Some of the victims were skiing off-piste, despite Galtur’s warning to skiers to stay on-piste, because of the avalanche risk. The cost-conscious can buy a pre-paid calling card, available in the US, which you can use from any phone. E-mail and fax are at reception.The bottom lineDouble rooms range from $159-$219 (£100-£140), including breakfast. Between May and November, a $299 (£190) summer package includes B&B for two and $150 (£95) credit in the restaurant.I’m not paying thatThe Econo Lodge at 4669 W Irlo Bronson Highway, Kissimmee (001 407 396 1890) offers a clean, basic room and a pool for $28 (£18).. All have air-conditioning, cable TV and private bath, and some have spa baths. The interiors are filled with European antiques the owners have collected on their travels.There is a pool, a vineyard, a mock church stuffed with antiquities (Bavarian antiques barn meets Portuguese bordello) and a restaurant complex that extends on stilts out over the lake, so you can watch the turtles rubbernecking as you have breakfast.
Apart from its speciality soups, the restaurant serves the likes of king crab and Maine lobster, for a mere $75 (£47) a head.Staying in touchThere are phones in every room, but your British mobile will not work in America unless you have a tri-band service. Many of the Chalet’s clientele have a go.It is 40 minutes by car to Orlando International Airport, along Interstate 4. If you have your own plane, the Chalet has a lit and demarcated airstrip and welcomes careful pilots.Are you lying comfortably?If not, there is bound to be a cushion to hand to prop you up. Each of the 30 rooms is different, and barely a corner is left without its own lacy, decorative moment in pastels and pinks.
Even better views can be obtained via nearby Lake Wales airport, exclusively used for skydiving at $125 (£80) a jump. There cannot be many hotels in the world that can claim that.Location, location, locationChalet Suzanne is at 3800 Chalet Suzanne Drive, Lake Wales (tel: 001 941 676 6011; fax: 001 941 676 1814), bang in the middle of rural central Florida, and within 40 minutes of Disney in one direction and an hour of Busch Gardens in the other. This is the edge of Florida’s orange country, and the lovely Bok Gardens nearby climb up Florida’s highest point (a measly 298ft) for some fine views. Guests inscribe their own celebration tiles for the Autograph Garden with touching messages that would make a cynic cringe.Besides romance, the hotel is famous for its soups: there is even a soup factory hidden discreetly round the back. It is a pseudo-Gothic lakeside motel that thinks it is a chateau, and its rather strange turreted, rambling appearance belies its origins as a former holiday home with chicken houses, stables and farm buildings attached. Those outhouses, now individual suites, have found new life in pink and green, and the whole thing lights up at night like a Christmas tree.
The Chalet is unashamedly, luxuriously kitsch, and many of its customers are locals having a big “Love is.. ” moment in their lives. It is a pseudo-Gothic lakeside motel that thinks it is a chateau, and its rather strange turreted, rambling appearance belies its origins as a former holiday home with chicken houses, stables and farm buildings attached.
Those outhouses, now individual suites, have found new life in pink and green, and the whole thing lights up at night like a Christmas tree. Florida is not usually synonymous with characterful accommodation – images of cheek-to-cheek condos and Holiday Inns spring to mind – which is why Chalet Suzanne comes as such a surprise. If you prefer somewhere slightly less crowded, try the Augustinerbrau (13) (00 4989 519 940) on Neuhauserstrasse.. Florida is not usually synonymous with characterful accommodation – images of cheek-to-cheek condos and Holiday Inns spring to mind – which is why Chalet Suzanne comes as such a surprise. The Hofbrauhaus (12) (Platzl 9; 00 4989 221 676) dates from the 16th century, and is as rowdy now as it was then.
It is a vast, lively hall which opens on to a courtyard in summer and tends to be overrun with tourists in the height of the season. The Ratskeller (00 4989 220 313), the basement restaurant in the city hall (4), has a better than average selection of typical German dishes. Also worth trying if you are looking for something more informal, is the Straubinger Hof (14), on Blumenstrasse (00 4989 260 8444), where you will have a hearty, meat-dominated, German gastronomic experience.AN APERITIFThere is only one thing to drink in Munich – beer; the city is one of the largest producers in the world And there is only one place to drink it. GO TO CHURCHThe two large Gothic towers of the Frauenkirche, (15) the city’s cathedral, dominate the Munich skyline; their onion domes look curiously out of place against the red brick of the building. Most of its original features have been reproduced during the careful post-war restoration.DEMURE DINNERThe Pfistermuhle Restaurant (00 4989 23 703 865) at the Platzl (1) hotel serves some of the best food in Munich, concentrating on local produce, including some very good freshwater fish. It has an extensive menu of typical Bavarian dishes, often including roast suckling pig.SUNDAY MORNING…
