The Ambassadors, Ch. 2

So to pick up from where I left off, we cancelled our room at the Har Carmel and decided to just try the Holiday Inn. It's what we originally wanted hours earlier, but we never could find it. We kept going in circles, but this time we finally figured it out (actually near the gardens and I finally recognized some of the area - woohoo).

Of course they were full too but the desk clerk was very nice and tried to find us accomodations in Caesaria and Netanya but nothing was available. The security guy sitting outside was also very nice and we asked if it was possible to leave our van in front of the lobby while we went to get some food and he said no problem. We walked up to the Carmel Center and had a delicious vegetarian meal at Greg's. It was so yummy. Sorta made up for the whole evening. When we walked back to the hotel, I ask the clerk again (a different person) if anyone cancelled, he said no, but he called the La Meridian, located way below on the beach.

There were rooms available and for a decent rate. We got lost again and kept circling down and up and one way streets until we finally got to the bottom of the hill near the beach. To get to the beach, you take a side road that passes under a narrow bridge and then to another side road adjacent to the beach. As we headed towards the hotel, there were a number of parked cars, in semi darkness. It reminded me of when I lived in Israel before and went to this out away restaurant/pub in Tel Aviv, with my boyfriend and his friends. Near there was a deserted strip along the beach and it was full of male prostitutes. So I wondered if these were prostitutes. David didn't think so, but by the way they were dress there was no denying it. Hmm, where the heck are we, it looked like a nice area.

Anyway, we arrive at the hotel and again, it was located next to this huge building that looked like a new corporate building. It was almost pitched black. The hotel also look really nice from the inside, so we were finally relieved and optimistic. When I walked inside, the air was off and it was so humid and hot and it was full of teenagers running around. The front desk counter looked worned and unprofessional, but I was still hopeful, afterall, this was suppose to be a 5 star hotel. There was only a few people on staff - a desk clerk, a person who I guess fixes up the rooms, a bartender, and a security guard. By now it was way after midnight. I stood there for over 40 minutes trying to get my room. This poor kid had the phones ringing (with English speakers and none of the other men knew English very well except for the clerk), the teenagers, who were drunk, needing attn, the bartender who needed to know the exchange rate so he could take dollars instead of shekels, and so on. It was so entertaining to watch. I really felt bad for this kid - it was like watching a comedy of errors.

Originally he was going to give me two rooms - one with a bed and the other with a pullout sofa. But I didn't want to pay an additional 100 shekels for that, so he said he would move a couch in the room. The guy he asked said they don't have anything like that, so the clerk just gave the same room for the lower price. But when they tried to find the keys (still have keys not cards and they were scattered around in different drawers) they couldn't find them, so he found us another room, even better - a suite with a kitchen. Great, wonderful, but the only rooms left were in the next building.

The bldg next door that looked like a corporate headquarters that had been abandoned. He said to drive in the underground parking and take the elevator up, so we did. However, once we got to the garage, it spanned the length of several blocks - all the buildings above and elevator entrances were not marked, so we had no idea where to go. Now remember it's now getting closer to 2:00 am or later and we are exhausted. We had all our bags and a cooler and had to wake the kids and get them upstairs. I go up to check if this is the right building. I go to the floor the room is on and when the elevator door opens up, it completely dark. It was like I was in the Shining - it was so eerie. So I finally found the lobby (after getting turn around on different floors - all very hot and looking like they desperately needed a facelift - but not as bad as the previous two hotels.) The clerk looked surprised and I told him our situation, so he went with us to help escort us to our rooms.

So we here are in the this underground parking garage, which is almost empty and he points to the right elevators, so he thought - nope wrong, so we drove around some more and he found the right ones. He kept apologizing and helped up with our bags and took us to our room. We go up to the floor and it's the wrong side of this gigantic building. We take the elevator down, walked to the other side, take it up and walk to our room, down a corridor that definitely is not a 5 star hotel quality. Wouldn't you know it that the key he gave us was the wrong key. So we drag ourselves back down to the lobby and wait for him to get us a key to another room. All I kept thinking was, they are going to comp us this room. It's been almost 2 hours since we tried to check in. Meanwhile there is no air conditioning at all in the building. I guess they only allow the guests to use it in their rooms. It was very hot and humid.

Almost 2 hrs later, the children barely able to stand or sit without falling over, waiting in this lobby with a security guard who is very bored but wait it gets better, who should happen to come into this building's lobby and walk over to a phone to call a taxi, but three of the hookers. They obviously did this alot, since the guard never said a word and they knew exactly where to go. I looked at David and we just couldn't believe this. Natalie looked at them and when they left, said "Momma, those girls were sure dressed funny. They look so weird."

Finally another guy (the other hotel's guard) came with a key and took our things up to the room. We walked in and at first it actually looked quite nice. It was a three room suite with a kitchen. The beds looked clean, however they didn't have fitted mattress sheets and when I lifted up the bedspread, the bottom sheet came up to revealing that if we slept there, we would probably end up rolling around on the mattress itself. But, ok, not such a big deal. Then suddenly my eye caught this thing on the carpet. I looked closer because it blended in with the pattern on the carpet but then suddenly it started to move. It was this big, light brown roach. It scurried away behind the closet and I yelled at David that there is roach in the bedroom. He didn't believe me and then he took a look and just stood there, looking so sad that we had to leave. As we walked back to the living room, Natalie started to shout because another roach ran under the chair Noah was sitting on, and then I jumped and yelled as another roach nearly ran over my toes. We hauled ass out of there and hit the road for Netanya. It is now after 3am in the morning.

To be continued ...