Hi Elizabeth: I'm also Canadian and planning a similar trip for Sept. 2003. Have you booked your air yet? If so which airline and if you don't mind my asking what is the cost? I found a charter flight with Air Transat out of Toronto for 951. return in Sept. when I want to go. I don't know if I should grab it or wait and see if I could get a bit better price with a regularly scheduled carrier on an air sale.Looking forward to hearing from you

Dear Charlie,<BR><BR>Thanks for the info.<BR><BR>We really liked Gutenfels. Although, we probably didn't spend enough time exploring the castle. We were there during one of the Firework displays in St Goar.<BR><BR>The walk up to the Castle was a tough one. A few of our group decided to try it. They did it once. We took a taxi the other times. <BR>(Although, one of the girls in our group went for a morning run down the hill, a few miles along the Rhine and then back up the hill to the castle. She was certainly in better shape than the rest of us!)<BR><BR>For the older couple that were with us, they complained about the stairs that they had to climb to get to their rooms. That's a big problem with most of the hotels in Europe, no elevators.<BR> <BR>I'd stay at Gutenfels again, but I did pay 155 Euros for my room at Gutenfels. I had gotten a quote from Liebenstein for 80 Euros. Wonder if I should consider Liebenstein next time.<BR><BR>I have looked at Auf Schoenberg. Price wasn't all that much more than Gutenfels. Same problem, all the rooms were booked for the 4 days we were along the Rhine.<BR><BR>I'm going back next summer. Might do a castle again.<BR><BR>Thanks again<BR><BR>Mark

re: flight costs<BR><BR>Were flying out of Vancouver with Lufthansa on May 2003. Were paying more than you because we have so much further to fly. No comparison in our situation. Did you check expedia.ca for comparable costs.<BR><BR>Elizabeth