Europe Trip Report

Old Sep 18th, 2015, 02:39 PM
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Europe Trip Report

Trip Plan- Left Houston on Sept. 6 flying Lufthansa to Frankfurt (using United miles-economy). Then train from the airport to Wurzburg. 3 nights at the Wurzburger Hof hotel. Then train to Regensburg for 2 nights at the ACHAT Plaza Herzog am Dom, then train to Vienna for 2 nights at the Hilton Plaza (using Hilton points), then train to Budapest for 3 nights at the Marriott Danube (using Marriott points) then fly home on Lufthansa to Munich and on to Houston with United.

I used the services of Karen Murphy of Euraid to secure our train tickets. We did point to point and not rail passes and had first class tickets on all trains with seat assignments. Yes you can book train tickets on line but I prefer to use Karen. For a small booking fee she arranges all tickets and secures the best discounts and ensures we get the right type of seating we want – open salon, seats across from each other, etc.

Flight over- I had us booked on an Airbus 380 and was able to secure economy seats on the upper deck and got the two seat configuration. The economy section is about 5 rows of 2 x 4 x 2 and is in the back of the upper deck. You board the plane and walk all the way to the back of the aircraft and then climb the stair to the upper deck. There is one flight attendant that serves this section of the plane. As we were on the right side in the second row of this 5 row section, we were served first. The service was good, the food was very good for economy and all in all it was a great flight. Very good entertainment system, got the hot towel treatment, the flight attendant did not disappear like some do on United.

Flight landed on time and we had about 2 hours before our train was to depart. Now in looking at the map of the Frankfurt airport it was not clear where the Fernbahnhof train station was located? Was it underground? I had asked Fodors about this and was told to just follow the signs. Ok as you exit immigration and get you baggage you leave the building and walk across the street to the rail terminal.

You go up the escalator to where you can see shops, restaurants and the main departure board. Now for the uninformed there is a lot to know about taking trains in Europe. You must know what station you train leaves from (not an issue here as we were leaving from the airport station, but there are two types of trains from the airport so you do need to know which type you are on). In a number of large cities there are several train stations. Next you must know your train number, destination, wagon number, and seat number and track number that it will arrive on. Your ticket gives you all this information however the track number may change just like it sometimes does at the airport. So its important to watch the main train board for the latest info on where your train will arrive. Do not go to the track too early as the track number may change and you may find your self running to reach the right track. Now you know what track it arrives on its important to know where on the platform to stand. Why is that important you ask? Well these trains pull in and stay only for a few minutes and then pull out. On the platform there is a poster board with diagrams of all the trains that arrive on that track all during the day. It will show your train number and show the arrangement of cars- first class, second class , and a restaurant car on some. There are also letters associated with the position of the cars and these letters correspond to the letters on the platform. You find your train on this board, look for your wagon number and class of service and determine where on the platform you should stand so that when the train pulls in you can board quickly. Now I made a rookie mistake on this our first train ride ( I say rookie mistake as we have ridden European trains many times in the past). As a validation of the poster board information there is an electronic sign above the platform that gives real time info on what train will arrive next and- this is most important-it shows a simple diagram of where on the platform the first and second class cards will arrive. Trains sometimes arrive not as they appear in the poster board. That was my mistake. I did not check the electronic signage. I relied on the poster board and as such the train arrived and we were on the opposite side of the platform from where we should have been standing. Realizing my mistake I with two large suitcases and my wife with one carry bag started running like bats outta hell for the first class cars way down the platform, dodging a lot of people in the process. I gotr to the first class car and jumped on. Looking down the platform the train appeared ready to take off and Olive was stile about 5 cars back trying to catch up. Now this train ain’t going nowhere until she gets aboard! I and a conductor motioned to het to just jump aboard where she was in the second class cars.

She did and off we went. I went inside and looked for our seats found them and parked my bags at the back of the car behind the last row of seats. As we were getting comfortable another couple appeared and indicated we were in their seats. Well it was my second rookie mistake. In my haste to get aboard I failed to remember that yes we had these seat numbers but we were in the first- first class car, not the second- first class car. Oh well we moved and our journey was on for Wurzburg.

