Milan Hotel

Although I expect to be finding accomodations along the way for the bulk of the trip, I figure that it's probably a good idea to at have a place to crash the first night or two. Centrally located, and recommended by the travel god Rick Steves, an email or two books me into:

HOTEL SPERONARI
V. Speronari 4 20123 Milano
Tel. 02 86461125 Fax 02 72003178
mailto:hotelsperonari@inwind.it
Arrive Nov 12, Depart Nov 14.


Interesting? Who knows. My initial figuring is that it's cheap and I am going to be wiped from traveling anyway (note that my typical strategy for adjusting to major time zone shifts is to sleep deprive myself prior to leaving home...), so even a 'marginal' hotel should suit me fine. Of course, no sooner do I originally post this hotel information than I get the following email from a buddy who happened to stay there during his trip...

Subject: Hotel Spermonari
From: Paul M
To: Kevin Batycki

Sounds like a great start....My wife and I stayed at Hotel
Speronari in October 2004 on the recommendation of Rick Steves's books. He called it "my home in Milan... It's bright and clean with no views or traffic noise." We're here to say that it is NOT bright and NOT clean. It's dark and smelly, and the room we were first offered smelled like it hadn't been cleaned in weeks. We would have left on the spot if we hadn't had a prepaid reservation.Do yourselves a favor and walk around the corner to the Hotel Rio. Yes, it's right on the busy Via Mazzini, but with advance planning you ask for a room on the quiet side of the building. It's only a little more expensive than Speronari and the difference is like night and day.

Oh well. I'll stick with the reservation and see how she plays out. And if it's as bad as Paul says, well, Rick Steves' offices are just across the border in Washington; I'll choke him out with a stinky Speronari sheet when I get back!