We survived Europe !

David Horne, _the_ chancellor of the duchy of besses o' th' barn and
prestwich tesco 24h offy wrote:

It depends. On a trip last summer (Krakow, Budapest, Vienna, Bratislava)
we found the best way to get from Krakow to Budapest was actually to fly
from Katowice!

Advice please! My husband and I are thinking ahead to next summer and
we're interested in a trip to Prague, Budapest, and Krakow. (Vienna and
Warsaw are also under consideration; however we don't want to cram in
too many destinations.) Assume we'll have sixteen days for the trip, two
of which will be the trans-Atlantic travel days. What seems like a
resaonble itinerary? In what order would you recommend we visit these
destinations?

I do not expect to rent a car. How would you recommend we travel between
destinations?

Thanks.

Karen Selwyn

On Sun, 28 May 2006 13:07:10 +0200, Martin wrote:

On Sun, 28 May 2006 10:53:15 GMT, Cathy L
wrote:

On Sun, 28 May 2006 11:18:06 +0200, Martin wrote:

On Sat, 27 May 2006 23:44:26 GMT, "Lennart Petersen"
wrote:


"Cathy L" skrev i meddelandet
m...
On Sat, 27 May 2006 23:30:58 +0100, Dave Frightens Me
wrote:

On Sat, 27 May 2006 22:06:15 +0200, Alfred Molon
wrote:

In article .com,
says...
Survival sounds like the correct adjective to describe the chaos of 30
days on a buse covering twelve countries.

I think those tours should be banned.

What a nonsense. Some people like being in a different place every day.
And since the tour was organised, everything must have been prearranged,
so no chaos at all.

Then you can go home knowing you've done Europe. Just what is the
point anyway?

Sorry Cathy, but I just see how that would have been enjoyable!
--
---
DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
---
Dave,

That's quite alright. I believe you truly "just can't see how that
would have been enjoyable".

I am a little more broad minded and believe people enjoy different
things different ways. Hopefully you can try harder to be a bit more
understanding.

Cathy
-------------------
As long as you're paying for travelling with own earned money I think anyone
should be allowed to travel at the wanted speed and do as many countries and
places you like.
It's the typical outcry from this n.g "you can´t travel that fast" "too
short" "you can't do so many places"
Better to travel by plane ? Don't think so , you'll spend half the time as
a sardine in the plane and rest in the airports and they're typically real
boring.
So travel as you like, ask questions about places and travel modes and have
a real nice trip.


She already did, Lennart.

Martin,

Well now that's true, isn't it.

I'm glad it was a success. I hope we did help you a bit. I hope the
London marathon didn't interfere with your holiday too much.
I'm sure you have been to places and seen things us locals haven't.
It's a shame that two weeks of perfect weather here had finished by
the time you reached A'dam.

Martin,

Thanks. We rode the Big Bus around London both Saturday and Sunday. We
saw a lot, but didn't get inside any of the buildings. We did spend a
number or hours in the British Museum. It was fantastic!

We had pretty good weather for most of the trip. We ran out when we
got to Amsterdam. It was not so much the rain as it was the strong
wind. It was cooler than most other places too.

Cathy

On Sun, 28 May 2006 12:59:09 +0200, Alfred Molon
wrote:

In article ,
says...

You don't get much liquid intake in Europe anyway. When we ordered
Cokes, we always got the smallest bottles or cans.

The coffees in Italy are served with a pipet.

That's the Espresso, which is more like a thick cream of concentrated
coffee. Not something which would quell your thirst.

Alfred,
People in Europe sure do like their coffee. That's why we love England
and Ireland, for us tea drinkers.

Cathy

"The word "trust" was used in the context of knowing we would like the
taste. Neither I or my husband like fish. When you can't read the
menu, it was easy to just pick things we knew."

Cathy,

I don't share your reluctance to eat only things that I know in advance
I will like, but I'll gently point out that for your husband, this
approach, didn't exactly work. His trip report is littered with
criticism of the hamburgers he ate throughout the trip. I'll offer some
advice that may make meals on your next trip to Europe less repetitive
and tastier.

The DK Eyewitness Guides include a couple of pages that picture the
foods commonly found in the city/country being discussed. Look at the
photographs and read the text to figure out if any of these dishes feel
comfortable based on your tastes. Come back to the newsgroup and ask how
these dishes might be written in the native language so you'll recognize
them on a menu.

Buy and use the pertinent books from the Marling Menu Master series --
separate books for France, Italy, Germany, and Spain. These books list
foods you're likely to see on a menu in each country.

Karen Selwyn

On Sun, 28 May 2006 06:44:31 -0500, Joseph Coulter
wrote:

Cathy L wrote in
:

On Sat, 27 May 2006 22:07:53 -0500, Joseph Coulter
wrote:

irwell wrote in
:

We took the Autoroute L'Aqitaine as far as Pointers. South again to
Saintes, then through the Champagne wine-growing area as far as
Angouleme, then 60 miles to Bordeaux.

check your notes on this, champagne, last I looked is east of Paris,
you
were in the Loire Valley then in the area where they make Cognac
before
entering Bordeaux.

We stayed in a nice hotel in Bordeaux, in the center of the city.
The
trolley passed right in front. Dinner was included. It was pork,
potatoes and carrots. Nice cake to dessert. Two half crafs of wine
were 8 euros each. Quite high for being house wine, in the heart
of
"wine country".



