[Chethan B G]

Around MarienPlatz:








Munich Zoo:

[Chethan B G]

Originally Posted by aargee

@Chethan - with the approaching weekend, pls don't disappoint us further. Pls keep moving from Germany, would like to read your experiences on Europe.

Sorry RG! To disappoint you. I will now move on to Austria. I keep traveling a bit in between. I can not post without referring my notes. That is the problem. Please do not mind.

[Chethan B G]

19.04.2008: Check out from Hotel Neckar
Heidelberg to Zel-am-see (Austria) Via Munich by train
Zel-am-see (Austria) to Harham (Austria)
Check in at Alpine Centre
Purchased a weekly pass for the post bus, to travel between Harham and Zell am See. This costed us 33 euros.
20.04.2008: Site-Seeing at Zell am see.
21.04.2008: Day Trip to Salzburg by train. Local Site-Seeing at Salzburg.
22.04.2008: Site Seeing at Harham and salfelden
23.04.2008: Day Trip to Bludenz via Innsbruck by train. Site seeing at Innsbruck
24.04.2008: Day Trip to Innsbruck by train. Visit to Swarovski crystal world
25.04.2008: Day trip to Kaprun near Zell am See (Kitzsteinhorn - 3029 mtrs)
26.04.2008: Checkout from Alpine Centre
Harham to Munich (Germany) by train Via Salzburg.
Site seeing in Munich - Center and Zoo
Munich (Germany) to Paris by overnight train ( Reservation was done in Paris)
27.04.2008: Arrival at Paris (est) Railway Station
Paris (Est) Railway Station to Paris CDG Airport
Paris CDG to London LHR by Air France- Departure 13:30 Hrs

Alpine centre:











Harham in Austria:












More details and pics to continue.

[aargee]

Originally Posted by Chethan B G

Sorry RG! To disappoint you. I will now move on to Austria. I keep traveling a bit in between. I can not post without referring my notes. That is the problem. Please do not mind.

No problem Sir, I just wanted to let you know, I was waiting to see some pics.

Land of Arnold is looking beautiful too; sometimes I feel, how does one feel the difference between most of European countries.

And the 33 Euros is for the entire family right?

And the Alpine centre, I hope its a flat or is it something else?

[greencity]

Originally Posted by MX6

There's irfanview (freeware) which does the same reduction in bulk. You don't need to open, edit, compress and save files individually.
Saves a lot of time.

Thanks a lot friend.
I will try the software and come up with an excellent travelogue.

[Chethan B G]

Originally Posted by aargee

No problem Sir, I just wanted to let you know, I was waiting to see some pics.

Land of Arnold is looking beautiful too; sometimes I feel, how does one feel the difference between most of European countries.

And the 33 Euros is for the entire family right?

And the Alpine centre, I hope its a flat or is it something else?

Mainly the Culture - You can see a vast difference. With alpine mountains surrounding us, everything looks similar. Facilities will also differ. Germany is the best I have seen so far. France has TGV, which is the fastest among the lot. But it is expensive. Eurail pass does not cover it. In Germany, we did not have to spend any extra money for the train - not even for the reservations.

33 Euros was for the entire family. Unlimited travel in the specified route. We had to go to Zell an see for everything/everyday. Even to catch the connecting trains. So, this made sense.

Alpine centre is not exactly a flat. It is a medium size hotel with only serviced apartments. It has all facilities of a 5 star hotel (in India). Ours was a single bedroom apartment with a separate kids room. This type of apartments will cost about 150 Euros per night. We got it free from RGBC. All other accomodation from RGBC was similar. But this one was the best. From the balcony, we could see a beautiful view of the snow cap mountains!

[Chethan B G]

Harham is in between Zell am see & Salfelden. It has a small railway station, which was about 2 kms from our Hotel. No mode of transportation was available, except for the Taxi. All the trains do not stop at that railway station. Therefore, it was not convenient for us.

Instead - PostBus stop was only 100 mtrs from our Hotel. We used to go to Zell am see everyday and catch a train from there. Buses used to be running once in every hour. It used to be mostly on time (Maximum 10 mins late). Zell am See is a beautiful place, with the railway station just beside a lake. Beautiful scenery!