Arriving in Wurzburg we took a taxi to our hotel- the Wurzburger Hof. The taxi cost about 8 Euros, and I gave the driver 10. It was about 5-10 minutes to the hotel and yes you can walk it, but we were tired, jet lagged, and dragging suitcases over cobblestone streets no matter how far simply was not going to happen!

We booked a suite thru Booking.com. It cost 573 Euros for 3 nights. I wanted a suite as it would give us more room and allow us to unwind better and the rate was reasonable. The hotel is old as is much of Wurzburg hotels. Small lobby, small elevator. In the lobby they have complementary wine for their guests, but as we are not wine drinkers I cannot comment on that. Our suite was on the 4th floor and faced the main street where a number of trams and buses have stops. It can be a bit noisy as a result.

The suite is large, the main room is 35 feet long by 15 feet wide and has a sofa, daybed, desk, drawers, and some lamps. Some of the furnishings are appropriate for the vintage of building but some were clearly out of place. Plastric lamp and plastic chair seem tacky. Strange décor for one of the lamps as well.Three windows in the main room that opened to give fresh air. Old time heating system – water radiator type. For nice chandeliers in the main room however. The bathroom was separate and apart from the bedroom. It had a very nice modern walk in shower. The toilet was in a separate closet. The amenities was very basic, nothing to write home about. They used body wash gel containers in the sink and shower area so not bars of soap or shampoos. This lighting was poor in the bathroom as it cast a showdown when one would try to put on make up. There was a makeup mirror but the lights was so poor that I put a lamp from the main room into the bathroom to help. There is a window in the bathroom as well that can be opened. The phone was located on the window sill away from the desk area.

The bedroom was standard size, two matress es with duvets. Lighting was fine. No clock or radio in the room. But plenty of closet space and hangers. The suite had several closets all over so you have plenty of places to hang and store your clothes.

No electronic key system, just an old fashioned key entry, with a twist. In order to lock the door from the inside you have to do it with the key and leave it in! Also when leaving the suite you have to lock the door with the key as well.

Breakfast was provided on the first floor (not the lobby level) We did not partake of their breakfast but the breakfast room looked nice but where the food is arranged is a bit small. I did not see what was on offer. When we travel we do not bring phones or Ipads, etc. We don’t need them and not having them is one less thing to worry about. We asked the hotel if they had a computer that we could use to check email. The front desk person gave me a laptop to use, which I took to our room only to discover that try as I might I could get out of the German screens. Oh well .

Is it worth it to stay at this hotel in this suite? I was satisfied overall- large rooms, great location, reasonable cost, minor issues that maybe would not be a problem for most.

Stopping for now, until I have the time to add the next part.
Billt
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Old Sep 18th, 2015, 07:11 PM
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Thanks for posting...following along, been to all the places you visited so I am very interested in your views of the places.
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Old Sep 18th, 2015, 10:41 PM
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We have made all your rookie mistakes on trains too, plus another one... the regional train (hence no seat allocation to protect you) that splits at an upcoming station and you're in the wrong carriage.
Note to self.... read the end destination taped to carriage door to save yet another frantic run through carriages.
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Old Sep 19th, 2015, 01:53 AM
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Wurzburg- first off we did not do two of the main attractions - the castle and the Residenze- I leave it to others who have to comment on these. Wurzburg is small enough to walk most of the city and that is what we did over our time there. no need to take trams or buses except maybe for getting to the castle. We visited the many churches and the Dom and all were amazing inside. There are nice views from the bridge over the river. The hills in the distance are vineyards and they have quite a slope to them, I wonder how they harvest the grapes as the incline is quite steep?
For our meals it must be noted that we have very simple palates, so there will be no great restaurant reviews here. We ate most. Of our meals in two locations. One was the Cafe Am Dom which is just next to the Dom. Wurzburg has many breakfast bakeries, however one thing I noticed that many are open to the street and all have these little bees buzzing on the food in the cases which are not closed. also the seating in these is quite basic and not conducive to having a leisurely breakfast which is what we like to do. However the Cafe Am Dom is not open to the street and is quite a nice place to spend a relaxing morning. They have a breakfast buffet but sadly we were not in time for these so we ordered off the menu. The food is good and you can sit inside or outside as you wish. We chose to sit inside. one of the things I found odd in our travels to these cities is the non-acceptance of credit cards. Cafe Am Dom, from the looks of the place, one would expect that they would take credit cards- not so. The other place where we took our meals was in the cafe located on the top floor of the Galeria Department store. This cafe had a breakfast and dinner buffet each day and was very reasonably priced. One of the reasons we do not frequent the main restaurants is that the menus are not often in English, one is not sure exactly what one will get and any times you wind up being surprised and not in a good way and pay a dear price for that. The buffets were good and we could clearly see and understand what we were eating, no surprises! the cafe name is Dinea. Also note that this cafe offers a great view of the town. And to top it off.... They take credit cards! We use the credit card where ever we can as it provides the best exchange rate and I earn miles and hotel points.
Olive likes to shop so we spent a fair amount of time browsing the shops and stores.
Overall Wirzburgis a great small town with a lot to see and one can easily cover it on foot and see everything in 2 to 3 days.
After 3 days we checked out of our hotel and took a taxi to the train station. Again, walkable to the station but hey we are on vacation so we ride! One thing to note we found the sausage and bread that is served at the station (I think the chain is called Yormas) is really. Rey good and we took some within on our next rain ride.
Next up our time in Regensburg.



