Central Europe -- August 2002

[monique]

My husband, Jamie, and I traveled around Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic in August.

The Experience

Bad things come in threes, or so they say. A car accident left us with a totalled car and Jamie with a broken arm just a few days before our planned departure. He wanted to postpone the trip, but I was determined to go! While we were sleeping the night after the accident, one of our cats, Romeo, figured out how to open the kitchen cupboard to help himself to an entire bag of catnip, plus the plastic bags it was contained it. A kitty emergency room visit and $200 later, we figured out the reason Romeo wasn't eating or going to the bathroom wasn't because he ingested the plastic bag, but rather the phobia he had with Jamie's 'Get Well Soon' balloon... And lastly, I came down with a bad cold! I rationalized that I'd rather be sick in Europe than at home, and that I'd get better faster in Europe! So we were off, with very mixed feelings!

Bad things come in any combination, the more the merrier, as I now say! We arrived to a cold and rainy Switzerland. A few days later, Central Europe began drowning in one of the worst floods in history. Our badly needed vacation was an "Adventure" from the very start! It was interesting to say the least, but I'm sure glad this wasn't our honeymoon! For the first time, we witnessed history as it was happening in Europe, instead of hundreds of years later! We never made it to Cesky Krumlov because the flooding was so damaging, so we continued on to Prague. We found a place to sleep in Prague for a few hours, but the Old Town was a mess and we couldn't get near it by car, foot, or Metro, so we flew home the next morning, four days early. We will return!

[monique]

Switzerland

Riding through the Swiss country side as we approached the Jungfrau Region was exciting. It was rainy and foggy, but we still caught a glimpse of the incredible beauty here. We rode the cable car up to Gimmelwald (it wasn't so scary!), a tiny village of about 100 people, with plans to relax and spend a few days hiking and taking in the glorious views. Trying to fight off jet lag, we walked around the tiny town and visited the neighboring town, Murren. The rain was getting heavier and both towns seemed to be deserted. We had an interesting stay at Walter's creaky hotel, and met the travel writer Rick Steves taping a show at the village's only restaurant. I think we would have dealt better with the weather if it weren't for the jet lag and the bad cold! Warmer clothes would have helped, too.

It was freezing in Gimmelwald the next morning and they were predicting snow, so we descend to the valley with the notion to take a train to the Italian Riviera. The weather was no better in most of Europe, so we decided to stay put in the Lauterbrunnen Valley. We took a daytrip to Bern, the Swiss capital, which we wouldn't have done if the weather was nicer. We climbed the Munster Cathedral and spent a few hours walking under the covered arcades. We returned and had a traditional dinner of rosti and fondue and spent the night at the Valley Hostel in Lauterbrunnen, falling asleep to the thunder of waterfalls from the draining glacier. It was fun to stay in a hostel again; it's the best way to meet and share information with other travellers from all over the world. We shared a room with an Australian, an American, an Argentinian, and an Austrian. We really enjoyed this little Swiss town, despite the rain. Unfortunately the larger waterfall was closed to tourism because of the weather. We will defintitely return to the Bernese Oberland with hope for better weather!

Next we headed to Lucerne. By then, we were so sick of being wet, cold, and tired! It was pouring and freezing, so we relaxed and took a nap! Our favorite thing in Lucere was the 'Dying Lion'. It was carved right into the mountain as a tribute to the Swiss Guards who defended Marie Antoinette to their deaths. It ranks as one of the most moving pieces of sculpture I've ever seen.

After a good night's sleep, we awoke to see Mount Pilatus peeking out from behind the clouds! Unfortunately we spent the entire day on a train to Munich. The floods were taking their toll in the country side, so we had to get off our trains and take buses around the flooded areas. We saw many farms and homes perishing under mirky, swift waters. The rain had finally ended, but the waters wouldn't reach their peak for several days.

[monique]

Germany

We enjoyed the bustle of Munich after the quiet Swiss towns. This would have been a better place to be during the rain; there are lots of museums that we didn't even get to see. We tried spaetzle and meat, meat, meat at a local German restaurant, followed by ein Mass at the well-touristed Hofbrauhaus. It was entertaining to hear the Oompah band play "Country Roads' and "On the Road Again" along with other German favorites. I guess this shows you who their patrons are! Unfortunately we didn't have time to visit a true bier garten, but there's always next time! My first impression of Munich was the disbelief that it's mostly new since WII. It all looks so old to me!

