Those who like
tea--which they cannot get well made on the Continent--had better take a
spirit lamp and apparatus for making it in their rooms. But little
trouble is involved in thus providing for one's wants; the most is in
making tea or coffee. Those in the habit of so living will save the
expensive hotel meals. In hotels, where there is a _table d'hote_,
dinner costs from three and a half francs (seventy cents) to five (a
dollar). The breakfast consists merely of bread and _cafe au lait_,
unless extras are ordered, and those are liberally charged for. Nowhere
are travellers expected to pay for meals at hotels unless they choose to
take them. _Se non mangiate, non pagate_. ('If you eat nothing, you pay
nothing.')
The prudent tourist will always bargain for the prices of rooms. In the
first-class hotels on the Continent there are usually to be had upper
rooms at thirty or forty cents a day. In second-class hotels in France
and Italy a room may be obtained for twenty cents, the charge for
service being ten cents extra. Candles are always charged for
separately; in cheap rooms, ten cents; in higher priced, a franc each
per night; the waiter being careful to remove the partially burned one.
The best plan is to carry wax candles in one's basket. Soap is never
provided, and is an expensive article when called for.
In Germany and Holland the price of a room per day is a florin or
guilder--about forty-three cents. Living generally is higher than in
Italy, but cooked provisions are abundant and excellent.
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