Overall Wurzburg is a great small town where. You can see and do most everything easily in 2 to 3days.
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Old Sep 19th, 2015, 01:54 AM
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Sorry for the mis-spellings, we are still jet lagged!
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Old Sep 19th, 2015, 05:37 AM
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just joining in for the ride - nice start but could I put in a plea for more paragraphs? - it makes it a lot easier to read.

we were in Wurzburg for half a day or so this time last year and it looks as if we missed quite a lot.

By chance, we got to hear a Friday lunchtime organ recital in the Cathedral - lovely. we then went and had a light lunch here:

http://www.wuerzburger-ratskeller.de

a very atmospheric place, where all the waiting staff spoke english, though I tried to persuade them to let me practice my German. I can't remember if they took c/cards - I suspect that they did but it is quite common in Germany for places not to take them, as I suspect that you were about to find out!

Keep it coming!
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Old Sep 19th, 2015, 11:32 AM
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cornish, I admire how you adopted your new persona without skipping a beat.
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Old Sep 19th, 2015, 01:08 PM
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thanks, crosscheck. social media does have some advantages. however, I haven't yet managed to find all the threads that I have commented on, let alone my trip reports etc., and of course I can't get into the lounge.

well, not yet.
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Old Sep 20th, 2015, 05:15 PM
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and just where did the name cornishannie come from !!!

How come you did not do the Residenze and Castle !?
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Old Sep 20th, 2015, 09:20 PM
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Europe is a great place to make a trip, everyone should try it even once in his life, its a strong suggestion
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Old Sep 21st, 2015, 03:17 AM
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We did not do the castle and Residenze as my better half (note that it is Billt that is writing this trip report, not MrsBillt) was not up for it as the first day was a bit of aloss due to jet lag and the next 2 days we walked about and just ran out of time.

OK now let's us resume our trip report. We cabbed to the train station, about 10 euros with tip. I must note that we found the sausage and bread at the train station to be the best we had in our entire trip. Note that the train station in Wurzburg is old and there are no escalators, you have to drag your suitcases up the stairs. Also it appears that the main terminal appears to have been rebuild after the war and is nothing like the grand train terminals of other cities. Much smaller and perhaps built in the style of the 50's or 60's. Also note that the lobby is good size but with a paltry amount of seating. They could stand to put in a few more benches. The train ride went off without any hitches and we arrived in Regensburg.

We cabbed to the hotel, again about 10 Euros and yes you could have walked it to the hotel about 15minutes I suppose. Out hotel was the ACHAT Plaza Herzog and is right in front of the St. Peter Cathedral. Tiny reception area with the breakfast area right off this lobby. We had booked their standerd room for 2 nights about $250 I think. The room numbers do not correspond to the floor level. Our room was411 but it was on the second floor! As I approached the room I had to look down atmy room key number again as the sigh on the door read- Presidential suite!

