Picture a quaint, charming, quiet small town in the heart of the wine country in Missouri... small colonial houses dating back to the period when the French still had an influence in this country...gently rolling hills, heavy with grapes...friendly townspeople...All are selling points of the Inn Ste. Gemme Beauvais, one of the many Bed and Breakfasts located in the town of Saint Genevieve, Missouri. However, what you see and what you get are two very different things.

When you check in, you park in a lot to the north side of the building, and the first thing that is noticeable are the train tracks that run not more than twenty feet away from the rear of the building. "I've slept through train traffic before" you think. Not this train traffic, I assure you. You then pull your bags from your car and go into the entry way of the B and B. In this entry way, you will immediately be suffocated, not from lack of oxygen, but from the giant roses on the emerald wallpaper and the very plush emerald carpeting. No matters. You've certainly seen worse, yes? Up the narrow staircase you go...

The rooms are as you might expect: Antique furniture and sparsely furnished. Exhausted from your travels, you lay down to sleep,expecting to go into the wine country the next day...drifting slowly...slowly...slowly...on the hardest mattress that you have ever laid on. No matter, you could really sleep on the floor, you're so tired...and that is when the train goes by, blasting it's horn, just to ensure that you don't get that desired sleep. Unbeknown to you at the moment, these trains will continue their noisy parades throughout the night, never once allowing you to even make it to a brief napping period...

The next day, you awaken, sore, tired, and looking worse than you ever thought possible. Why, if I didn't know better, I'd say that you stayed at the Ste Gemme Beauvais! Amazing! You look identical to how I did! And when I checked out first thing the next morning, the owner did not seem at all surprised that I couldn't seem to get out of there fast enough. Strange? Perhaps they ought to include their "evening disturbances" in their preview of their inn...in the lovely, quaint, and QUIET town of Saint Genevieve, Missouri.

Learn more about this author, Heather Ewton.
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