Gemut 2005/02
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DEAR GEMüTLICHKEIT SUBSCRIBER The Travel Letter for Germany, Austria, Switzerland & the New Europe Online Offers Not All Good “With all the free travel information on the Internet, why should I pay KOBLENZ Gemütlichkeit?” Here’s one reason: On the strip of land where the Rhine and Mosel rivers meet, surprising Last month, a promotional e- mail from a tourist authority funded Koblenz is at the very heart of Germany’s best-known wine regions. jointly by the Alpine countries— oblenz reveals itself at many Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Many structures retained their old levels. At first look some Italy, and France—contained the façades but were otherwise rebuilt might dismiss it as an undis- following item: K from the ground up. For a compel- tinguished, small, modern city. But ling example, visit the Jesuiten- The charming mountain hotel don’t rush away. Although it was kirche, which retains its 17th-centu- Forsthaus Graseck—which boasts more than 85 percent destroyed in ry giant rosette window and portal its own cable car—offers double November 1944, this is a but was entirely rebuilt inside—in € rooms from 52 to 86 per person/per By Jim town of surprising history, boldly modern form—with relics € Johnson night, single rooms from 29 to 56. charm, and architectural trea- from its lengthy history. Very reasonably priced apartments sures. The museums alone could keep Some buildings have been pains- are also available. some visitors captivated for a week. takingly restored. But even today’s And Koblenz is a perfect base for ex- Forsthaus Graseck’s three-night most skilled artisans sometimes ploring not only the Rhine and Mosel “Mountain and Wellness” package can’t match their predecessors. Rivers that border the city, but also includes a gondola excursion to Mt. Stand at the center of the so-called € lesser known rural regions like the Eckbauer. Price for three nights: 259 “Four Corners” in the pedestrian Westerwald, Hunsrück, and Eiffel. per person. The hiking tour contained in zone. Four ornate 17th-century oriel the package is followed by a health spa Koblenz is a case study in the windows stand over each corner. treatment and massage, as well as body- dilemma faced by many German Three were rebuilt in the 1950s fol- wrapping with fango or hay: www. cities after the war: how to rebuild. Continued on page 3… forsthaus-graseck.de; info@forsthaus- graseck.de; www.cometogermany.com. Along Austria’s Romantikstrasse... The Forsthaus Graseck is well- known to this writer. We first Kremsmünster went there in 1979, after seeing ith the two richest men thriving little town of Kremsmün- it’s red roof-peak symbol in the in America, Bill Gates ster, on Austria’s Romantikstrasse, ’79 Michelin Red Guide for Germany. W and Warren Buffet, buy- and the Hotel Schlair. (Like most The hotel is very remote, reached ing euros, one would have to be a “romantic” and “wine” roads, this only by the two persons-plus- cockeyed optimist to envision a one was probably dreamed up by luggage cable car that rises out of stronger dollar anytime soon. marketing people. Nonetheless, as it a tiny enclave at the end of an Thus we must continue the search avoids the Autobahn between unpaved road, not far from the for regions, cities, hotels, and restau- Salzburg and Vienna, it winds old Olympic ski stadium. We rants where our puny dollars have through some of Austria’s prettiest loaded our luggage into the more purchasing power. Places with countryside, visiting such towns as cramped cable car and ascended lower prices are usually not on the St. Wolfgang, Bad Ischl, Gmunden, to the hotel’s Bergbahn station part beaten tourist track; often because Steyr, Grein, Melk, Dürnstein, way up the mountain. Dangling they simply aren’t appealing to tour- Krems, and Klostenburg.) hundreds of feet above the rugged ists or because they lack tourism in- Partnach gorge, while brushing Just six kilometers off the Auto- frastructure; but once in a while they bahn, Kremsmünster is about a third Continued on page 2… just haven’t been discovered. of the way to Vienna from In this issue... A village that falls in that catego- Salzburg—or about half way be- p1 Koblenz ry is the lovely little town of Seeg, tween Munich and Vienna—and p1 Kremsmünster near Füssen in Bavaria, and the Pen- Continued on page 6… p5 Key Websites sion Heim, both of which we report- p8 Glacier Express Exchange rates as of 03/27/05 ed on in the March issue. 