DEAR GEMüTLICHKEIT SUBSCRIBER The Travel Letter for Germany, Austria, Switzerland & the New Europe THIS ISSUE: December 22, 1996 How It All Started The idea for a newsletter about travel in the German-speaking countries had simmered in my A DECADE OF GEMÜTLICHKEIT subconscious for several years We mark Gemütlichkeit's 10th year with a special 10-page issue. In a year-by-year review of our first until one day my brother Tom, a free-lance writer, told me two decade we have compiled a ”mini” guide to the best of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. things: first, that he had read in In that first in Austria. In Mariazell we Money Magazine about a success- For addresses, phone and ful newsletter on France and, sec- 1987 January, 1987, recommend the simple Gasthof ond, about a computer software issue we re- Zum Alten Brauhaus. fax numbers of establishments program called PageMaker. Tom’s viewed the • In Verbier, the Austrian listed or mentioned in this Gasthof Fraundorfer computer, one of the first of in ski resort, we find the extraor- month's 10th anniversary Garmisch-Partenkirchen, told Apple’s Macintoshes, could run dinary Hotel Rosalp and its issue, please refer to the al- readers how to see a first-divi- PageMaker which would allow us restaurant Pierroz, one of the phabetical listings on pages sion German professional fuss- to produce camera-ready pages country’s finest. Also noted is 11-12. ball (soccer) game and wrote without expensive and time-con- the Hotel de la Poste. about an excursion from Vien- suming typesetting and paste-up. • Zermatt’s Le Gitan res- trains of Switzerland includ- na to Budapest, which had just taurant is praised for its mari- Of course, we would still have to opened to western travel. We ing a description of a ride on write it and then — hard part — nated loin of lamb cooked over the famed Glacier Express. recommended the Budapest a wood fire. find somebody who would pay to Hilton as the place to stay and • The cheapest subcom- read it. the Mathias Pin- pact rental car is ce as an atmo- $138 per week, Tom came up with the name spheric dinner excluding tax. which, in one way, is perfect: its 20 Favorite Country Hotels 1987-1996 choice. We cau- Currently, that German meaning exactly fits what tioned against the Anker Marktheidenfeld Ger car rents for we’re trying to do and it almost huge Grand Bavaria Pfronten Ger $109 per week. never fails to bring a smile to the Hotel Hungaria. Benen-Diken-Hof Sylt Ger face of Germans, Austrians and • LTU, the Those recommen- Bon Accueil Chateaux d Oex Swi German airline Swiss. From another standpoint, dations are still Der Bär Ellmau Aus offers a $449 however, it’s probably a liability. good today. Geiger Berchtesgaden Ger round-trip, New Conventional marketing wisdom In a story on Grandhotel Giessbach Brienz Swi York to Frank- says that, at the very minimum, a backroads travel Grüner Baum Badgastein Aus furt. Condor, product's name should be imme- we said, “auto- Gutshotel des Weingutes Neumagen-Dhron Ger the Lufthansa diately recognizable and mean- mobile touring in Haus Hirt Badgastein Aus charter airline, ingful to potential customers. To Europe offers the L’Ermitage Vufflens Swi offers RT prices most people, however, Gemütli- ultimate in travel Landhaus Hubertushof Altaussee Aus of $649, $679 chkeit is simply a word that is very satisfaction. The and $709 from difficult to pronounce. Le Débarcardère St. Sulpice Swi motorist moves at Romantik Hotel Bierhütte Hohenau Ger the West Coast. his own pace and Tom was also responsible for Romantik Hotel Tennerhof Kitzbühel Aus • We re- on his own time- view “last the basic look of the newsletter Rosalp Verbier Swi table, not some- night” hotels which is still much the same as it Schloss-Hotel Chasté Scuol-Tarasp Swi one else's; stops near the Frank- was when we started. Schloss Haunsperg Oberalm bei Salzburg Aus anytime; stays furt Airport. Schlossli Bottighofen Bottighofen Swi After a couple of years, Tom longer or departs Our two favor- Waldhotel Doldenhorn Kandersteg Swi ites are the bowed out when he discovered he earlier, as it suits; has the means to Hotel Dreieich had a very bright future as a writer visit the tiniest hamlets; and, in Langen and the Hotel and creative consultant to com- • We report on 10 small, finally and simply, turns left Birkenhof in Hanau. panies in the exploding Silicon country “hideout” hotels in instead or right, at whim.” Valley (recently he was creative Germany, notably the Roman- • In April we explain how director on the video Microsoft’s Though still advocates of tik Hotel Bierhütte and the to get the most from Michelin Bill Gates used as the centerpiece auto travel, since then we have Hotel Andrea, both in