Yes we had it right, they gave us their Presidential Suite! I'm no VIP so I guess they were not very full and decided to give us their best room. The suite was very nice, but not huge as one

would have expected it being a PresidentailSuite, but don't get me wrong it was very nice and had two bathrooms. A full bath with great walk in showr, double sinks, proper lighting, just really nice. The other was a half bath with sink, toilet and one's own urinal, electronic at that. Ahhhhaaaaa ...... Your own very own urinal, when a man has that .... well what more can a man one ask for in life! the bedroom was large but not huge and very modern withall the features one expects. It looked out on St.Peter's Cathedral.

The breakfast buffet at the hotel cost 17 Euros and we opted to skip it as what was on offer did not justify the price. The breakfast area is nice but the food was nothing to write home about.

We only had 2 days in Regensburg. We walked everywhere and did most of the major sights that the guides identify. So many beautiful churches and the Dom St. Peter is amazing but so are the many other churches. Especially what they call the small chapel- the Alte Kapelle, St.Emerald , Old Town, Rathus etc. The entire city is a step back to the 1600's. Our research indicated that there is a tour in English given at the Thurn and Taxis Palace and so we walked there and arrived at the right time only to be told that there are no tours in English so we skipped it. But again there is a very nice chirch to visit there.

We did walk by the old stone bridge which has been reported here at Fodors, is under some renovation and covered in scaffolding. we also visited the old sausage kitchen cafe by the bridge but did not partake of their sausages- a bit expensive for what you getI thought, we were just not hungary at that time.

I have no restaurant reviews for you here as we really did not eat much here, however on our day of departure which was a Saturday, I went out early in the morning for a walk and discovered a market had assembled outside in the courtyard of our hotel and St. Peter. There were many trucks and stands selling fruits, vegetables, and all manner of cheeses and sausages and breads. We bought bread, cheese spreads, sausages (sliced) all for our breakfast on the train later.

Regensburg is a beautiful city and if you are into history, love of architecture, and some of the really beautiful churches and cathedrals of the world, them put this on your bucket list!

We cabbed to the train station for our train to Vienna. Again about 10 euros.

Vienna and Budapest on my next installment.
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Old Sep 21st, 2015, 09:16 AM
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Topping
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Old Sep 21st, 2015, 01:47 PM
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>

all my own work, Percy.

MrsBillit - we missed Regensburg on our trip last year, and we missed a gem, by the sound of it. It's going on my list for our next visit.
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Old Sep 24th, 2015, 06:15 AM
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OK now for the final installment- Vienna and Budapest

We had a pleasant train ride into Vienna from Regensburg. We were met by Olive's cousin at the train station (remember it is Billt who is authoring this trip report).
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Old Sep 24th, 2015, 07:09 AM
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OK now for the final installment- Vienna and Budapest. We had a pleasant train ride into Vienna. We were met at the station by Olive's cousin (remember it is Billt who is authoring this trip report). We all took the Ubahn to our hotel transferring once and arriving at the Shottentor stop.(I purchased 2 48 hour passes.)This stop is right in front of our hotel - the Hilton Plaza.
Since I am a gold card member of Hilton Honors, they upgraded our room one level and we we full buffet breakfaqst in their Executive lounge each day. We have two nights in Vienna.

After checking in we again took the Ubahn our to the Prater area (where the carnival rides are)and walked to the back of the amusement park where there are beer gardens. We have a very nice dinner there with German beer and Olive had the pork knucle while I had a pizza. The weather was great for an outdoor dinner and the beer was too!

The next day we had our breakfast in the lounge, it was ok a decent selection but nothing compared to what one gets when in Asia. Our goal today was to walk the main drag in Vienna and arrive at the Opera house for the 2 pm tour.

We arrived at the Opera house about 45 minutes early and had to walk around the building before we found the entrance for the tour. It was locked until about 30 minutes before 2 so we waited outside. Once inside we paid for our tickets- it was 7 euros and slightly discounted for seniors.
We then sat on the steps inside and waited. There are several tours that line up at the time in different languages.

At 2 pm we were off on our tour. You get to visit all the parts of the Opera house with good commentary by the guide. Main seating area, back stage, box seats, intermission rooms, etc. The tour lasts about 45 minutes and I recommend to all to take the tour.

