"I guess so", said Isabella shrugging as she tucked Jangle into her apron pocket and with that they quickly stepped through the curtains and into a vast reception area. The smell of the food infiltrated every corner of the hotel, making Isabella's mouth water.

Numerous waiters were rushing around and a harassed looking receptionist was busy answering the phone. The Hotel Gastronomic seemed very grand indeed, a most incredible place and I shall attempt to describe why.

It was famous locally for it's incredible food. Everybody in Sumptitous knew of it's reputation and there were always queues of people every night. One had to book months in advance such was it's popularity. Now when you think of going to a restaurant, even your favourite one, it would pale into insignificance in comparison to the Hotel Gastronomic.

It was not just the exquisite flavour of the dishes, nor the unusual
combinations of ingredients, nor indeed the intricate attention to detail when it came to presentation - no, though all of these were true it was something quite different. To taste a mouthful of this food was to feel another emotion altogether, sometimes you would feel such extreme happiness that you would have to grab the nearest stranger and dance around the room, other times you would feel as if you loved everybody in the world. The menus were intoxicating, controlling your body pulling out all consuming emotions you did not think you possessed. These were dishes that took over your entire body, nobody had the power to resist, no matter how bad tempered you might feel before hand.

Now the other interesting aspect of the hotel was that as guests moved from one room to the other, their clothes changed colour to match the space they were standing in. Even their hair altered colour, it was a most remarkable sight to behold!

For example the salon was painted a bright red and ladies would stand sipping cherry cocktails, large rubies on their fingers, their crimson evening gowns trailing behind them as they moved around greeting friends. When they walked through to the restaurant, the rubies became sapphires, their elegant dresses transforming into shades of navy, marine and sky blue to compliment to plush blue wallpaper. The library area was decorated in hues of green and the gentlemen that sat smoking after dinner cigars sported smart suits of emerald, moss and lime green.

Instruments would play by themselves - flutes and harps circling around a grand piano (which had been fixed to the floor after a rather unfortunate incident when this huge instrument had accidentally knocked over the local major causing his false teeth to fly out of his mouth and into a nearby bowl of pea soup)
Chairs would automatically pull themselves for each new guest to sit upon and napkins would unfold with a flourish, settling onto the diner's lap. There was just one exception to this rule and that was Malveo, the revolting son of Madame Glittergold who was also the hotel proprietor (but I shall explain more shortly). Despite living in a hotel, Malveo had no concept of table manners.
When he ate, it was like watching a pig eating from a trough, so the napkins tucked themselves into his collar to catch the slobbering remains of his meal.

Anyway to continue, an enormous staircase led to the upstairs where the guest rooms were situated. Each room was individually furnished to the highest standards and most of the furniture was edible. There were beds made from toffee, duvets from the softest of souffles and lemonade poured out from gold taps. You could lick the wallpaper - sometimes it tasted of strawberries and cream, other times of lemon sorbet and the flavour never faded (as it might do with chewing gum). Now you might be thinking how unhygienic this was, but everything was changed on a daily basis and that was why hundreds of staff were employed. It was also the reason, Lujzka was so certain they could infiltrate the hotel without being detected - and she was right.