The Reid

Following up to David Horne, _the_ chancellor of the duchy of
besses o' th' barn and prestwich tesco 24h offy

    >I don't mind people relating train horror stories- I've got plenty. It's
    >only thinking that it's always like that which irks me. And still, train
    >gets the blame in a way that, say, traffic jams tend not to.

but didnt they advertise the point, I'm sure there was a slogan
"let the train take the blame"?
There was a whole TV documentary about the time everyone got
stranded on a motorway near London all night, but I'm sure the
most remembered thing is "the wrong kind of snow".
I think to an extent, if you get stuck in your car, unless the
police close a motorway for hours, you tend to think its up to
you to find a way round, although it gets harder and harder with
side roads blocked off and police unwilling to let you get on
with it, anyway, if you decide to use public transport you tend
to think I'm paying them to do it for me so its somebody else's
fault if I'm stuck for hours.
--
Mike Reid
Walk-eat-photos UK "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" <-- you can email us@ this site
Walk-eat-photos Spain "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk" <-- dontuse@ all, it's a spamtrap

Iceman

    >> I'm surprised to see Stuttgart in the previous, I've been there twice
    >> and found it the most boring city to visit, didn't spot anything
    >> interesting at all to see.

    > I can remember a cogwheel tramway being the only such one at least in Europe.

Isn't there one in Lucerne?

    > But besides that ? Anyway anyone is free to make his choice

Maybe he's a Porsche enthusiast.

Iceman

    >> Milan is one of my favorites.

    > With all due respect, you have taste buds in your arse.

I suppose if the alternative was Bucharest!

Iceman

"Or, I suppose you may think that Nice is dreadful, in which case I'm
not sure I'd personally pay much attention as to what you think about
other cities..."

Nice is pretty and has great food, but I would recommend many other
places in France over Nice and the Riviera.

I personally consider Paris, Provence, Normandy, and the Loire Valley
to be more rewarding destinations.

If you have lots of time, sure, see Nice. But for someone just passing
through France, I think Avignon or Marseille makes a more interesting
stopover between Barcelona and Italy.

Iceman

"Which three cities would you recommend I visit in Europe?"

London, Paris, and Berlin.

Lennart Petersen

"Iceman" <[email protected]> skrev i meddelandet
news:[email protected] oups.com...
    >>> I'm surprised to see Stuttgart in the previous, I've been there twice
    >>> and found it the most boring city to visit, didn't spot anything
    >>> interesting at all to see.
    >> I can remember a cogwheel tramway being the only such one at least in
    >> Europe.
    > Isn't there one in Lucerne?
You'll find plenty of cogwheel railways in Switzerland, including Pilatus
outside Lucerne being steepest in the world but I think Stuttgart is unique
having a cogwheel tramway.
But I doubt that qualifies Stuttgart for being no1

beachessandalsandrum

Richard, my conclusion is that you're "off topic"

Other than that, great cities from those who were on topic. "so many
cities and so little time". Rome, Paris and Amsterdam are definately on
my list.

George

Lennart Petersen wrote:
    > "Iceman" <[email protected]> skrev i meddelandet
    > news:[email protected] oups.com...
    > >>> I'm surprised to see Stuttgart in the previous, I've been there twice
    > >>> and found it the most boring city to visit, didn't spot anything
    > >>> interesting at all to see.
    > >
    > >> I can remember a cogwheel tramway being the only such one at least in
    > >> Europe.
    > >
    > > Isn't there one in Lucerne?
    > You'll find plenty of cogwheel railways in Switzerland, including Pilatus
    > outside Lucerne being steepest in the world but I think Stuttgart is unique
    > having a cogwheel tramway.
    > But I doubt that qualifies Stuttgart for being no1

The cogwheel railway in Stuttgart is entirely within the city, making
it the only such one in Germany. I don't know about the rest of
Europe. There is also a cable car within the city.