20.04.2008: Site-Seeing at Zell am see - Grocery purchase.
21.04.2008: Day Trip to Salzburg by train. Local Site-Seeing at Salzburg. We visited the church, Toy museum and the place where Mozart lived. "Sounds of Music" is an excellent movie, if you have not seen. It gives a lot of insight about Austria.
22.04.2008: Site Seeing at Harham and Salfelden
23.04.2008: Day Trip to Bludenz via Innsbruck by train. Route from Innsbruck to Bludenz is excellent. Worth taking this trip. Site seeing at Innsbruck
24.04.2008: Day Trip to Innsbruck by train. Visit to Swarovski crystal world. Site seeing at Innsbruck.
25.04.2008: Day trip to Kaprun near Zell am See (Kitzsteinhorn - 3029 mtrs). Enjoyed a lot in the snow!
26.04.2008: Checkout from Alpine Centre with a heavy heart!
Harham to Munich (Germany) by train Via Salzburg.
Site seeing in Munich - Center and Zoo

After reaching Paris in the early morning 6am, we had time until 11am. We kept our luggage at the left luggage counter, freshed up ourselves by using pay & use bathroom facility at the railway station and then went around Paris again! This time, we knew most of the routes!!

Left luggage, pay & use facilities can be seen in almost all major Railway stations in Europe. Total cost per family - to use all facilities - per day, would cost about 15-20 Euros. Can be used effectively during emergencies. Great for bachelors!

More Photos!


Toy museum at Salzburg:




















Cathedral at Salzburg:






Salzburg City:














Kitzsteinhorn - Kaprun:

[aargee]

Thanks for the explanation on different culture.

This type of apartments will cost about 150 Euros per night. We got it free from RGBC. All other accomodation from RGBC was similar

You mean this RGBC is it? And they provided all accomodation at free of cost is it???? That's fantastic to hear. But I see a chimney missing the electric chimney.

Wow, pretzels, I love them.

[Chethan B G]

Originally Posted by aargee

Thanks for the explanation on different culture.

You mean this RGBC is it? And they provided all accomodation at free of cost is it???? That's fantastic to hear. But I see a chimney missing the electric chimney.

Wow, pretzels, I love them.

Yes. It is the same RGBC. They have a point based time sharing system. We can postpone the usage by an year. And also prepone 2 years. So, including the current year, one can have 4 weeks at our disposal with an investment of approximately 2L, lasting for 25 years. That is, we get approximately a weeks stay per year, for 25 years. We can trade our RGBC week, with RCI. For that, RCI membership is required. RCI membership is at an additional cost of about 5k/year. If we plan an outing once in every 5 years, it is cool. This was our first outing. I am left with an other 21 years of usage. I plan to use it again next year.

Yearly maintenance fee comes to around 7K. This is additional to the initial expense. It is worth it IMHO. In my case, I have 100 points per year in my account. I had 400 points (Postpone 1 year, Current, Prepone 2 years) at my disposal. With that, I could get 3 weeks stay.

I will post complete details regarding RGBC at the end of my tour report. Also, I will cover all the other preparations required & ways to save money.

[TaureanBull]

Some beautiful pics. The Alpine is a total VFM. Was the cable car fare too included in the eurorail ticket?

I must say you have gone into minute details and thus saved your money and time. Was it raining in Germany?

[aargee]

@Chethan - I'm blown away with the info you provided; I wanted to ask you as how you got the accomodation free, but felt little embarassed to ask in the public forum. I'm glad you've provided a summary & happy to know you don't mind sharing. Appreciate it & Thanks a lot. I'll consider this option as this is one of my ambition in life

[Chethan B G]

Originally Posted by TaureanBull

Some beautiful pics. The Alpine is a total VFM. Was the cable car fare too included in the eurorail ticket?

I must say you have gone into minute details and thus saved your money and time. Was it raining in Germany?

You know what? Alpine centre has a tie up with Kitzsteinhorn. So people staying in Alpine centre get 20% discount for Cable car! Now, this was a pleasant surprise for us!!

It was raining in Germany. Rather, it was drizzling on and off, throughout our vocation. But as you could see in the photograph, since it was a kind of shoulder period (Just before summer), not many tourists were around. We could literally chill!!

Originally Posted by aargee

@Chethan - I'm blown away with the info you provided; I wanted to ask you as how you got the accomodation free, but felt little embarassed to ask in the public forum. I'm glad you've provided a summary & happy to know you don't mind sharing. Appreciate it & Thanks a lot. I'll consider this option as this is one of my ambition in life

Please feel free to ask me anything. I can give you any information, if it is going to help you. I have purposefully not posted some of the rates because, they keep changing. But logic remains the same always. We can always discuss the logic.

[Indian Ranger]

Hi Chethan,

No post from you since 24th. What happened? forgot about this thread is it? Do complete your travelogue with out my fail my friend.

[Chethan B G]

Originally Posted by Indian Ranger

Hi Chethan,

No post from you since 24th. What happened? forgot about this thread is it? Do complete your travelogue with out my fail my friend.

I am extremely sorry to keep you waiting. I had been traveling and also got in to some hectic work.

I am again leaving to Belgaum tonight. This time, I will carry my notes and post during my free times.

Sorry for the delay!

[MX6]

For a moment, I was going WOW, we have more things coming up. Then I realised that it's Belgaum not Belgium that you are off to.