Just back from Europe - Questions?

A couple of questions immediately come to mind: How long was the trip (No. of days)? How did you travel in Europe, car, train (rail passes?), plane?

Interesting. My boyfriend and I (25 and 24) are leaving on Tuesday for about 3 weeks in Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, and Hungary. Post airfare and inter-city transportation, I have about $3000 US allocated for lodging, food/drinks, and sightseeing (though I don't need to spend ALL of that if I don't have to). Did you guys stay in hostels?

We were in Europe for a total of 28 nights. We didn't buy rail passes because after the added costs (reservations, etc) it didn't work out to be a better deal. However, we did fly from Krakow to Berlin with Air Berlin, one way it cost us each about 100 Euro. Mostly we staying in budget hotels or bed and breakfasts. Nothing over 100 Euro a night. Food costs vary from country to country and depends where you eat, obviously. Germany was probably the best for food. Great quality at a good price. We found they had good restaurants that were like cafeterias.

I'm interested in the Berlin and Krakow parts of the trip...where did you stay in Krakow, at the hostel or at the Polonia? Your assessment of the accomodations there and the same for Berlin? Glad you had a great trip.

my husband and I are going to France and are vegetarian. How do you find the vegetarian cuisine? Did you stick to your normal diet? We were strongly considering eating meat on our trip to get the full experience. If you didn't use the train, did you find driving difficult? How about parking, etc in Paris?

Jennie,, a car is not needed, nor advised for inside Paris. Parking is hard to find, and when you find lots, its expensive, about 20 to 25 euros a day. Better to leave car outside Paris.

Fred: We stayed at the Hotel Polonia. I wouldn't recommend it. Not that it was the worst place to stay, I just think there are better places there, had I know what to expect, you know? There are only 2 laundromats in Krakow and we were midway through our trip and needed to do laundry and it was quite the ordeal. Probably the worst day of the trip. I'd advise staying in Kazmeriez. But there were SO many great looking hotels/hostels right in the Stare Miastro. Also, we just flew in to Berlin. We took a train to Hamburg to stay with a friend right afterwards. We didn't have enough time to stay in Berlin, unfortunately. Definitely next time. Krakow was the hardest to find info about before we left, so I'd be happy to answer any questions about it. Jennie: We didn't drive at all in Europe. Only took 2 cabs, even. The metro in Paris is very efficient. Not to mention walking is the best way to see things there. Getting lost in Paris on foot was enjoyable! As for being vegetarian, I thought about eating meat as well, but only had a bite of my boyfriend's wiener schnitzel in Salzburg. There are pizza places everywhere for desperate situations. Also lots of falafel places. I'd have eaten way more salads if I didn't HATE avocados and have an aversion to fruit in veggie salads. So, it boils down to how picky of an eater you are. I was worried about eating cheese and bread all the time (and the wine and beer!), but walking for 6 hours everyday pretty much neutralized it! If you have access to a kitchen you will be set. The produce in Europe is so so good. And we found food in markets to be better quality and less expensive than where we live. We found ourselves wondering why people we warning us that food was so expensive there.

MD, Thanks for the information...I will not consider staying at the Polonia the next time I go to Krakow. I had stayed at the Europajski, right left of the train station, in 2001. I didn't notice the Greg and Tom hostel then, which is very recommended and close to the station too. Even if you omit the veal and pork from your diet in Poland, the food is still great. Definitely, Krakow is worth repeat trips as is Berlin.

I wish I would have known more about Kazmeriez in advance. Found the best vegetarian meal there. Accommodations seemed decent there too. If you plan to do laundry at all while in Krakow, I would ABSOLUTELY recommend finding accommodations that have laundry facilities.

"...needed to do laundry, and it was quite the ordeal. Probably the worst day of the trip."............For those who wonder why so many of us do our laundry in the sink...;-) Going to a laundromat is either a great day and you meet new friends, get some writing done in your journal while sipping a beer, OR it's "probably the worst day of the trip". MD, thanks for the report - especially about getting lost in Paris! There are certainly worse things in life...

