My One Hotel Villa Ducale Parma

If my life ever completely unravels, but I have enough money to go hide, the rest of the world may not know where I have gone to, but my Travbuddies will; you will all find me at Villa Ducale in Parma Italy.

We didn't plan to stay here. We actually had reservations at a hotel run by the same company, a line called "My Hotel"; our original reservation being at Hotel Arte, just 700 meters up the same road.

Shortly prior to leaving on the trip, however, we were sent an email stating they had decided to close for the holidays, and our reservation had been moved to Villa Ducale. This was fine with us; it was close to the original hotel, and was actually a three star, where our original was a two star, and they were honoring our same rate, which for Italy, was shockingly cheap; $25.00 US a person, including breakfast.

We arrived late on the Saturday night prior to New Years Eve; tired and having just discovered my wallet stolen. I had nothing; no money, no passport, no ID of any sort, no credit card, nothing.

They were our guardian angels from the start, welcoming us in late that night, helping me with the numbers to contact the consulate the next morning, and telling me not to worry about not having ID - normally you have to show this when checking in.

They put their fax machine to our disposal so my parents could fax me my old passport, drivers license, etc. No charge, all sweet smiles.

As we arrived, I had been losing my voice; as the days went on, this situation disintegrated to being downright ill; I got a horrible head cold, and bronchitis. A great deal of my time was spent in the lounge area of the lobby attempting to read through watering eyes as I sneezed, and tea was continuously brought to me at no charge, just to make sure I was doing well.

It's a smaller hotel, and a lot of the workers are living on the top floor, or so it seemed; at least perhaps for the busy holiday week. It seemed very much a family, and they brought you right into the mix. Their eyes would glow as you entered the room, "Miss Odhner!!" they would cry with joy, and see what they could do to make you happy...

Now to be fair, some of the "perks" received may not be received by all - I think it's luck of the draw. Michelle and I quickly learned that the man that ran the bar in the lobby would provide the champagne for free if I was to go request it, not so if Michelle would go up. It makes no sense, but we took full advantage. Unfortunately, I could never remember the word "Prosecco", all I could recall is that it began with a "P"; so I was always saying to Michelle,

"I think we need more Proccutio"
"Prosseco." She would say to me.

"I think we need more Petronas"
"Prosseco."

"I think we need more Panini"...
Well, you get the idea.

She would then give me the proper word, and I would go up to ask for it with my most charming smile, money out - only to be told it had be "taken care of." Awesome.

We stayed through New Year's Eve, for what I'm sure will go down as the funniest New Year's I've ever encountered. One thing I learned through this is that Italians, or at least the Italians there that night, don't actually understand that during the song "YMCA" by the Village People, the point is to try to form the letters with your arms. They were OK to throw their arms up in the air for the "Y", but after that, they just threw them around with an abandon, every time.

"OH LOOK!" Michelle cried happily to me, "It's just, Y, swingy swingy swingy!" And so it was. Excellent.

There is a restaurant in the hotel, and the food was touch and go. One time I had the sea bass, very different than what you get in North America, but good. As I got sicker I just wanted some broth, which I found tasteless and not very good.

The room was of a great size for Europe, and extremely comfortable. The windows were large with big old fashion shudders.

While we were only there for 5 days, it felt like a lot longer, and was by far my favorite stop of the trip. The people that worked there made it home to me. True, there didn't seem to be any rule against the male employees hitting on you, far more than the other places we stayed, but they did it in an endearing way and never pushed. It wasn't an issue, it ended up funny.

When I asked the amazing woman at the front desk if there was a spare nail file, she looked and they were out; she then insisted on giving me her own brand new one. I tried to refuse, she insisted. I thanked her profusely, she sweetly said she was just doing her job. Sorry, but I've seen people do their jobs; giving away their personal property doesn't nearly fall into it.

To walk to town would be a push, but taxis came very quickly and were inexpensive.

On the final day when we had to run to Milan to get my replacement passport, they cheerfully kept all our luggage locked up for us while we made that trip until we returned, and let us check out then. Very helpful on a hard day.

This miraculous home away from home gets my highest recommendation in every way. An amazing bargain, the best service, nice rooms, and a sense of comfort and welcome I've never gotten before or since at a hotel. Grazie.