alpine village ….not

 We didn’t book any of our hotels. I have to say that because last night we stayed at a place that I called our Christian camp. It is in a place called Thames that is famous for a short lived gold rush in the 1860’s. It is on the coast at the base of the Coromandel Peninsula. It has a long Main Street with buildings that look like an old western town with aprons declaring their current incarnation as an Indian restaurant or a four square super market. The town climbs up  a hill and the little houses climb up and up on curving roads and way at the top is a cemetery. My guess is that it was for sailors. Because from up there the view of the Bay would calm any tired sea faring soul. 

But back to the hotel. The motel. The camp.The whatever.

Called “ Coastal Lodge.” It was a series of Alpine A Frames. Perhaps a piece of whimsy. Perhaps like Portmeirion. But on second thoughts, whimsy suggests magical. Nothing whimsical here. The inside was more plastic and poor taste than one room can hold. There were metal sculptures of flowers on the wall. There was a dining table with matching chairs with a salmon patterned fabric that has not been seen since the mid 80’s for good reason. There was a bible on the bedside table . There was a wallpaper with a matching frieze in brush strokes of grey. And there was a lot of linoleum, the flooring of luxury.

The bathroom was , what shall I say, ….curious?  Cynthia, my traveling companion needs accessibility..she has got it down to grab bars. As long as there are grab bars. She never thought to specify where those grab bars should be.  The grab bars in this accessible bathroom are of no use to anyone needing them for help with a shower or the loo. We decided that they were for amateur gymnasts. Doing side bends, or something. 

The Bible went to live with the tea bags. 

We went to bed early like good Christians.

So we could get up early and put the linoleum and the attempted whimsy behind us.

But the Bay was there before the Alpine village . And it will be there long after.