The next morning we took a daytrip to Neuschwanstein, 'Crazy' King Ludwig's fairy tale castle. It was one of the highlights of our trip. Walt Disney's Cinderella Castle is based on this castle, which is built in a medieval style but is actually not very old (by European standards, that it!). The view of the castle from the Marienbrucke is incredible. Actually, the bridge itself, which was built over a plummeting gorge 100 years ago, is also amazing! Don't fall over! There was certainly no shortage of tourists, but we found the little village of Schwangau to be very quaint. I wish we had more time to see Hohenschwangau, Ludwig's boyhood home.

[monique]

Austria

Our next stop was Salzburg, only a short train ride away. What a beautiful little city! Music fills the air here. We could have spent days here just strolling the cobblestones and sitting in cafes. The weather was perfect! By the time we got there the river had receeded back to a safe level. We spent an afternoon up at the fortress and basically just relaxed. We watched a few chess matches on the life sized chess board. Very neat!

On to Hallstatt, a town so old it has an historic era named after it. It was an important salt mining town 2000 years ago, and salt is still mined in the area. We took a tour of the Disney-esque Saltworks, which was very cool (literally) and a lot of fun. We dressed up in miner's clothes, toured inside the mountain, slid down two chutes (the first one was a tease!) to see a beautiful lake inside. We stayed in a charming 500 year old place called Gasthof Simony. The breakfast there was a backpacker's dream! Hallstatt was also affected by the flooding; Gasthof Simony had the lake up to their 5th step the day before we arrived! It was chilly and damp, and sat in front of the wood burning stove to warm up before bed. We knew the situation in the Czech republic was bad. None of our hotels were answering their phones. Jamie wanted to change our plans and see if the airline would allow us to fly out of Vienna instead. I was very stubborn and we had a huge arguement; I was going to the Czech Republic with or without him, and I didn't care if we made it to our first year wedding anniversary or not!

[monique]

Czech Republic

We spent the entire next day on trains and buses trying to get the Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic. It took extra long because many of the trains couldn't run, so we'd have to be bused around them. It was especially hard for us after coming from countries where English is posted and spoken everywhere! Just before the border, everyone on the train got off and onto one little trolley car, where both the Autrian and Czech controllers checked our pastports. We could really feel that we weren't in Western Europe anymore, and it almost felt like we were getting sent to a concentration camp! I'm probably exaggerating that, but I wouldn't be surprised if those trains were the same ones, they were that old. The beginning of our Czech "Adventure" happened just after the border, when we got on the actual Czech train. From what I could gather, the conductor did not like our Austrian ticket, and wanted to kick Jamie off the (moving) train because she said our ticket was only for one person. I still disagree, by the way. We had no time to get Czech Koruny, and had only Euros, which, of course, she would not take. I used the few Czech words that I had learned and convinced a nice Czech woman to trade me some money. Whew!

We finally arrived in Ceske Budejovice, only to find that we couldn't get to Cesky Krumlov because the flooding was so devasting. We couldn't find a place to stay in Ceske Budejovice, so we decided to continue onto Prague. In the meantime, we had missed the bus to Prague, and had to wait a few hours for another. It was a very long day! We finally arrived in Prague's main train station at 11pm with no place to stay. Think of a non-English speaking Czech arriving in New York's Grand Central Station with no place to stay. That was us, well, sort of. The Metro was out of service, and most every place in the Old Town was not accesible by car. None of the hotels or hostels were answering their phones (they were probably out of order). Out of desperation, we allowed a Czech cabbie to befriend us and take us to his friend's hotel. Czech taxi drivers are notorious for their corruptness; it's a big problem and many tourists stay away from them, as I had planned! But he turned out to be honest, agreed on a price (higher than it should have been, but at least it was agreed on, and it was much cheaper than it would have been in Boston!). The room we ended up in was like Harry Potter's cupboard under the stairs. But for $20 and 4 hours of much needed sleep, it worked. For the first time in my life, I was ready to go home from Europe. Yes, Jamie, you were right! Another taxi picked us up at 4:30 the next morning, and we went to the airport and spent our anniversary on a plane. It never felt so good to be home.

[monique]

I have been dreaming of returning to make up the Czech Republic. I had planned a whirlwind week around Thanksgiving from Krakow to Prague, but couldn't find airfare low enough. ): I will return, and hopefully in the next year or two! I want to travel there off season for some reason. I think it will be totally different.

All the above came from my under construction website:
eurogeeks.tripod.com/index/europe02/europe02.html

I have accomodation reviews that I will post later.

[Kim]

Wow-what a fantastic JBR! Loved it!

Now I'm eagerly awaiting your accommodation review!

Thanks for sharing that with us!

Kim

[monique]

Okay, here are the places we stayed, finally!