the Red Guides and report the first one was published in 1900 of his keynote address to the an- come to better appreciate the Bavarian Forest, and the Ro- and that in 1901 a new symbol nual COMDEX conference in Las joys of seeing Europe by rail. mantik Hotel Zehntkeller in — W.C. — first appeared. It Vegas). Other 1987 highlights Iphofen and Schloss Spangen- meant the hotel listed pos- • The lovely backroads berg, south of Kassel. sessed a flush toilet. drive from Hieflau to Mariazell • We review the mountain Continued on page 2… Continued on page 3… December, 1996 were more of them. And, I am sorry to say, the communism. It opened up whole new territories DEAR SUBSCRIBER cuisine of far too many of Germany, Austria and for us to explore. The second is the fall of the Continued from page 1 Switzerland's grand restaurants is stuck in the dollar. It changed where we stay, where we eat So we produced a first issue and then went past, serving thick, salty, artery-clogging sauces, and how long and how often we visit Europe. in search of readers, which is just the reverse of huge portions of meat and overcooked veg- Fortunately, car rental prices have fallen in the how successful publications are born these etables. last 10 years and, on an inflation-adjusted basis, days. (First comes a mailing which invites po- so have airfares. The third major development is As to our bias toward auto travel over train tential readers to send in subscription orders. If the Internet. The respected Value Line Invest- travel, we're coming around. Earlier this month enough paid orders are received, publication ment Survey says the Internet's development we went by train from St. Gallen, Switzerland, to goes forward. If not, the money is returned and “poses a change in the environment that is Prague. Then from Prague to Weimar and from the newsletter never gets off the ground.) analogous to the displacement of the telegraph there to Frankfurt and then on to Zürich. Except by the telephone.” How does that affect travel- Even though we did things a little back- for one incident — about which you will hear ers? One example: prior to the trip referred to wards, it was clear from our very first direct mail later but for now just remember to not, under above, I accessed the Net and was able to easily solicitation we had a product that was of interest any circumstances, check your bags when trav- locate and print all the train schedules related to to a certain sort of traveler. (Obviously, you are eling by train from one country to another — it our specific itinerary. So, for instance, in our one of that “certain sort” and we thank hotel room the night before we were to you for your subscription. ) depart Weimar, we simply dug out the The Best: 1987-1996 single sheet of paper that had the At the beginning, the dollar was Weimar to Frankfurt timetable and se- very strong versus European curren- Hotel: Victoria Jungfrau, Interlaken, Swi lected our departure time. No fat books cies and we were more inclined to cover Country Hotel: Grüner Baum, Badgastein, Aus to carry, no phone calls to make. the best hotels. At three marks to the Value, Country Hotel: Pension Heim, Seeg, Ger In looking over the first 119 issues dollar a double room at Munich’s Vier City Hotel: Abtei, Hamburg of Gemütlichkeit — rereading many of Jahreszeiten could be had for about Value, City Hotel: Pension Altstadt, Vienna $136. At the nearby An der Oper, a fine them for the first time since their month View - Hotel Room: Forsthaus Graseck, little three-star hotel, rooms were from of publication — I began to feel a real $33 to $58. It was even cheaper in the Garmisch-Partenkirchen Ger sense of accomplishment. There's a countryside. Restaurant: L’Ermitage, Vufflens (Morges), Swi lot of solid information in those 956 Value, Restaurant: Markgräfler Hof, Freiburg pages (the December, 1989 issue had But as the dollar declined over the Simple Restaurant: Hotel Bahnhof, Saanen, Swi 12 pages), if I do say so. And all of it years we had to lower our sights and so Ambience, Restaurant: Kronenhalle, Zürich, Swi based on firsthand observations. We Gemütlichkeit began to look for less set out to be the publication for inde- View, Restaurant: Bürgenstock, Swi expensive hotels and restaurants. While pendent travelers to our three coun- we still review four and five-star hotels Most Fun, Restaurant: Gasthof Fraundorfer tries and I think we have succeeded. — everybody likes an occasional splurge Airline: Swissair There have been more than a few mis- — we now present a more balanced spellings and misuses of German (and range of accommodations, including French and Italian) words and phrases, pensions, self-catering units and one and two- was pure delight.