We definitely did laundry in the sink, but "for those of us" who are picky, and don't like the gross, crunchy feeling socks washed in the sink get or just prefer to have our clothes washed in machines, it is absolutely helpful to have access to laundry facilities. We did laundry in Bayeux too, a much more pleasant experience.

And I bet I know just where in Bayeux, too - that place looked great; too bad we didn't have time to wash 8-( .........Thankfully, I've never experienced crunchy socks - they sound awful!

Indeed, sometimes you just want soft machine washed and dried clothes. So clean!

I take it that the laundry facilities were not available at the Polonia? If not, another good reason for not going there for me. The hostel there does have such facilities.

Ahhhhh...soft, not crunchy...clean...ahhhh...8^D

Oh Fred, you can do some much better than Hotel Polonia! I saw so many wonderful looking places to stay that had laundry facilities, were in a nicer location and looked much more modern. Hotel Polonia was probably really posh in the '40s, it just looks like they haven't done anything to it since there. And the breakfast left something... to be desired!

Hello MD ! I enjoyed reading all of your sentances here. I appreciate the tip about Kazmeriez in Krakow. And I am vegetarian. My next trip to Europe might be to Krakow only. In all of the countries in Europe that you were at, did you see public Telephones ? And can a computer for accessing the internet be found in the big cities ? I heard that there are less public Telephones, and less places for computer use now, compared with in the year 2001, because sophisticated cell phones are very trendy in Europe now.

I like the picture of a smiling face, at the end of Eileen's reply dated 10/5/10 at 2:56 P.M. I did not see that smiling face picture before. (to see it, bend your neck down to the left). 8^D

Ron - Didn't notice a whole lot of public phones, I did try to use one in Bayeux to make a collect call and the operator kept telling me he couldn't place a collect call without a credit card >:| They definitely exist, but you probably will have a phone in your hotel room or at least a phone in the lobby. Internet cafes are easy to come by. Most of our hotels had a computer in the lobby for guest use. There will most likely be an internet cafe near the train station (in my experience anyways). We did notice that WiFi in Europe was not as common and not as reliable as in North America.

MD, After I read what you said about Kazimierz, I read about Kazimierz, in the Lonely Planet book on Eastern Europe. Kazimierz is interesting. I read in one of the travel guide books on Poland : a tourist in Krakow should be there a minimum of six days. What do you think ? (for a person to see a variety of old things in Krakow, and have an enjoyable experience there). Recently an experienced traveler said to me : the people in Poland love Americans. Did you perceive that the Polish people in Krakow love Americans ? Being in big cities is stressful (for me). Did you feel stressed in Krakow ?

Ron: I spent 4 days in Krakow. One of those days was spent doing laundry (yes, it took an entire day, long story, bottom line: if you plan to do laundry in Krakow, make sure your hotel has facilities). If we had not had to spend that last day doing laundry, 4 days would have been perfect. As far as Poles loving Americans, I'm sure they assumed we were American (we're Canadian) but we weren't treated any differently than anyone else. Lots of British tourists there. Krakow didn't feel like that big of a city within the walls of Stare Miastro and Kazmeriez, to me anyways. The only time I felt stressed there was when we first arrived with our big backpacks because we didn't speak the language and I felt like we looked like foreigners and that made us vulnerable. After that, though, no problems!

>^..^< ********** Thanks, Ron! That's my new kitten; she needs a name {Bonus - tilt head}.......... IIIII8^)X......Cat in the Hat ;-)

MD, I enjoy reading your observations and responses on Krakow; in 2001 I arrived there by train from Warsaw and left by taking the ten hour day train to Berlin, very interesting seeing the Upper and Lower Silesian county side. Just wondering if you in the course of your sightseeing and wandering there came across a memorial corner with a large cross with the word "KATYN" above it? Seeing that really hit me...poignant.

Hi Fred: We took a night train from Vienna to Krakow, so didn't see much in that region (because it was dark). The bus ride out to Auschwitz was an interesting look at the countryside of the area. I didn't see any memorials for the Katyn massacre except for in several museums, not just in Krakow.

MD, Thanks for your reply...if you didn't see that poignant memorial site to Katyn, there's always next time. And, I defintely will go back to Krakow, four full days there in 2001 weren't enough for me!