George

George

Iceman wrote:
    > >> I'm surprised to see Stuttgart in the previous, I've been there twice
    > >> and found it the most boring city to visit, didn't spot anything
    > >> interesting at all to see.
    > > I can remember a cogwheel tramway being the only such one at least in Europe.
    > Isn't there one in Lucerne?
    > > But besides that ? Anyway anyone is free to make his choice
    > Maybe he's a Porsche enthusiast.

No. There's of course even larger Mercedes Benz. Both have free
museums, however the Porsche one has only a few cars and would appeal
mainly to their enthusiastsor people more into racing (currently
building a bigger museum), the Mercedes Benz museum is excellent and
appeals to everyone, even people who are not car enthusiasts. It
contains both the world's first car and first motorcycle, after all,
Stuttgart is where the car was invented. The old museum will be
closing early this Sunday morning and opening again in May as it is
moving to a new building where about twice as many vehicles will be
displayed. The new museum will also host some World Cup activities.

George

David Horne

The Reid <[email protected]> wrote:

    > Following up to David Horne, _the_ chancellor of the duchy of
    > besses o' th' barn and prestwich tesco 24h offy
    >
    > >I don't mind people relating train horror stories- I've got plenty. It's
    > >only thinking that it's always like that which irks me. And still, train
    > >gets the blame in a way that, say, traffic jams tend not to.
    >
    > but didnt they advertise the point,

Who is this 'they?'

    > I'm sure there was a slogan
    > "let the train take the blame"?

So?

    > There was a whole TV documentary about the time everyone got
    > stranded on a motorway near London all night, but I'm sure the
    > most remembered thing is "the wrong kind of snow".
    > I think to an extent, if you get stuck in your car, unless the
    > police close a motorway for hours, you tend to think its up to
    > you to find a way round, although it gets harder and harder with
    > side roads blocked off and police unwilling to let you get on
    > with it, anyway, if you decide to use public transport you tend
    > to think I'm paying them to do it for me so its somebody else's
    > fault if I'm stuck for hours.

Yes, that's true, and of course, it is someone else's fault. Virgin,
for example, refunds 25% of your ticket if more than 30 minutes late,
and 100% if more than 2 hours late. I've received two complete refunds
in the last 5 years, but not had to apply for one recently, thank
goodness.

--
David Horne- http://www.davidhorne.net
usenet (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk
http://homepage.mac.com/davidhornecomposer http://soundjunction.org

Wiener S?nger

Assuming you've been to London,

Vienna
Paris
Edinburgh

George

pmlt wrote:
    > On 14 Mar 2006 23:29:29 -0800, "george" <[email protected]> wrote:
    > >
    > >[email protected] wrote:
    > >>Which
    > >> three cities would you recommend I visit in Europe?
    > >
    > >My favorites are:
    > >
    > >Istanbul
    > >Salzburg
    > >Stuttgart (where I now live)
    > From what i�ve seen:
    > Paris
    > Barcelona,
    > Amsterdam
    > I'm surprised to see Stuttgart in the previous, I've been there twice
    > and found it the most boring city to visit, didn't spot anything
    > interesting at all to see.

I guess you just didn't look hard enough, or were blind. Stuttgart
lies in a valley with steep hillsides. It is the greenest city in
Europe having plenty of parks, forests and vineyards. The vineyards
almost reach the main train station. There is the connected eight
kilometers of parks of the Green U in the center of the city; the
pleasant enough downtown area with two palaces, a nice church, the
Markthalle with the sights and smells of gourmet food from throughout
the world; numerous outdoor cafes and beer gardens; many museums
including the Mercedes Benz and Porsche car museums, Staatsgalerie, the
excellent paleontological Museum am Loewentor, and many more; excellent
food (third most Michelin starred restaurants in Germany even though a
relatively small city (600,000), probably more per capita than Paris;
excellent shopping including one of Germany's longest, if not longest,
pedestrianized streets (Koenigstrasse) and one of Europe's largest
department stores in Breuninger; many special events such as the
second largest beer festival in Europe, the largest Spring beer
festival in Europe, Europe's largest Christmas Market, the Wine Village
showcasing local wines and Swabian food, and the Summer festival (all
of these except possibly the later each attracting well over a million
visitors to multi-millions; Europe's largest combination zoo-botanical
gardens amid the attractive Moorish architecture of this former palace;
after Budapest, Europe' largest mineral baths; some architecturally
significant buildings such as the world's first modern TV tower and the
houses of Weissenhof-Siedlung; and excellent culture for art, music,
theater, ballet and opera. Within the metropolitan area there are many
excellent places to visit such as the largest perfectly preserved
Baroque palace in Germany with its extensive associated gardens and the
excellent old town part of Esslingen. Within a hundred kilometer
radius there are enough things to see and do that it would take a
lifetime, and you are in the center of Europe to visit other places.

