A night in the Metro Hotel, Sonoma County’s quirkiest place to stay

“How cursed,” I assumed to myself. “I merely should keep right here.” 

Luckily, when checking into the Metro Resort on a sunny Friday night, I discovered the boutique lodge’s eclectic decor extra charming than creepy in individual. The outside is painted a playful shade of pink, accented with hints of white and blue — the colours of the French flag. Simply inside, a whimsical French-themed cafe beckons, the place recent crepes are served to visitors within the morning without spending a dime. It jogs my memory a little bit of some quirky European hostels I’ve stayed in — with just a few key variations.

Exterior, just a few Airstreams — for the extra adventurous — are parked within the backyard, flanked by plastic flamingos. Within the foyer, visitors are greeted by some unlikely hosts: a doll wearing a maid outfit, a classic French Guignol puppet theatre and not less than a dozen gnomes.

“The gnomes are our associates right here,” stated lodge proprietor Marie Saint-Clair. “They’re form of magic. They shield us.”

Saint-Clair, who hails from Paris, opened the lodge in 2001. The constructing, only a brief stroll from the eating places and vintage outlets of downtown Petaluma, was initially constructed as a house within the 1870s. 

“Folks come and inform us every kind of tales about [what the building used to be],” stated Saint-Clair. “We have heard so many unusual tales, like possibly there have been ghosts.”

She doesn’t purchase the ghost tales, although. 

“Folks similar to to speak about what they hear after which they repeat it,” she stated. 

However the Metro Resort doesn’t want any ghost tales to make it attention-grabbing. Every bit of kitschy decor has its personal fascinating backstory. Nearly each merchandise comes from Saint-Clair’s annual visits to France, after which she returns with suitcases packed stuffed with gnomes and different knickknacks. 

“I did not need it to be a lodge that seemed generic,” she defined. “… And since I am French, I needed to offer it a aptitude. … We might go to the flea markets, within the south of France or in Paris, and we’d discover some gadgets that we actually appreciated. And we had been fortunate as a result of we had a lodge with numerous rooms we might fill, as a result of typically individuals simply purchase stuff however then they do not know what to do with it and it simply turns into muddle.”

Saint-Clair is proudest of her assortment of outdated French college posters, which present scenes that younger college youngsters could be instructed to explain within the classroom. 

“I’ve slightly little bit of an obsession,” she stated. “I’ve many who I can not even placed on the partitions.”

She’s additionally a fan of her goose lamps, which she attire up for various holidays.

“All of the rooms have a goose. Each single room. That is my household,” stated Saint-Clair. “… I like them. I even have one in my home. … I would be so upset if some goose determined to run away or one thing.”

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Checking into my room for the night time, which I entry by climbing up a precariously slender spiral staircase, I instantly discover certainly one of Saint-Clair’s beloved goose lamps on the nightstand. A blue chalkboard above the mattress reads, “Le monde appartient à ceux qui se lèvent tôt” (the French reply to the proverb “the early hen will get the worm”). A pink pillow on the mattress makes me snort: “Let’s transfer to Paris,” it reads, and sure, the “A” is formed just like the Eiffel Tower. 

Extra classic college posters enhance the partitions, and within the toilet, there’s a clawfoot tub. For $179 an evening, it’s easy however cozy and homey, and I sleep like a child. 

Within the morning, I shuffle downstairs for the complimentary crepe breakfast, made day by day by the housekeeper, who churns them out expertly. An assortment of toppings are set out for visitors to assemble crepes themselves: recent strawberries and bananas, Nutella, jam and whipped cream. The entire unfold is, in fact, dutifully guarded by gnomes. 

“We try this for our visitors within the morning, as a result of we wish to have that little French [touch],” Saint-Clair advised me. “It is simply very straightforward to have that generic buffet breakfast the place you might have all these issues like dry cereal. … We did not wish to try this.”

By the point I’m completed sipping my espresso underneath a blue-and-white-striped umbrella on the patio, it’s virtually time to take a look at. However first, I take one other peek across the lodge. Sizing up the gnomes on the counter, I keep in mind one thing Saint-Clair advised me. 

“French persons are very massive on gnomes,” she stated, reminding me of the film “Amelie.” “… In the event you go to France, you see numerous gnomes typically in yards. Right here individuals most likely suppose gnomes are slightly goofy, however they’re cute. I like them. They’re form of magic.”

I eye the gnomes suspiciously, half-expecting them to come back to life, “Toy Story”-style. They don’t budge, their little smiles glued to their glass faces. Not less than they appear pleasant. 

Generally, visitors love the decor a lot they provide to purchase it, Saint-Clair advised me, however she will be able to’t carry herself to half with something. There’s an outdated accordion she purchased at a flea market from a woman who was crying when she bought it to them, as a result of it belonged to her late husband. There’s a baby model she purchased from a person in Lyon, who bought her the garments he had when he was slightly boy to decorate the model. There are classic ice buckets from France and branches over every lodge mattress {that a} visitor introduced them from Aspen, Colorado. 

And he or she’s nonetheless including to her assortment. The standards is easy: They must spark pleasure. 

“I do not like issues which can be too conservative or conventional — I like issues which can be enjoyable,” she stated.  “We similar to to have a look at issues that make us completely satisfied which can be very French, distinctive, colourful and that make us smile slightly bit. Once you take a look at an object you wish to consider one thing: a spot that you’ve got been, one thing you want. And all the things that I take a look at, I keep in mind the place I bought it, and the way I bought it.” 

As I exit the Metro Resort, the heavy pink door swinging shut behind me, I see one thing transfer out of the nook of my eye and freeze. A goose lamp on the run? A ghost? Nevertheless it’s simply my reflection within the entryway mirror.

Nonetheless, I might have sworn a gnome winked at me. 

Metro Resort & Cafe, 508 Petaluma Blvd. South, Petaluma, (707) 773-4900.