We didn't finalize any of our Cramer 5 weekend plans for after camp until the last night of camp.  I had been looking for hotels rooms in Munich for the last two months, but finding one room for 5 was non-existent* and we would have to get 2 rooms for our 1 family, so I gave up.  Thankfully, the night before leaving Josh and his internet skillz came to the rescue!  He found an available hotel room in Salzburg, for a price we expected, and located in the center of town.  We flipped around our travel plans and decided to go to Salzburg first and Munich second.  (I am so glad we did!)

It wasn't until after he had booked the room that I thought to ask if it was ok for 5.  Josh said he didn't know either because they only had room for 2 kids so he just left it blank, but he did know it was located across the street from Mozart's Residence, :)!

It wasn't until we pulled up to the square that we began to realize that we would be staying in more than just a hotel, we were going to be staying in elegance... with our cutie Three.

Josh had booked us into the 5-Star Hotel Bristol.  Originally built in 1619 for aristocrat offices, it was transformed into a hotel just before 1900.  Don't let the age of the building fool you.  For over 75 years, the family owned and operated Hotel Bristol has done everything possible to make their hotel worthy of 5-Stars.  The interiors from the lobby to the room are ridiculously elegant and in wonderful condition, only to be outdone by the most amazingly attentive and dedicated staff.

When Josh was checked into our room, the receptionist was incredibly nice and helpful, spoke perfect English though was obviously Austrian, escorted him upstairs to the room, made sure it was to his approval, then escorted him downstairs to the doorman who came to our car and carried our luggage up to the room.

Now, the Three and I had waited in the car because we were planning on Josh checking in quick so we could continue our drive up into the mountains.  By the time we were driving away from the hotel we were truly wondering what we had gotten our family into.  We've stayed in fancy hotels before but not with the Three and not this style of elegance.  As we drove along the river we saw other hotels and considered switching, but our bags we there, so we decided to go for it and fit our family of 5 into a romantic room for 2.

When we got back to the hotel (and being in Salzburg and all) I instituted Von Trapp Family Law.  With our partially wet Three, quietly and on mission, we marched our family in single file line into the hotel, up the grand hotel staircase and straight into our room.

Did I mention our room had two sets of doors?

The hotel was booked but it was incredibly quiet and we never heard a single person or the loud street noise below.  Our first order of business was cleaning up the Three so we could go to dinner.  The marble covered bathroom was half as big as the bedroom and it was dreamy.  The bathtub was long and deep begging to be soaked in, and was made complete with a towel warmer on the wall. 

It got christened by the Three needing a foot scrub.

Out of respect and uncertainty, we continued to leave and enter the hotel in a quiet, single file line for the remainder of our stay.  When we returned to our room late, after a fun night on the city, our room somehow looked different.  It was the kids who first said, "Someone was in here!"  The curtains had all been drawn, the cover on the bed was removed and the duvets were turned down, foot mats were in place next to each side of the bed, and they even cleaned up the smudges the kids left on the mirrors of the bathtub... the room was cleaned for the second time and now ready for the perfect sleep.  Wonderful.

The below shots were taken just minutes before we finally checked out.  I attempted to make the bed for the shots, but did not do the hotel staff justice.  (See anything different in one of them? HA!) 

Did I mention the location was perfect, too?  It was the perfect location for exploring Salzburg's Old City.  We could take the secret Bristol Passage to the amazing Mirabell Palace and Gardens, or take a short cut past the beautiful baroque Church of the Holy Trinity to walk the Linzer Gasse, or walk over the river and see so much more.

It could have been that the night prior we were staying at a communist era built camp or it could have been that the 5-Star Hotel Bristol is just ALL THAT.  My money is on the later.  It was an absolutely beautiful hotel with the most amazing staff.  Even though we broke a "rule" by having 5 in a 2, there was nothing I would change about our decision to stay there as a family for one night.  Everything about it was simply perfect!

*Ok, there is a hostel in Munich that sleeps 6, but the cost is expensive enough to the point that if you're going to spend that much you might as well try and find a deal on two rooms for a nicer place kind of thing.  But everytime I'd think about having to get two rooms for our family of 5, I couldn't help but think how silly that sounded! :)!

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