We chose this hotel because it was the nearest to where a friend lives, yet the location is not bad at all and there is a choice of restaurants and pubs (our favorite Au Bureau, with good cocktails and excellent food) all along the street with the Train Station and the Cathedral not far.

Without paying too much attention to the façade, the lobby hall gave me the impression that I was going to like the stay. The girl at the reception welcome us and gave us the key. It was nice to find out that she speaks English, but it looks that she is the only one who actually does it.

After jump in the small elevator, we arrive to our room. It was a small double bedroom ensuite that probably didn’t change the decoration since before WWII what, I have to say, was kind of romantic. A large window, covered with what it look bullet/bomb proof metallic blinders (for a second I kept thinking in WWII) was giving view to the back of the hotel and rooftops, nothing special. The bed wasn’t big, enough for a couple. We sit on it and the bed almost swallowed us, so we knew that we were going to sleep very close on the following nights, both of us rolling down to the middle of the bed and struggling to move apart. At least the pillows where big and comfy. The room also had a small wardrobe, a small desk useful only to leave the key and a TV that we didn’t bother to switch on.

Then it was time to check the bathroom (or the cave where dwell the Beast, as we joked). Big shower to the right, sink on the middle, a door (with no lock) that we were able to close only by pulling from inside the bathroom and pushing from the bedroom at the same time... and The Beast to the left. It was by far the weirdest toilet I’ve ever seen. Although I don’t consider myself an expert on the matter, I think that kind of toilet should be, how to say it, forbidden. The water was so close to the sit that was splashing everywhere. It had something similar to a metallic filter at the bottom and another rubber filter with a hole in its centre (both covered by the water). To flash the toilet we had to push a button that started an engine (noisy!) that refilled whatever was left to refill and then sucks everything through the rubber filter (you might need to flash more than once to make sure that nothing gets stacked on the tiny hole) and then through the metallic filter. I was lucky to don’t have to sit to use it, not so lucky my girlfriend!

To finish with the room, even that we didn’t ask for it, we had a wake up service offered by a nest of pigeons somewhere around our window.

We know we shouldn’t been expecting much of a 2 stars hotel, but for the price we paid I was hoping for at least breakfast included. That was an extra at €7.50 per day/person for what it looked a cereal buffet that we decided to skip. Beside all that, the staff was nice, the room was clean and tidy, and we had a good nice sleep (till the wake up call at sunrise) mostly because we were falling unconscious after all day walking.

The best: the location, free internet. The worst: The Beast, the bed, the pigeons.
Conclusion: you get what you paid for, but this wasn’t that cheap to get that!