Thursday 4/27

On the road by 7:30 am. We travel eastward bypassing Toulouse to
the
old fort city of Carcassonne,(at the foothills of the Pyrenees).
We
had more spaghetti bolognaise in a restaurant in the center of the

You entirely missed the dordogne, the center of prehistory, you simply
must go back. Also of note are Albi, for Toulouse Lautrec, and Cordes
sur Ciel for the mow famous Sugar Museum.

Joseph,

You are probably right. Hubby says he was plagiarizing the Cosmos
book.


Well actually it is one of those confusing things, the area that you
were driving through is home to Cognac which calls some of its growing
areas, champagne but there is no relation at all between the "grand (or
petit) champagne" of Cognac and the region where the world famous
champagne is grown other than that they are rural growing areas.

Guide books don't always tell the whole story. sometimes they just want
to make it sound good

Joseph Coulter
Cruises and Vacations
http://www.josephcoulter.com/

Joseph,

It was very pretty countryside. Lots of grapes growing. I guess it
really didn't matter what the final product was.

Cathy

"Karen Selwyn" wrote in message
news:R8geg.17980$8q.10184@dukeread08...

Advice please! My husband and I are thinking ahead to next summer and
we're interested in a trip to Prague, Budapest, and Krakow. (Vienna and
Warsaw are also under consideration; however we don't want to cram in too
many destinations.) Assume we'll have sixteen days for the trip, two of
which will be the trans-Atlantic travel days. What seems like a resaonble
itinerary? In what order would you recommend we visit these destinations?

I do not expect to rent a car. How would you recommend we travel between
destinations?

Where are you flying in to in Europe?
That would help for starters.

Gerry

On Sun, 28 May 2006 08:30:11 -0400, Karen Selwyn
wrote:

"The word "trust" was used in the context of knowing we would like the
taste. Neither I or my husband like fish. When you can't read the
menu, it was easy to just pick things we knew."

Cathy,

I don't share your reluctance to eat only things that I know in advance
I will like, but I'll gently point out that for your husband, this
approach, didn't exactly work. His trip report is littered with
criticism of the hamburgers he ate throughout the trip. I'll offer some
advice that may make meals on your next trip to Europe less repetitive
and tastier.

The DK Eyewitness Guides include a couple of pages that picture the
foods commonly found in the city/country being discussed. Look at the
photographs and read the text to figure out if any of these dishes feel
comfortable based on your tastes. Come back to the newsgroup and ask how
these dishes might be written in the native language so you'll recognize
them on a menu.

Buy and use the pertinent books from the Marling Menu Master series --
separate books for France, Italy, Germany, and Spain. These books list
foods you're likely to see on a menu in each country.

Karen Selwyn

Karen,

Thank you for the great tip! I'll sure look up the books you suggest.

Although, I believe my husband only had one hamburger, (in Amsterdam),
other than McDonalds, the whole trip. I'm not sure where you read;

"His trip report is littered with criticism of the hamburgers he ate
throughout the trip."

Cathy

Karen Selwyn wrote in news:kGgeg.17981$8q.8931
@dukeread08:

Even as the lflame throwers are being loaded, I might suggest a river
cruise for much of hte itinerary that you indicated. indeed many compnaies
go from Buedapest to Nuremburg and then by bus to Prague for a post cruise
extension. aong the way you wil have an overnight in Budapest, two days in
Vienna, time in Melk and Regensburg as well.

As I have been educated and discovered on my own reently, train travel is
very attractive in this area fof the world. Drivng is not a reccomended
form of travel. Flying to Warsaw maybe, but hte countryside is too nice to
pass over in the enter of your search area.

--
Joseph Coulter
Cruises and Vacations
http://www.josephcoulter.com/

Cathy L wrote:

Although, I believe my husband only had one hamburger, (in Amsterdam),
other than McDonalds, the whole trip. I'm not sure where you read;

"His trip report is littered with criticism of the hamburgers he ate
throughout the trip."

You're right. I incorrectly combined his references to unsatisfactory
pizza and hamburgers. Still, the principle of what I wrote is the same:
identify a couple of dishes per country that you'll feel comfortable
eating for your next trip. If your husband had known that pastitsio
(pasticio) was ground meat and maccaroni casserole with a baked cheese
sauce on top, wouldn't he have preferred that to Greek pizza?

Karen Selwyn

Cathy L wrote:
We survived our big trip to Europe! Thirty days blasting around twelve
countries in a bus. We left on April 21 and returned on May 22. It was
the "European Masterpiece" tour by Cosmos. Everything went fine, with
no problems what so ever. We stayed at three star hotels. We figured
we could have taken other tours with more expensive hotels, but we
didn't think we would spend that much time in them. We were right! A
couple of the hotels were pushing the three star rating, while a
number of others were actually four stars. Breakfasts were always
included and were quite adequate. We signed up for over $2,000 worth
of optional events. It kept us busy day and night.

We have never been on a cruise, so it was nice sleeping on a boat for
two nights. On the trip to Greece we were on the boat for 17 hours. On
the return to Italy it was almost 24 hours.

People ask what country we liked best. We honestly can't say. Each one
was unique, with different attractions. It would be great to return
and spend a month in each one.

Cathy

now that you are experienced European travellers, you will need to
write the book

'30 days Spaghetti Bolognese'