Our hotel in Hangzhou

OK, so why on earth are we talking about something as prosaic as our hotel? Because we've stayed here several times and it's in such a lovely setting -- right across the street from the West Lake and an easy walk from many neat places. We know it as the Xinxin Hotel, but they seem to want to call themselves "Hangzhou The New Hotel." When we were here before, it always seemed to be just a little old-fashioned, just a bit like China might have been like a generation ago. We were surprised to find that it has had some remodeling done and is now very much like a standard Chinese business hotel (which is NOT the same as an American business hotel; you can find some of those in China, but why would you want to?) Some of the changes are nice -- the front desk is more efficient and the breakfast room is now in the former dining room with a wonderful lake view. Some of the changes are ... well, quirky. We have a full-sized window from the bedroom with a view of ... the inside of the shower. I've not seen anything like that since a room I once had in Las Vegas. Oh, well...