The Fairmont Hotel, Bermuda

It's also called a Princess Hamilton Hotel. And it's a striking bubble-gum-pink building! When I saw it from the outside I thought "Wow! Neo-pop!" almost to the point of it being

rather absurd and radical, and maybe even a tad "kitsch?"

Anyhow. I likened it to a huge giant pink elephant by the time I walked to the entrance of it. And wondered what the insides would be like! I deemed it most likely to be quite colorful and just as kitsch if not, or worse yet, "tacky."

* * *

Whoa! The inside was nothing like its exterior view!

It was tasteful. It was very welcoming. It was luxe calme et juste! God, I would love to have my home just so!

The lighting, the textures, the shapes and lines... Everything was pure perfection (to me).

I was so curious who the designers and directors were. And when I sat in the lobby, I saw the chairs - the kinds I had seen in Malaysia and in England - the workmanship for the chairs was totally top notch.

The scales/proportions were perfection; I could just feeeeeeeeeeeeeeel that this chair was made by someone who knew every detail about how to make chairs! To deal with wood, to make them arch and curve, and support...

And in comparison to those chairs, the modern day chairs we see daily are so ugly and lacks that touch of a real crafts person, a real master. Often, they are made without much thought; they are not pieced together, nor tailored for human delight; they are just glued together or put together without regard to what the material wants to say to you.

OK, so I never made a chair in my life, so perhaps there is no reason for me to be so judgemental about chair designs.

But I have nostalgia; and that is exactly what this place gave me a taste of. A deep yearning to be reminded of the past, the history, and a sense of place.

From the glimpses and peaks I had, everything seemed so perfect there. The lobby, the bar, the foyer, there was even a Mark Twain bronze sculpture and a bench that he sat upon! And then there was a lovely garden and a fountain.

Yes. It had a fountain. It was that perfect! Nothing was left out! And the lounge in the lobby had a fireplace. Fancy that!

Ahhhh... I miss it already...!!!