The people are civil. The whole work of
the house is carried on upon fixed rules which tend to the comfort
of the establishment. They are not cheap, and not always quite
honest. But the exorbitance or dishonesty of their charges rarely
exceeds a certain reasonable scale, and hardly ever demands the
bitter misery of a remonstrance.
The inns of the Tyrol are, I think, the cheapest I have known -
affording the traveler what he requires for half the price, or less
than half demanded in Switzerland. But the other half is taken out
in stench and nastiness. As tourists scatter themselves more
profusely, the prices of the Tyrol will no doubt rise. Let us hope
that increased prices will bring with them besoms, scrubbing-
brushes, and other much-needed articles of cleanliness.
The inns of the north of Italy are very good; and, indeed, the
Italian inns throughout, as far as I know them, are much better than
the name they bear. The Italians are a civil, kindly people, and do
for you, at any rate, the best they can. Perhaps the unwary
traveler may be cheated. Ignorant of the language, he may be called
on to pay more than the man who speaks it and who can bargain in the
Italian fashion as to price. It has often been my lot, I doubt not,
to be so cheated; but then I have been cheated with a grace that has
been worth all the money. The ordinary prices of Italian inns are
by no means high.
I have seldom thoroughly liked the inns of Germany which I have
known. They are not clean, and water is very scarce. Smiles, too,
are generally wanting, and I have usually fancied myself to be
regarded as a piece of goods out of which so much profit was to be
made.
The dearest hotels I know are the French - and certainly not the
best. In the provinces they are by no means so cleanly as those of
Italy. Their wines are generally abominable, and their cookery
often disgusting. In Paris grand dinners may no doubt be had, and
luxuries of every description - except the luxury of comfort.
Cotton-velvet sofas and ormolu clocks stand in the place of
convenient furniture; and logs of wood, at a franc a log, fail to
impart to you the heat which the freezing cold of a Paris winter
demands. They used to make good coffee in Paris, but even that is a
thing of the past. I fancy that they import their brandy from
England and manufacture their own cigars. French wines you may get
good at a Paris hotel; but you would drink them as good and much
cheaper if you bought them in London and took them with you.
The worst hotels I know are in the Havana.
