Aramis

Jens - you stood me up for that night of beer drinking in Munchen last
September!.


"Jens Arne Maennig" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Dave wrote:
    > > My wife and I are going to visit a friend in Essen, Germany for a few
    > > days this summer, then we'd like to spend a week sightseeing in
    > > other parts of Germany. We're just not sure what else to see!
    > > We'll have 8 days to tour, and I thought I'd get some advice on what
    > > else we should see.
    > Depends pretty much on what you like. Taking your tight schedule into
    > account, I very much agree with the others to reduce travelling more or
    > less to what's on the side of the road from Essen to Munich.
    > According to your interests, the route could be chosen from a couple of
    > options. For myself, I would prefer a trip down south along the Rhine
    > valley (possible stops in the tourist trap of Rüdesheim and
    > sourroundings, Heidelberg, Freiburg or even a detour to Alsace and
    > Strasbourg, then along Lake Constance, thru Allgäu and/or parts of the
    > Austrian Vorarlberg or Tyrol to Munich. Some of the so-called must-sees
    > in Form of Mad Ludwig's castles could also be on the way.
    > > we are looking forward to experiencing the German culture first-hand!
    > German *what*?
    > Jens

Mimi

"Dave" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > I very much appreciate all of the advice from everyone! From what I
    > understand, Essen is an industrial town with little sightseeing, but
that's
    > the one part of our trip that is already set in stone. Even so, it will
be
    > great to see my friend again.
    > We are planning on travelling by train, so we'll be looking into getting
    > Eurail passes soon. We'll probably end up staying in Munich for about 4
    > days with side trips to Salzburg and Garmisch/Schloss Neuschwanstein.
    > Cologne looks promising too - we can see all of its old cathedrals and
    > maybe take a short cruise on the Rhine.

Before you buy Eurail passes, you might want to compare prices for point-
to-point tickets as well as more localized train passes. You can do this
easily
at http://www.ricksteves.com/rail/home.htm. For more detailed info about
German (and all Europe) train journeys, go to
http://bahn.hafas.de/bin/query.exe/en,
which is the official German train site.

We rented a car in Germany a few years back and the rate was very
reasonable...then.

Marianne

Hatunen

On Fri, 13 Feb 2004 21:03:35 GMT, "mimi" <[email protected]> wrote:

    >"Dave" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    >news:[email protected]...

    >> We are planning on travelling by train, so we'll be looking into getting
    >> Eurail passes soon. We'll probably end up staying in Munich for about 4
    >> days with side trips to Salzburg and Garmisch/Schloss Neuschwanstein.
    >> Cologne looks promising too - we can see all of its old cathedrals and
    >> maybe take a short cruise on the Rhine.
    >Before you buy Eurail passes, you might want to compare prices for point-
    >to-point tickets as well as more localized train passes. You can do this
    >easily
    >at http://www.ricksteves.com/rail/home.htm. For more detailed info about
    >German (and all Europe) train journeys, go to
    >http://bahn.hafas.de/bin/query.exe/en,
    >which is the official German train site.

Also to be considered is a Bahncard for travel within Germany.
For instance, the Bahncard 50 gets you and everyone in your party
a 50% reduction on rail fares within Germany and lasts a year.
Not cheap, but can be well worth it at EUR 200 (EUR 100 for
seniors). I'm a senior and I reckon I'll be getting one next
summer.

In general, it can be very hard to justify a Eurail pass. For
instance, the five-day, three country Select Pass costs US$356,
or $71/day. In other words, you have to average at least $71 in
train fares every day over a five day period to make it pay for
itself; staying someplace for a day makes the pass even less
useful. Try some routes at http://bahn.hafas.de/bin/query.exe/en
and see how this works out.

    >We rented a car in Germany a few years back and the rate was very
    >reasonable...then.

I just got a quote of EUR 314/week for two weeks for a car, but
because of the Bahncard I can't make it really worthwhile,
especially once the cost of fuel is taken into account. Maybe on
another visit when I want to hit the more off the beaten path
places.

************* DAVE HATUNEN ([email protected]) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

Tim Kroesen

A Two country (Germany/Switzerland) Five in Thirty Day pass is looking
better and better to me for my Alps/train excursion leg... I think I
can easily get a better value per day which may include some nonsensical
routes for scenery...

