Wedding Blog

I want to start off this portion of the Frenchiemoon recaps by saying to Miss Chicken: don’t worry, we loved your city of Ottawa!

When Mr Frenchie and I got to Ottawa, we were really excited.

We had planned the Canadian portion of our honeymoon to end in Ottawa, so we could be there for Mr Frenchie’s 29th birthday.

You see, the company Mr Frenchie works for gets Marriott hotel benefits, so we get a nice room discount and a 20% discount on food,. meaning we could have a fancy birthday dinner at the Merlot Rooftop Grill, atop the Ottawa Marriott Hotel, for a little cheaper.

When we arrived at the Marriott to check in, the valet was really nice. He explained how to park the cheapest in the underground parking, by only paying to “come and go as we please” on the days we knew we would need the car. We parked the car, grabbed our luggage, and made our way to the front desk. This is where our trip went sour. Somehow our reservation had been mixed up, and according to their computer, we were supposed to have checked in the night before. The girl at the front desk was very rude and unsympathetic. She told us we would be charged for the night before. We explained to her there was no way we would have booked our reservation for the day before, because that was the day before Mr Frenchie’s birthday, and we had always planned on arriving on his birthday. We were told we could go the next day and speak to the desk manager, who may or may not be available during specific hours. Um, thanks?

Trying not to let this ruin our day, we took our keys and went to drop our luggage off in our room. I entered the room first and quickly realized we had been given 2 full sized beds. Romantic, no? Mr Frenchie immediately called down to the front desk and got the same girl.

“Oh, it’s your honeymoon AND your birthday? Yeah, well we don’t care,” was basically the response we received. We could get a new room for an additional charge (per night), but we figured it was our honeymoon, so we could sleep snugly, after all. After a potty break I decided to call and make a reservation for dinner. Since the Merlot Rooftop Grill is only open for dinner, I had to call the front desk, and again we got the same girl. I didn’t care what time we ate dinner; I just wanted to make a reservation near the window, as it’s a revolving restaurant. Apparently, they cannot guarantee a window seat, and she wouldn’t let me know if I could go and hang out in the bar long enough to get one.

Her: “We cannot guarantee a window seat.”

Me: “I understand that, but do you think if we got there early enough and waited in the bar, we’d have a better chance of getting one?”

Her: “We cannot guarantee a window seat.”

How I detest poor customer service! By the way, Mr Frenchie comes up as Marriott corporate through the discount. Why anyone would be this rude to someone who works for corporate? I don’t know.

We decided to get out of the hotel and roam the streets of Ottawa, and I was determined to improve Mr Frenchie’s birthday.

Ottawa is a beautiful city…

Our favorite part was the Rideau Canal and Locks, North America’s oldest operating 19th-century canal. Most of the locks are still cranked open the old-fashioned way, by hand!

Also, Mr Frenchie finally got his Canadian mall experience. To answer Mrs Mouse’s questions, Mr Frenchie did not want to go to a Canadian mall in hopes of seeing Robin Sparkles, he just wanted to see how it differed from those in the states. One store he found that we’re sad isn’t in the states is RW&CO. It’s a total bummer too, because he looks damn good in their stuff.

On our way back to the hotel from the mall we spotted a bride and groom! It was so exciting seeing an newly married couple on our honeymoon.

We yelled our congratulations to them as they passed. Is there any chance she’s a Weddingbee reader?

Back to the hotel I was able to speak to the hostess of Merlot Rooftop Grill and she assured me that we would have no problem getting a window seat, especially if we didn’t mind waiting in the bar. Mr Frenchie and I got into our fancy clothes and headed to the roof.

Our dinner Merlot Rooftop Grill was fantastic!

Oh, how I want that soup again, every day! It was SO TASTY!

We had ordered cheesecake (Mr Frenchie’s favorite, if you haven’t figured that out by now) to take back to the room, so they brought us a mini Happy Birthday dessert.

We went back to our room, had our cheesecake, and tried to sleep in one of the full sized beds. It was the worst night’s sleep we’ve had in a long time. The next morning we both had sore backs and couldn’t imagine spending another night in that hotel, let alone paying for it. We decided to leave a day early and go back to Vermont. It was the BEST decision we could have made!

Up next: The rest of our honeymoon in Vermont.