SWITZERLAND

Gimmelwald, Switzerland - Walter's Hotel Mittaghorn
80CHF ($53) for a double with shower cube, shared toilet, and breakfast. We were tired from the long flight and train from Zurich and wanted some sleep, so we opted out of the Mountain Hostel when we met some Americans on the cable car lugging up their cases of the night's beer. Walter's was quite an experience! Unfortunately Europe was in the middle of an historical cold, rainy mess. Visibility was about 10 feet and we missed the magnificent Jungfrau views. You can hear every footstep in this creaky old farmhouse. The room was very worn and a little dirty (just needed a really good cleaning), and some curtains or shades on the window would have been nice! This place is not for the finicky! The bed was comfortable enough and the comforters sure kept us warm on that cold, August night! Breakfast was good, and we didn't find Walter to be cranky at all! He wouldn't cook dinner for us, though, because we were the only guests! The price seemed kind of high for the quality and cleanliness of the room, but keep in mind that Walter sends most of his profits to support a village in Ecuador. After all, this is Switzerland!
Character: A, Cleanliness: C, Location: A, Staff: A, Value: A-

Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland - Valley Hostel www.valleyhostel.ch
22CHF ($15 each) for a dorm bed with balcony. Clean hostel, extremely caring hosts, and the scenery is hard to beat. Diverse crowd -- bunked with an American, an Australian, an Austrian, and an Argentine. Many Koreans stay here as well. They don't serve breakfast, but they have a great kitchen that most guests seemed to use to prepare evening meals. The staff will prepare you a cheese fondue for the best price in town (order ahead). It was a joy falling asleep to the soothing sound of hundreds of waterfalls in the distance.
Character: B, Cleanliness: A, Location: A, Staff: A+, Value: A

Lucerne, Switzerland - Hotel Pickwick www.hotelpickwick.ch/english/index.html
105CHF ($67) for a double with shared facilities, balcony and view of covered bridges. We decided to treat ourselves to a hotel, and this was a decent choice. Room was clean and had a fabulous view overlooking the Kapellbrücke. It has a great location on Rathausquai and a good British pub on the ground floor. Desk staff can be difficult to locate, but security was excellent; you need a magnetic key to enter a floor, a room, a bathroom, etc. Some of the hotel's floors looked very out of date; the fourth floor where we stayed was decently decorated. We were given a better price for the room (probably because of the weather and lack of tourists), since the price inside the room said 125CHF. Character: B, Cleanliness: B, Location: A, Staff: C, Value: B+

[monique]

GERMANY

Munich, Germany - Hotel Helvetia
www.hotel-helvetia.de
59Euro ($58) for a double with shared facilities and breakfast. Convenient location close to the train station and just a few minutes walk to the old town gate. New carpets or tile and a coat of non-white paint would really spruce this place up, but a decent value for a city hotel. Staff was nice, and they have free internet access (but only one computer).
Character: C, Cleanliness: B, Location: B+, Staff: B, Value: B

[monique]

AUSTRIA

Salzburg, Austria - Pension Elisabeth
www.pension-elisabeth.at
39Euro ($38) for a double with shared facilities and breakfast. A short ride from the old town on the efficient Salzburg city bus #15. Room was small but clean, bed was very creaky! We asked to be moved to a back room because the sound of traffic was loud in the front rooms. Bathrooms had overflowing trash, and the shower was backed up (they fixed it right away). They play Mozart at breakfast.
Character: B, Cleanliness: C+, Location: C, Staff: B, Value: B-

Hallstatt, Austria - Gasthof Simony
www.hallstatt.net/gasthof/simony/
40Euro ($39) for a double with shared facilities and breakfast. 500 years old and full of character, it was the most comfortable of the places we stayed. Bed was great, but the breakfast was a backpackers dream! Cereals, milk, orange juice, an assortment of fruit, meats, cheeses, pastries, and bread, along with several great jams, Nutella, tea, coffee, or hot chocolate. Luckily we had this huge breakfast because events on our journey to the Czech Republic kept us from eating again that day. Susanna was very friendly and has "USA Today" and other newspapers for her guests. Had a good dinner at their little restaurant on the lake.
Character: A, Cleanliness: B+, Location: A, Staff: A, Value: A

[monique]

CZECH REPUBLIC

Prague, Czech Republic - Purple House www.volny.cz/chameleon/PH.htm
800CZK ($26) for a small double room in the loft with shared facilities. A decent Prague taxi driver brought us here, to his friend's place, at 11pm. Room was like Harry Potter's cupboard under the stairs, only with a skylight. I suppose it was decent for the price, but we were just ready to go home and didn't give it an honest try. The rest of the small hotel looked very nice, and probably was a lot more expensive! Our room served us very well for the 4 hours we used it. Conveniently, there is a tram around the corner; we had to close the skylight because it kept us awake, though.
Character: C, Cleanliness: C, Location: C, Staff: B, Value: C+