Gingerbread Cottage Bed & Breakfast

Description

Vanessa von Schellwitz and Dean Brandhagen are your welcoming hosts. We both have a lot of experience in the hospitality business and are well traveled. So we have some interesting stories haha... actually one year we had so many guests from the BBC that we thought they were planning another series of the Britcom "Fawlty Towers" using us as the subject material.
Originally from 'culture city' itself - Salzburg, Austria - Vanessa brings a great deal of European style and many tasty dishes from Europe to our guests at the Gingerbread Cottage. Her Viennese Apricot Dumplings and world famous Austrian Apfel Strudel are worth the price of admission all by themselves, to say nothing of the delicious 4 course cooked to order breakfasts that she lovingly prepares daily. There are usually 4 choices of breakfast entree daily - One sweet, One meat, One vegetarian, and One seafood. Celiac, Vegan, Vegetarian, Diabetic and all other diet considerations can also be arranged on request. Vanessa was Victoria's most popular cooking instructor for over 15 years so she can cook anything and make it look easy and taste great. She prepares snappy, chestnut flour Crepe Suzettes for a gluten free treat for people who have difficulty with gluten. To add to the intimacy, breakfast is served in a quaint Austrian Gasthaus style breakfast room with elegant silver chargers, hand painted Gmunden Keramic Austrian porcelain, ornate silver sets, linen tablecloths and napkins, and fancy silver knife benches. The room itself is a work of art and compliments the ornate antiques and original art pieces from around the world. English and German are spoken but Dean always brags he can say "Bon Appetite" in 17 languages. In addition to being a linguist, Dean does his part in the mornings by, prepping, making strong coffee and fancy teas, hosting, waiting tables and - of course - bussing... For your daily breakfast entertainment, Dean also shows off our 3 crazy cockatoo's - Casper, Chucky (an endangered pink Malaccan Cockatoo) and Merlin - with their unique gimmicks, tricks and antic's. You will enjoy the breakfast show, these birds are truly world famous! In fact, you can see Merlin taking the "Pepsi Challenge" on Google Video. He is such a show off. If you prefer to cuddle something without a sharp beak, we have a gorgeous Flamepoint Siamese cat called Butler. He lives up to his name by welcoming everyone who arrives by asking for a tummy scratch. The Gingerbread Cottage, built in 1905, is one of only a few registered heritage duplexes in Victoria. Along with many gorgeous antiques, a piano and Dean's Brazilian classical guitar, the Cottage boasts two well zoned deluxe bed and breakfast suites with private baths and private roof gardens. The Lavender Room - a favorite anniversary or honeymoon suite with queen size bed and private bath boasting an antique claw foot tub and unique old turn of the century water closet - and the Gustav Klimt Room (Vanessa grew up a couple of villa's from the castle where Klimt and his art nouveau artist buddies painted, wined and dined their summers away in the early 1900's.) The Gustav Klimt room has a queen bed and private bath with it's own soaker tub and rain shower, it also has a 10' x 12' private roof garden where you can watch the squirrels, sun your buns and plan your day in Victoria! Both rooms have down feather duvets and crisp ironed sheets which are an experience in themselves. (hypo allergenic bedding is available if you prefer) We would love to have you stay with us in scenic downtown Victoria so please check out our website to see how things look... coincidently - The Gingerbread Cottage is an extremely pink house! Please contact us soon, so we can be sure to reserve a cozy bed and a place at the table for you!