World Skating Championships
Over the years your fine travel letter has greatly enhanced our many trips to Europe. Our sincere thanks.
Now for a challenge. We wish to attend the 1997 World Figure Skating Championships In Lausanne March 17-23, 1997.
1. Have you a suggestion for securing three "All Events" tickets? We simply have no idea how to begin.
2. A suggestion for lodging perhaps in the vineyards or between Lausanne and Lucerne. We greatly prefer small, cozy places to big expensive spots like Lausanne Palace.
3. Do you know of any packages for this event?
Phil Good,
Kewanee IL
(Ed. Note: Ever-efficient Swiss Tourism in Los Angeles informs us as follows: Only "All Events" tickets are being sold. For side seats the price is 650 Sfr. [$555]; for end seats 450 Sfr. [$385] and for corner seats the cost is 300 Sfr. [$256].
Contact Ms. Anne Schaller, Lausanne Tourist Office, 2 Av. de Rhodanie, P. O. Box 49, 1000 Lausanne 6, Switzerland, phone 011 41 21/716 73 21, fax 011 21/616 86 47.
Inquire to Ms. Schaller concerning package arrangements, event tickets and accommodations.
For lodgings we suggest the charming little Auburge de Chernex, in Chernex above Montreux, about a 20-minute drive from Lausanne (or use the excellent public transportation). The best double room rents for 160 Sfr. [$137]. A less expensive alternative is to rent an apartment for the week [see page 2 under the heading "Swiss Rental Resource.")
No Reply to Faxes
After receiving no response from initial reservations inquiries via fax to Pension Heim in Seeg and Hotel Der Weingarten in Rimsting, I wrote follow-up letters. In them, I enclosed International Postal Response Coupons and offered to send travelers checks to cover the room rate for the first day. This time I got immediate replies. (The postal response coupons were recommended by Frommer in his Europe on Five Dollars a Day books back in the 1960s when my wife and I made our first trips to Europe. He suggested that some hotels, particularly those with modest rates, were sometimes reluctant to spend money on postage to respond to requests for reservations.)
While I wasn't too surprised that the proprietors of Pension Heim and Der Weingarten did not respond, since they are in remote areas and patronized primarily by Germans, I expected better results from big cities. Six weeks ago I wrote to Hotel Wortz zur Weinsteige in Stuttgart asking for a reservation. Since I haven't heard from them, I have written to Hotel Unger, where we stayed on our last trip to Germany 13 years ago. The Unger is a no-nonsense hostelry that caters to businessmen, but it is on a quiet street near the station and the room we had last time was clean and attractive. It doesn't have a lobby or a restaurant but they provided a good continental breakfast.
Robert F. Biehler
Chico CA
Salzburg Favorites
Having spent some time in Salzburg, Austria in 1955 as an Army lieutenant, I have returned many times looking for the "snows of yesteryears."
My wife and I have just returned from another winter wonderland vacation in Salzburg and I want to list a few dining favorites.
St. Peter Stiftskeller, Europe's oldest restaurant, dates back to 803 A. D. and has typical Austrian cuisine. Highly recommended is their specialty, "St. Peter's Fish," and the excellent Weiner Schnitzel.
The Stadtkrug Hotel's restaurant on Linzergasse dates back to 1302 A. D. and is located right across the bridge from "Old Town." Their specialty is grilled trout and the house red wine is Wunderbar!
Also located on Linzergasse #23 is a small pizzeria which serves great pizza and has a very appealing salad bar. We ate there twice this trip.
If you have to have a hamburger, go to the very elegant Hotel Osterreichischer Hof on the Salzach River and try their scrumptious Salzburger for $7.50.
Joe Lamendola
Baton Rouge, LA
(U.S. Dollar prices quoted in this issue of Gemütlichkeit may be inaccurate for these reasons:
* Prices in local currency have not been updated since the date of publication of this newsletter, and...
* The dollar prices shown were obtained by using exchange rates in effect at the time of publication.)
March 1996
