Palenque

If they are in central Europe then what is in Eastern Europe - BelaRussia (sp?) - even Russia i would say stretches farther west in its border with Finland than those countries are to the east?

technically Europe i guess begin at the Aral Mountains (or some mountains dividing Asia from Europe but for most folks' lexicon 'eastern Europe' begins exactly where the old Iron Curtain ran - thus Austria is not in eastern Europe but western Europe even though it is on a whole farther west than the Czech Republic?

danon

Some countries are considered to be part of Eastern Europe because of their former inclusion in the Eastern Block and Warsaw Pact.
Of course, Austria was never part of that alliance.
Prague is further west than Vienna.

thursdaysd

The Iron Curtain was, happily, a temporary phenomenon, and shouldn't be confused with more lasting geographical realities. And if you take the Iron Curtain as the dividing line a good part of Germany is in Eastern Europe - and there really isn't any Central Europe.

Eastern Europe in my mind includes Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Belarus, European Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Moldova, Bulgaria, European Turkey, Poland and possibly the Balkan countries. I suppose Finland gets counted as Nordic.

I was taught that Europe began/ended both at the Ural Mts. and at the Bosphorus - they certainly don't line up well!

Palenque

And, Palenque, I didn't whatsoever talked about standing in lines etc. You can do everything online, print your ticket and board the train. What's the point to stand in line if eTicket is cheaper ???>

well many travelers simply do not have internet access when traveling

emmitt

You are getting lots of advice - could you all go to my post (Frankfurt to Prague by train) and give me some advice? I had one poster - it didn't answer my questions - website was difficult to decipher for me. Do you have to buy in advance, get a reservation, how do you do it?

Palenque

emmitt - i just answered or tried to answer this on your other post

Palenque

Back to the OP and Eastern Europe Pass option - i would actually recommend first-class train travel for the average traveler, who may not want to necessarily go the cheapest way, in oft very crowded IME second-class train cars but the most leisurely way. In first class there are often quite a few IME empty seats - i nearly always can put my bags on an adjoining seat - seats are bigger and fewer in the same space, etc. If you were taking the same train all the time as locals may then 2nd class would be a lot cheaper per week, etc. but for the typical traveler i'd say splurge a bit and enjoy the ride - and in first class the Eastern European pass stacks up very very well compared to first-class tickets, better than it does against 2nd class because the difference in price for the pass in 1st class is not as much as the difference in pricing between 2nd and 1st class tickets - i e the pass a better deal in first class when compared to the cost of 1st class tickets.