What I personally like about Stuttgart are the lovely views from our
apartment, climbing the hundreds of staeffele (stairways on the steep
hillsides) with their often associated scenic small parks, visiting the
hundreds of small fountains throughout the city, walking through town
and discovering the frequent small special events, visiting the nice
flea market on Karlsplatz on Saturdays and the large flower and fruit
and vegetable markets on Tue, Thur, Sat, sitting in the NW corner of
the Schlossplatz and watching the world walk by while observing what I
think best represents Stuttgart, the old and new palaces, the large
fountains there, the Stiftskirche and the TV tower.

George

I

Tim C .

Following up to "Iceman" <[email protected]> :

    >Nice is pretty ...

and that's about the best that can be said for it. It's living on a
reputation, the reason for which it has long lost.
Give me Menton any day.
--
Tim C.

Martin

On Fri, 17 Mar 2006 07:33:35 +0000, [email protected]
(David Horne, _the_ chancellor of the duchy of besses o' th' barn and
prestwich tesco 24h offy) wrote:

    >The Reid <[email protected]> wrote:
    >> Following up to David Horne, _the_ chancellor of the duchy of
    >> besses o' th' barn and prestwich tesco 24h offy
    >>
    >> >I don't mind people relating train horror stories- I've got plenty. It's
    >> >only thinking that it's always like that which irks me. And still, train
    >> >gets the blame in a way that, say, traffic jams tend not to.
    >>
    >> but didnt they advertise the point,
    >Who is this 'they?'
    >> I'm sure there was a slogan
    >> "let the train take the blame"?
    >So?

"Go to work on an egg" was a failure too.
--
Martin

Martin

On Fri, 17 Mar 2006 07:33:35 +0000, [email protected]
(David Horne, _the_ chancellor of the duchy of besses o' th' barn and
prestwich tesco 24h offy) wrote:

    >The Reid <[email protected]> wrote:
    >> Following up to David Horne, _the_ chancellor of the duchy of
    >> besses o' th' barn and prestwich tesco 24h offy
    >>
    >> >I don't mind people relating train horror stories- I've got plenty. It's
    >> >only thinking that it's always like that which irks me. And still, train
    >> >gets the blame in a way that, say, traffic jams tend not to.
    >>
    >> but didnt they advertise the point,
    >Who is this 'they?'
    >> I'm sure there was a slogan
    >> "let the train take the blame"?
    >So?
    >> There was a whole TV documentary about the time everyone got
    >> stranded on a motorway near London all night, but I'm sure the
    >> most remembered thing is "the wrong kind of snow".
    >> I think to an extent, if you get stuck in your car, unless the
    >> police close a motorway for hours, you tend to think its up to
    >> you to find a way round, although it gets harder and harder with
    >> side roads blocked off and police unwilling to let you get on
    >> with it, anyway, if you decide to use public transport you tend
    >> to think I'm paying them to do it for me so its somebody else's
    >> fault if I'm stuck for hours.
    > Yes, that's true, and of course, it is someone else's fault. Virgin,
    >for example, refunds 25% of your ticket if more than 30 minutes late,
    >and 100% if more than 2 hours late. I've received two complete refunds
    >in the last 5 years, but not had to apply for one recently, thank
    >goodness.

The company running the summer car/sleeper trains from NL to southern
Europe has a smart trick. If you book on the last train of the season
and there are insufficient bookings you get EUR 75 off on an
alternative day. How many will book the last train hoping that there
aren't sufficient numbers of others doing the same thing?
--
Martin