1 euro = $1.29 p8 Readers’ Forum This month, we recommend the 1 Swiss franc = $0.83 www.gemut.com April 2005 www.gemut.com DEAR SUBSCRIBER and water stains on the coffee tables had seen enough. Our old favorite, were in exactly the same places they the Forsthaus Graseck, is a sad, Continued from page 1 had been 10 years before. Something dreary, decaying mess. rocky outcrops in a rickety, swing- was obviously wrong. ing capsule about the size of an The point of this story is that elevator in a very small hotel, is not Last December, curious about the Internet has no filter. In the a ride for the acrophobic. the state of a hotel that held so avalanche of offers that appear many wonderful memories for us, every day in my in-box, junk often The Forsthaus turned out to be an and harboring hopes of a resurrec- looks just as good as quality. That, almost fairy-tale Bavarian mountain tion, we rode the cable car once of course, is why you rely on chalet. A shaggy St. Bernard pa- more. The upper Bergbahn station is Gemütlichkeit. As one of our renew- trolled the reception area, an open now in such a state of disrepair that al letters says, “Our recommenda- Stube fire warmed a cozy , and the one becomes uneasy about the con- tions and cautions are based on guestrooms, each with balcony, faced dition of the cars and cables one’s what we have personally seen, the dominating view of the magnifi- very life depends on. heard, tasted, sniffed, and cently craggy Wetterstein range. In 10 seconds we knew there had touched.” Though we cannot, of The hotel had a connection with been no resurrection. The hotel’s ex- course, filter the Internet, you can the Olympics and in its stairwells terior was shabby. Inside it was quiet, trust our information. hung signed photos of Germany’s dirty, and, sad to say, unchanged. We The foregoing raises a question: leading skiers and famous frequent settled in the Stube for an afternoon Does the Alpine tourist authority guests, such as international Olym- cup of tea and a snack. Even this sim- apply some threshold standard to pic czar, Avery Brundage — the ple fare was sub-par and served in an the properties and offers it pro- man who decided the 1972 Munich offhand manner. The slanting after- motes? In my experience, even Olympics would continue after 11 noon sun revealed layers of dust and though they represents the com- members of the Israeli team were dirt on floors and surfaces. I have no mercial interests of their members murdered by Palestinian terrorists. doubt the chairs, tables, and recep- (mostly hotels), the German, Swiss, The moderately-priced hotel’s up- tion area furnishings are relics from Continued on page 7… scale clientele were no doubt at- 1979, without any attempt during tracted, as we were, by the idyllic that 25-year period to paint, refinish, Using Gemütlichkeit location. or upholster. • Hotel prices listed are for one night. Discounts are often available for longer stays. Year after year, we went back. On the stone walkway, 10 feet • All hotel prices include breakfast unless otherwise The view and the location remained from the hotel’s entrance, sat a pile noted. stellar. The hotel did not. Soon it lost • Local European telephone area codes carry the “0” of dog droppings. We watched two its “red” designation in Michelin required for in-country dialing. To phone establish- employees walk past the mess ments from outside the country, such as from the USA, (awarded to particularly “pleasant or without a glance. The dress and do not dial the first “0”. restful” hotels), and in a few years it demeanor of the employees we disappeared from the guide altogeth- Logging on to Our Website observed during our 30-minute Back issues in text format from January 1993, except for er. On a return visit in the early ’90s visit were not consistent with what we noted that little if anything had the most recent 12, are available free to subscribers only at Gemütlichkeit considers minimum www.gemut.com (click on “Members”). To access the been done to the guestrooms and standards. For a moment, we issues, enter the user name and password published in public areas. The mattresses had be- thought about asking to see a cou- this space each month. The new codes are: come lumpy, and the cigarette burns ple of guestrooms but decided we User Name: marc Password: 2468 Vol. 19, No. 3 HOTEL RESTAURANT RATING KEY April 2005 GEMüTLICHKEIT The Travel Letter for Germany, Austria, Switzerland & the New Europe Rating Scale Scale Restaurant Criteria Excellent 16 - 20 Food 65% Publishers: Robert Robert H. H.& Elizabeth& Elizabeth S. S. Bestor Bestor Above Average 12 - 15 Service 20% Editor:Executive Editor:Robert Nikki H. Goth Bestor Itoi Average 8 - 11 Atmosphere 15% Contributors:Senior Writer:Doug Linton, C. Fischer, R. Holliday, Jim Jim Johnson Johnson Adequate 4 - 7 WebContributor: Master: Paul T. Merschdorf Mark Honan Unacceptable 0 - 3 Consulting Editor: Editor: Thomas Thomas P.