The Grand Hotel — An Elegant Sufficiency

Jun 26

Jun 26 The Grand Hotel

No, not the Grand Budapest Hotel (though at times, we feared it might be a similar experience!) but the Grand Hotel Mackinac Island.

I referred to the slight anxiety experienced this morning, overcome now we are here. But having to leave our car on the mainland and bring only a carryon bag was tricky enough. The fact that the Grand Hotel has standards meant that my Hero had to bring a jacket and dress trousers and Mary and I our finery too. At times, we did wonder if it was all worth it. Now we are here, believe me, it was.

So, the hotel is indeed grand in every sense of the word. Everything runs like clockwork, from dropping off our carry on bags at the ferry in Mackinac City to our arrival here straight from the carriage tour. All our anxieties came to nought.

The decor is striking. Classic, contemporary and somewhat timeless, the “theme” is black and white with red geraniums.

Very pretty and rather elegant.

There’s a daily programme of activities.

There are so many comfortable places to sit with a book.

There’s an elegant ballroom.

And the Parlour is lovely with its remarkable geranium-patterned carpet!

Just outside here is the longest porch in the world, complete with rocking chairs and window boxes filled with red geraniums. Sadly, too chilly to sit out here today, but maybe tomorrow morning? The ceiling is painted a particular shade of duck egg blue, to deter flies, we were told by Kylie this morning.

Of course, there’s a gift shop where we might have acquired a new friend.

But at this time of the day, visitors are encouraged to pay $10 to take a look around the public areas and so parts of the hotel feel a little like a railway station. Perhaps our rooms are ready?

Mary’s certainly was. Decorated in a pale turquoise with the red and green geranium theme going on, it’s elegant and comfortable.

There’s a cosy nook to sit in too. Not bad for a standard “single”.

Ours wasn’t quite ready, so we had a bite to eat before asking again. My Hero went off and returned with a set of keys.

We opened the door to 394, booked as a standard king room and wondered if there’d been some mistake.

Because 394 is a corner room; one of those round sets of bay windows we’d seen coming up the hill in the carriage this morning. There’s a piano in here, which is a first. I really don’t think we’ve ever had a room with a piano before!