Last day...

Even after travelling for more than ten years with all three kids I'm still nervous on the departure days. So ME setting the alarm double because I hate to check out last minute. The alarm goes off. Sounds weird, its dark, ME probably dreaming and mixing together all kind of happenings ME and The Three Teenagers had the past 21 days. Because I cannot remember that the alarm on my iPhone ever talked to me. Puzzled I check the alarm clock. It reads 2:34! Exactly! Did we slepp in? No, the cleaning ladies would have swept us out of the beds by now. No, its MORNING! And here goes the alarm again, a steady ennervating blast. And then it hits me: Fire! Thats a fire alarm!

Sure enough a voice is giving out orders how to behave, follow the signs, immediately, walk down (yes, all 11 flights), do not use the elvator. The Three Teenagers are wide awake by now. Is it real? I don't care, I tell them, we do as if. Put on some clothes please, don't panick, grab your most important thing (Plüsch animals of course...and the MP3 players/iPhones, okay!) and get out of here. ME putting on jeans, shoes, a sweater and grab my bag whith passports, tickets, money.

In the hallway we can detect nothing, no smoke, no fire. Still the voice tells us to proceed leaving the hotel. We join a group of others making their way slowly downstairs, following an old man who can hardly walk. The Three Teenagers keep asking me if its fake or real. ME answering that I do not know, but we better get out of here just in case.

In the lobby a fairly small group of people is gathered together, some outside. The stuff looks at us amused, I ask them about the reason for the alarm. They do not know, but they do not move either. Obviously they never had any emergency training. The reception desk is deserted, nobody there to give any information.

But now there is movement in the group. The mostly pyjamas and jogging pants wearing group of families, old and young people, men and women is joined by a pair of giggling very young looking girls, twenty maybe. They wear nothing but Victorias secret lacies, the latets arrival I can tell, nice bright colours. And high heels and their clutches. They can hardly stand upright and my son is impressed. ME trying again to find somebody who knows the reason for the alarm and I see a completely exhausted lady in hotel uniform yelling something in a walkietalkie and flying through the hall. She shouts at everybody to calm down (all of us are very calm, except of course the two very blond girls in High heels) and to go back to the elevators and back to our rooms. Does she know the reason for the alarm? She says no, but they are working on finding it out. Wow! So there could be a fire somewhere, you just don't know after about 15 minutes, where? No, she says, its false alarm. But if you don't know if there's a fire... I give up. And tell her, that she forgot that the elevators do not work. So she yells in her walkietalkie to operate the elevators in one part of the hotel.

Nobody really is moving, I mean, if you don't know if there is a fire or not, you don't want to get stuck in an elevator in a burning house either, right? So we wait. Finally the alarm stops and the sweating supervisor is POSITIVE that there is no fire. The elvators work and luckily for my son we get into one with the giggling lacie-girls. Only, that they start to have problems obviously with beeing able to hold back their body fluids. One is absolutely SURE she has to go right here in the elevator. I can tell, my girls can't wait to witness that. But before the elevator stops in every single floor, the Miss Victorias going crazy with each stop. We get out at floor 11, the high heelers had pushed the top floor button. Still wondering if they made it.....

No3 is not sure if she wants to sleep again at all, she rather stays awake, sure. ME falling back into bed, gulping down water (no drinks served or water offered in the lobby...) and sleeping like a rock (so did No3, of course, HE and SHE anyway).

At 9 the real waking call goes off and we do the whole routine, this time only throwing together what we had spread out everywhere in the room. ME bringing an extra suitcase are greatful I did so. No way you fit in dirty clothes the way you did the clean ones before. Plus it gives us extra space for the last shopping task: Supermarket!

We check out, ME half expecting some "we are sorry for the inconvenience last night, can we offer you breakfast?" or something, but sure enough that did not happen. My questions about the source of the alarm remain unanswered til today. Maybe the two blondes were guilty? Never mind...

So, yes, its again a fast food Starbucks breakfast and we leave this very comfortable hotel. Next stop: Hershey kisses, marshamallows, biskuit - stuff, we don't have in switzerland. We spent the last dollars on this and squeeze everything in our suitcases. Done. Almost. There is one more thing: Rodeo drive. The most overrated street in the world I guess. We walk down one side, back up the other, explore the real nice Ralph Lauren Shop and then back to the car. The picture with the kids in the Beverly Hills sign is taken, nothing more left to do. And yes, we skipped the Hollywood sign all together. Next time..........