My First Ever Stay at a Westin

AKA - Country girl come to town.

I had never stayed in a hotel built like this before...where all of the rooms face the interior and look down on the lobby atrium and bar below.

As I walked in to the hotel Monday evening, my eye was immediately drawn up.  It seems impossible to me that anyone could walk inside and not do likewise.  Even in the elevator, it's all you see.

These aren't the best pictures of the view from my room, in part because I gotta tell you - from the 9th floor, I got a little shaky in the knees the closer I was to the edge.  I know this makes no logical sense - my knees aren't always logical - but it took a little getting used to when walking from the elevator to my room.  And of course, my room was the exact opposite of the elevator bank, so I got to practice telling me knees that there was nothing to be nervous about multiple times.

I was here this week in Chicago for an SAP conference with a focus on manufacturing.  It was a good conference overall, but I figure people are more interested in seeing my pics of the hotel than hearing all about HANA and the Big Data Bus.  (Yes, there is a Big Data Bus, and for techies, it's really pretty fun in a geeky sort of way!)

There was at least two other firsts for a hotel stay for me.  I'd never stayed in a hotel that offered the classic, white bathrobe in the closet.

Now had this one felt as soft as it looks in this picture, I would have tried it on, but it wasn't, so I did not.  It was sort of like they'd left out the fabric softener or even a dryer sheet.  Bummer.

I had also never stayed in a hotel - or even taken a shower anywhere! - that had a twin head!

Is this how the other half live?

Guess what else?  The workout room on the 12th floor - again, my knees! - was VERY NICE.  The equipment is in great shape - not typical, hotel-barely functional shape - with lots of exercise options.  I brought my workout attire, but check this out....

Is the picture clear enough for you to read what this offers?  New Balance clothing and shoes for rent for $5.  I'm not sure how I totally feel about this...I mean I assume they are fully clean...but it is still a rather intriguing idea...

While my room did not have a refrigerator, it did come with a wine cooler.  A wine cooler.  Huh...why did I immediately think of my friends, P, W, D and J when I saw this?  Along with memories of trips to dry Bentonville, Arkansas to visit Walmart that included stops at Macadoodle's on the way?

Even the ice bucket wasn't your typical hotel plastic.

I mean seriously, is this how the other half live all the time?

The room wasn't 100% perfect however.  I still had to unplug one lamp in order to plug in my phone...

Now you know I can't end this without talking a little bit about the food - all included in the conference schedule.  Tuesday breakfast and lunch were just ok, but this was cocktail hour!

Not the best sushi I ever ate, but I indulged nonetheless!

And then dinner afterwards included chef cut to order tenderloin along with a mashed potato bar served in martini glasses.

Please note - that while I love these two guys, the focus of this picture is the martini glasses filled with mashed sweet potatoes, mashed wasabi potatoes, mashed rosemary potatoes plus all of the toppings.  S & K simply happened to be my potato models.  And I didn't have the heart to crop them out of the pic.  (They are soooo NEVER coming to an SAP conference with me ever again after I said this now!)

The Westin also offered something that I looked at, but decided not to try, especially since they'd been sitting under the heat lamp for quite some time before I saw these.

Can you tell what those are?  Here is the pic with the tag.

In theory - a classic and a fun presentation - but in reality?  After an hour or so?  I just couldn't imagine it would be worth the calories.  But it was intriguing enough to be worth a picture.

I took one other food pic - some asparagus bundles wrapped with prosciutto.  Yum!

I didn't take any pics of Wednesday's lunch but it was quite the Italian feast with Caesar salad, caprese salad, cheese stuffed manicotti, Alfredo chicken, garlic bread.  I took a bit of most everything except the garlic bread.  By the time I'd gotten to Wednesday lunch, I'd had enough experience with how they do bread that I decided it wasn't worth the calories.  Whoever is choosing/baking their bread is a major fan of chewy bread - like chewy enough to pop your jaw, if you know what I mean.  Please don't get me wrong here!  We ate well, and I like chewy bread from time to time, but I don't like my jaw to pop when I bite down or have to tear it away from my hand with my teeth.  What can I say?  Bread is not only about the taste; it is also about the overall experience, including "Can I still feel like a lady as I eat this bread?"  The only way I could manage to feel like a lady when I was eating things at the Westin this week that involved bread was to take the top off and eat the insides with my fork. But perhaps that is just me.

So there you have it.  My first ever stay at a Westin hotel.  Maybe next time my knees will be used to it and much more logical.

Or maybe not...