Tim K

"Hatunen" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > On Fri, 13 Feb 2004 21:03:35 GMT, "mimi" <[email protected]> wrote:
    > >
    > >"Dave" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    > >news:[email protected]...
    > >> We are planning on travelling by train, so we'll be looking into
getting
    > >> Eurail passes soon. We'll probably end up staying in Munich for
about 4
    > >> days with side trips to Salzburg and Garmisch/Schloss
Neuschwanstein.
    > >> Cologne looks promising too - we can see all of its old cathedrals
and
    > >> maybe take a short cruise on the Rhine.
    > >
    > >Before you buy Eurail passes, you might want to compare prices for
point-
    > >to-point tickets as well as more localized train passes. You can do
this
    > >easily
    > >at http://www.ricksteves.com/rail/home.htm. For more detailed info
about
    > >German (and all Europe) train journeys, go to
    > >http://bahn.hafas.de/bin/query.exe/en,
    > >which is the official German train site.
    > Also to be considered is a Bahncard for travel within Germany.
    > For instance, the Bahncard 50 gets you and everyone in your party
    > a 50% reduction on rail fares within Germany and lasts a year.
    > Not cheap, but can be well worth it at EUR 200 (EUR 100 for
    > seniors). I'm a senior and I reckon I'll be getting one next
    > summer.
    > In general, it can be very hard to justify a Eurail pass. For
    > instance, the five-day, three country Select Pass costs US$356,
    > or $71/day. In other words, you have to average at least $71 in
    > train fares every day over a five day period to make it pay for
    > itself; staying someplace for a day makes the pass even less
    > useful. Try some routes at http://bahn.hafas.de/bin/query.exe/en
    > and see how this works out.
    > >We rented a car in Germany a few years back and the rate was very
    > >reasonable...then.
    > I just got a quote of EUR 314/week for two weeks for a car, but
    > because of the Bahncard I can't make it really worthwhile,
    > especially once the cost of fuel is taken into account. Maybe on
    > another visit when I want to hit the more off the beaten path
    > places.
    > ************* DAVE HATUNEN ([email protected]) *************
    > * Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
    > * My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

Thomas Peel

Dave schrieb:
    >
    > I very much appreciate all of the advice from everyone! From what I
    > understand, Essen is an industrial town with little sightseeing, but that's
    > the one part of our trip that is already set in stone. Even so, it will be
    > great to see my friend again.
    >

I thought I'd just check to see what Essen's official website has to say
about this much maligned town.
For example, straight off the page at http://www.essen.de/:
"City tours of Essen reliably produce astonished faces when tourists
learn that the city with its recorded history is older than, for
example, Berlin or Munich."

Check out the website. Essen even boasts a UNESCO cultural heritage
site, the Zollverein colliery and coking plant.

Tom.


    > We are planning on travelling by train, so we'll be looking into getting
    > Eurail passes soon. We'll probably end up staying in Munich for about 4
    > days with side trips to Salzburg and Garmisch/Schloss Neuschwanstein.
    > Cologne looks promising too - we can see all of its old cathedrals and
    > maybe take a short cruise on the Rhine.
    >
    > I really wish we had more than 8 days to spend travelling Germany - maybe
    > again in the future once I get more vacation time from work.
    >
    > Anyway, thanks again for all of the advice. I'll do some more research on
    > the places mentioned in the thread. The only problem I'll have is trying
    > to figure out which to visit in such a limited time!
    >
    > Dave

Tim

"Thomas Peel" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Dave schrieb:
    > >
    > > I very much appreciate all of the advice from everyone! From what I
    > > understand, Essen is an industrial town with little sightseeing, but
that's
    > > the one part of our trip that is already set in stone. Even so, it will
be
    > > great to see my friend again.
    > >
    > I thought I'd just check to see what Essen's official website has to say
    > about this much maligned town.
    > For example, straight off the page at http://www.essen.de/:
    > "City tours of Essen reliably produce astonished faces when tourists
    > learn that the city with its recorded history is older than, for
    > example, Berlin or Munich."

How much of this 2000[1] year old city is still there?
To a tourist, the age of the original settlement is totally irrelevent.
It's the age of the current structures that IS important. Essen may
have some impressive 20th century buildings, but this is never going
to compare to the Gothic and Baroque of many german towns.

    > Check out the website. Essen even boasts a UNESCO cultural heritage
    > site, the Zollverein colliery and coking plant.

Fortunately, the people who look after our cultural heritage
realise that history did not end at 1899 (or some other date).
Most tourists don't.

tim

    > Tom.
    > > We are planning on travelling by train, so we'll be looking into getting
    > > Eurail passes soon. We'll probably end up staying in Munich for about 4
    > > days with side trips to Salzburg and Garmisch/Schloss Neuschwanstein.
    > > Cologne looks promising too - we can see all of its old cathedrals and
    > > maybe take a short cruise on the Rhine.
    > >
    > > I really wish we had more than 8 days to spend travelling Germany -
maybe
    > > again in the future once I get more vacation time from work.
    > >
    > > Anyway, thanks again for all of the advice. I'll do some more research
on
    > > the places mentioned in the thread. The only problem I'll have is
trying
    > > to figure out which to visit in such a limited time!
    > >
    > > Dave