, Eze and Avignon were a photographers delight.  Nice was a beautiful city in it's own right and misterpiggy would like to to revisit it in the future.  The visit to the Dulac patisserie in the Rhone valley was a nice surprise also.

There were little things that delighted Misterpiggy though seemingly trivial.   Listening to the string symphonie outside the Comedie Francaise.  Light, flaky and delicious croissants and pastries.  Ditto for the crepes.  And french fries!  Now misterpiggy knows why they are called "french" fries, so crispy and light.  Ok here's a surprise one, the paper napkins in all of the hotels were as thick as linen.  Misterpiggy was so impressed with them, that he brought one back as a souvenir!

If there was one part of the tour that Misterpiggy found disappointing, it was the visit to Monte Carlo and Monaco.  Misterpiggy wasn't allowed in the hotels (he didn't bring a tuxedo) and couldn't take pictures in the casino, so he wished he had spent more time by the waterfront. Perhaps Trafalgar could make Monte Carlo an optional tour in future.

Well this wraps up Misterpiggy's trip report. He will definitely return to Paris one day to see Versailles, The Louvre in it's entirety and visit Montmartre, the Latin Quarter and stroll along the Seine.

Stay tuned for future blog posts to see and hear what misterpiggy has to say about the hotels which he stayed at duing the course of the trip.

A bien tot from misterpiggy!

Bonjour France!

Well it's time for the little Mister Piggy to grow wings.  He hasn't been travelling for quite awhile now so he's anxious to board a plane with his camera and bags.  In only a few short days, Mister Piggy will be on a flight to France.  He's going on Trafalgar's French Winter Escapade 12 day tour which starts and ends in Paris.  Other stops on his trip include Lyon, Marseille, Avignon, Monte Carlo, Monaco, just to name a few, and he even gets to take a TGV train for the first time. How exciting!