My wife, Molly surprised me with a trip to San Francisco over the weekend, where we celebrated Thanksgiving and my birthday. She booked us a suite at the Hotel des Arts. The Hotel des Arts presents the contemporary work of local artists, and for the last year some of the world’s top emerging artists have been painting rooms with full artistic control. Wow, talk about life imitating art!

We stayed in the Shepard Fairey + Tracy Choi Suite. I didn’t care so much for Tracy Choi’s art, but being a collector of Shepard Fairey’s work, it was a surreal and totally awesome experience. The suite itself was spacious, and for the most part, very comfortable. The location was great for both Union Square and Chinatown, and is conveniently located just a few blocks away from a BART station.

Warning: The hotel is right smack in the middle of the finical district, so it can get pretty noisy, and it doesn’t help that the walls are paper thin, so be sure to bring earplugs!

And then there was the mosquito from hell. Damn thing was buzzing around the room all night, trying to drain us of our life blood - die you bastard!

All in all, we had a great stay and would recommend the Hotel des Arts to anyone who’s looking for a unique experience, in an authentic cosmopolitan setting, that only a great city like San Francisco can provide.