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Hotel near Frankfurt Airport; Hotel suggestions in Bavaria; New features on Michelin's website; Hotel near Salzburg; and a pair of glorious churches in the Bavarian countryside.

Hotel Near Frankfurt Airport

The Hotel Birkenhof, recommended as a good last night location for the Frankfurt airport, now has a website and email. The email address is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. The website is very informative. We plan to use the Birkenhof for our return in July. The cost of a double is now 180-200 DM ($83-$93).

Jim Leathers

Via Email

Bavarian Recommendations

We had very positive travel experiences in Grainau, Germany, a town located at the foot of the Zugspitze, Germany's highest mountain.

This is a very traveler-friendly town, located within easy driving, walking or bus travel distance of the famous Zugspitze, on the German/Austrian border; also, the very beautiful lake Eibsee...with pleasant walking paths. Many amenities in the town, including a world class swimming pool/sauna complex. Very friendly people.

The town is also only four kilometers from Garmisch-Partenkirchen...and the Gasthof Fraundorfer which we visited for a happy dinner evening...complete with all the German gemütlichkeit you could want!

A wonderful hotel to check out: Gastehaus Bergland (Alpspitzstrasse 14, Grainau. tel. +49/08821/9889 0, fax 9889 99, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.). Great modern, comfortable accommodations, reasonable prices, great Frühstück, friendly people. For Grainau info contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

David Borck

Arlington Heights IL

More On Michelin Website

Thanks for publishing a very interesting and informative newsletter on German speaking countries. It's the first thing I open when it arrives in the mail.

I read your info on Michelin having a free trip planner available on their website, and I wanted to make your readers aware that the Michelin Red Guide is also available for downloading. There's a demo version available on the site and the descriptions are the same as in the book version.

Michelin also offers an English/German dictionary from Collins. Both programs sell for $34.99 each.

Kyle Parker

Via Email

Bavarian Churches

A very good friend of mine, Christoph Schneider is the office manager for the Wieskirche, and he has developed an excellent website for the church. It is in both English and German versions and is updated on a regular basis.

Wieskirche is located about 25 kilometers from Oberammergau on the main road to Neuschwanstein, one of Ludwig's castles.

Rottenbuch is another beautiful church in the same rococo style as Wieskirche, although it is very plain on the outside and the inside in no way reflects the outer structure as it is part of an old monastery that has not functioned as such since 1803.

We passed it by many time over the years, as most tourists do, until Christoph took us there the first time. To get to Rottenbuch, which is about 15 kilometers from Oberammergau, instead of turning left toward Wieskirche immediately after crossing the Echelsbach Bridge, go straight ahead about three kilometers and drive into the monastery grounds. You will be very glad that you did when you go inside.

Robert Weisner

Greensburg, PA

Hotel Near Salzburg

On our last trip to Europe, we stayed at a very charming hotel at Fuschlsee in Austria, not far from Salzburg. It was the Hotel Seewinkel (Brunn 86, A-5330 Fuschl am See, Salzburg, tel. +43/06226/8344, fax 834418, email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) at the end of the road, but with rooms with balcony overlooking the lake.

Frank Herzber

Via Email

"New Europe" Coverage?

I just got the most recent issue of Gemütlichkeit. The cover mentions "the New Europe." But there are almost never any articles or reviews about any place other than Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

Being a poor historian that loves craftsmanship and beauty, I hope soon to visit some of the former lands of the Habsburg Empire, such as the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Poland. I am sure there are many fine experiences, and the cost presumably would be less than Rome, Paris, or London.

But I dearly would love to have guidance to restaurants and hotels. Last September, we went to Austria and, following your advice, stayed at the Gasthaus Schorn (St. Leonhardstrasse 1, A-5083 St. Leonhard-Grödig, tel. +43/06246/72334, fax 72334-40, email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) in Grödig. The service was the opposite of American hotels. No hypocritical smiles, and the word "gruff" applies. But ask for something and one got it. Having eaten at numerous Michelin two and three-star restaurants, I am competent to say the food was excellent for the price.

Well, Salzburg was the low point of the trip. Compared to other Austrian towns and villages, it is a fraudulent tourist trap. But it was tolerable thanks to the Schorn. I can image how I would have felt if I had been staying at a noisy inefficient, large hotel for $150 or $200 a night.

You see what I mean. I dearly would like to know about the equivalent of the Schorn in the "New Europe." I am sure there must be at least some Polish innkeepers that take their job as seriously as the family at the Schorn. I desperately need guidance as to who they are.

It may be that your readers only send in letters about experiences in Germany. If that is so, how about the owner spending his next two dozen trips to Europe in any Central European country except Germany, Switzerland, and Austria!?

Jan Rogozinski

Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

(Ed. Note: The "New Europe" was inserted in our headline after the fall of communism. Mainly it was to signify that we would cover the territory of the former East Germany with an occasional story about the Czech Republic and Hungary. Since that time there have been stories on Prague, Budapest, Slovenia, Southern Bohemia, and, just a few months ago, one on Bratislava. We will continue to carry items on these countries but the amount of coverage probably will never equal that given to Germany, Austria or Switzerland.)

March 2001