After the tour we walked back up Karnerstasse (the main drag. We spent time in St. Stephan's cathedral which again was spectacular, a must see for those visiting Vienna. Later we met up with Olive's cousin again for dinner. We choose to eat dinner at the Chatanooga Café right off the main drag near St Stephan's cathedral.

Interesting enough this was the first place we ate when visited Vienna for the first time some 25 years ago. Olive and her cousin had the spare ribs and I had the weiner snitzel and some more beer of couse. Yes its a tourist spot, not going to get a great review on line but it was convenient and we were happy with everything.

After dinner we returned to the hotel for the night. The next day we would be off to Budapest. On our first trip to Vienna some 25 years ago we stayed a longer time and did many of the sites so that was not needed on this visit.

The next morning we had breakfast in the lounge. Let me digress a bit and say that Hilton Vienna is very nice, located in a quite neighborhood with tram and Ubahn access out front. Our room was very nice, modern with all the right amenities, nothing to complain about.

As out train was to leave around noon we spent some time in the lobby after breakfast checking our email. When another customer was doing the same thing we learned that the trains were not running into Budapest! The was an OH S#@! moment! Now what?

Well the only option available would be to bus into Budapest. The trains had been stopped due to the refugee crisis. Now we knew that trains leaving Budapest for the west were stopped but had figured that the trains running into the city would still be running ... wrong!

We contacted the concierge (spelling?) and he was our savior. Can't say enough how this person arranged everything for us. He was able to get us 2 tickets on the 4 pm bus to Budapest. Tickets were bought over the phone and he even got a fax confirmation back so that we were sure we had seats. Kudos to the Hilton, they really came thru for us! Now we had some time to kill so we checked out, left our bags at the hotel and spent time touring Vienna. We had lunch again at the Chatanooga Café and some coffee and cakat one of the pastry/coffee cafes on the Kartnerstrasse.
Returning to the hotel the hotel called a taxi and we were off to the bus station.

The bus station was a ways from the hotel it seemed to be on the othner side of the city. About a 15 Euro ride. The bus station was like most city bus station these days- a tad shabby to put it mildly. Un-airconditioned, with a lot of people looking to do the same thing we were. After some waiting we boarded our bus. The bus itself was fine, with aircon and we were relieved that we were on our way to Budapest at 4 pm.

The trip was to take about 3 hours but in the end it would up taking 4. About a mile or two before the border the highway was shut down and all traffic was re-routed onto the feeder road. It turned out that there was a refugee border camp right at the border and the police had closed off the highway on both sides because of the refugee crisis.
Wee we got into Budapest late, it was dark and the stop was at a bus station somewhere in Budapest.

Everyone got off and we started to look for cabs and I'm thinking surely there are going to be a line of cabs somewhere here, but nooooooo , nothing, nada, zero cabs!
We walked about looking for where there might be some but nothing but busy streets with cars and cabs sometimes zipping by but not stopping. It was not looking good.

Finally after walking to a very busy street, perhaps a major highway, a cab did stop and we were on our way to our hotel. Note that while we were checking our email at the Hilton on our day of departure I received an email from the Marriott indicating that we were bumped form our first night at the Marriott Danube and they were putting us up at their sister property the Marriott Executive apartments a few blocks from the hotel. Hmmmmm not a good sign, so I requested some compensation in the form of Executive lounge access for our 3 days and help with moving our luggage over from the apartment to the hotel. It was granted, so I was feeling better.

We checked into the apartment and it was fine, large rooms, modern, nothing to complain about. The apartment front desk person had Marriott Danube Executive lounge access cards for us so that we could walk over to the Marriott the next morning without having to deal with that issue at the hotel. They also agreed to have our bags moved over so it was a no hassle exercise to move over to the hotel the next morning.

OK I'll stop now and add the last segment soon on our time in Budapest.
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Old Sep 28th, 2015, 05:35 PM
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Hi MrsBillT, really enjoying your report. Sorry about your transportation issues getting from Vienna to Budapest. We just returned from this area on Sept. 17 and are working on our TR which we hope to post soon.

We crossed from Austria to Hungary on Sept. 5th, when the refuge migration had just built up. But we had no problem at the border crossing.

We look forward to your report on Budapest, and hope you liked it as much as we did.
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Old Oct 25th, 2015, 05:45 AM
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So what happened next?
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