So here in Berlin we’re staying at the Park Inn hotel. It’s an interesting little hotel – a travel book one of my lunch companion’s had referred to its outside as “Remarkably Ugly” .

The inside, however, is an interesting, funky space – well except for the fact that the fact that it appears a former set designer for the adult industry conned his way into the interior design contract for their rooms.

First there’s the giant mirrored headboard:

Then we have the glass encased shower, essentially in the middle of the room:

Complete with rain-like shower head:

Strange side note: There’s no drain in the shower.

Apparently there are rooms elsewhere in the hotel (another lunch companion got one) that has a giant sunken tub in the middle of the room.

The Hidden Toilet
I’ll have to admit that I had forgotten that Europeans often put the toilet off in its own little room. So when I walked in the room and at first glance saw all the amenities, minus a toilet, I had a mini-”oh shit, is this some shared toilet hotel or something?” moment. It turns out it’s behind the frosted glass shower wall and you get at it through the door that looks just like a closet door.

Action, Camera, Lights!
Since you can’t make movies without lights they’ve made sure there’s plenty. This room comes equipped with a “Master” light switch just inside the door. Being environmentally minded I’ve been diligently turning it off as I leave the room. But, I came back in today to discover that as I flipped it back on the housekeepers had kindly turned back on EVERY SINGLE FIXTURE in the room. Seriously, it was like that moment in any alien-oriented movie when the door of their ship first opens.

It takes no less than eight light switches (Yes, I count these things) to turn off all the fixtures in this room and I barely need one light at a time depending on what I’m doing.

Wonder if they’d pay attention to a note?

“Please don’t turn on all the lights as I’ll just have to spend two minutes going through the room and turning them all back off when I return. Thx.”

I’d happily trade one or two light fixtures and use their power savings towards a free wifi connection folks!