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Sent from Amsterdam on Sep. 12, 2005 

Vienna, Wachau Danube Cruise, Trier, Luxembourg, Bruges.
Bye bye Europe

I began typing this in Vienna.  I will give myself a long city
tour, including all of the famous Kaertner St. at the
center, and take the train to KREBS, get on a ferry to MELK
(this is said to be the most scenic WACHAU section of the
Danube), take the train to Linz, continue to Munich,
connect to train to Frankfurt and Koblenz by next morn, to
be near Trier (and Luxembourg) where I attended high
school, spend a day there (Sep. 10), continue to Brugges,
Belgium to visit with friends from my African tour (Sep.
11), get back to main line in Dusseldorf and briefly browse
the city (Sep. 12), and continue to Amsterdam for flight to
USA.  FEMSI, I WILL ARRIVE on Icelandic 643 at 6:50pm on
13th.

From Trier, Germany, will continue to
Luxembourg for a day, then Bruges, Belgium on Sep 11. to
contact my 3 friends there, then Amsterdam, then USA... to
post all the photos and post cards from this trip, then off
again by car x-USA to California, visiting the Rockies in
Colorado and Canada, canyons in Utah...


1. Vienna.  What a gorgeous city.   I paid a taxi 9 Euros
to take me to the 2 HI Hostels at the center.  The hostel
was full, and just as well, for I did not like the dead
street they were located on, continued to the much-better
situated WESTEND City Hostel near the West Bahnhof--which I
will use tomorrow--and got a dorm bed for 20E.  Despite not
having slept for 3 nights, I was excited enough to go out
and have a Wienerschnitzel at the restaurant just across
the street, walked around the block and slept like a baby
for 8 hours.  A shower and a breakfast (included in price)
later, I found this Internet place for 2.50E per hour--6E
per hour at the hostel--nearby.  Now I am ready for my long
walk...


2. Vienna to Wachau cruise.  From Westbahnhof, take
Underground U6 to SPITELAU, to get on the train to KREMS,
Austria, where the Wachau cruise starts.  The joint U6 plus
the 30-minute train (last stop on that line) to Krems on
the Donau (Danube) costs 12 Euros.  Upon arrival, you will
need to take a taxi from the train station to the boat
station (I paid 5:50E), or walk about 2 miles thru boring
streets of Krems.

I arrived in time for the 10:30am sailing, on a beautiful
day.  The ticket for the 3-hour boat ride to MELK costs
16E.  Most of the sites are on the right side going, but
anywhere on the upper deck you will see all, including nice
green mountains--very much like along the Ohio river in
USA--but also several castles, wine terraces, and
nice old-fashioned European homes.  At the 2nd brief stop
site, you will glance at the castle in which Richard the
Lionhearted was kept as a prisoner while returning from the
crusades.  Upon arrival in Melk, you will need to ask the
info desk to call you a taxi to the train station.  With a
small city tour I paid 9E.  Melk is a really pretty
city with much to see.   (Refer to the brochures as to
what.)


3. Melk, Austria to Trier, Germany (11 hours on 3 trains
for 116 Euro).  Trier is one of the most scenic small
cities in USA, where I attended high school.  This was my
2nd homecoming since I left.  The cruise having ended at
1:20pm, I made it to the 14:15 train to St. P(OE)LLEN at
14:37 for my connection to the EC (Intereurope) 22 train to
Koblenz, Germany, via Linz & Graz in Austria, then Munich,
Nurnberg, Frankfurt in Germany.  I left St. Pollen at
15:12, arrived in Koblenz at 23:10, to connect to the local
train to Trier at 23:18, and arrived in Trier at 1:17am.

They close the station at 2am to 4am.  I met a German who
spent a year in USA and an American national guardsman
returning home.  We chatted until 4:30am, then I took off
walking, tracing my steps of once upon a time.  As I said,
Trier is very pretty and should be visited at least by the
Europeans who can get there readily.  The city has an
imposing DOM, Roman PORTA NIGRA, many quaint streets that
meet at the Hauptmarket.  And there is a HI Hostel in town,
right next to the MOSELLE.  (The info about the hostel is
on the info billboard right outside the train station.)

And this is not all.  The stretch of river between Trier
and Koblenz and then between Koblenz and Mainz are the most
scenic sections of Rhine.  Or if you dont have time for
these cruises, you can also take the train and admire the
scene from that vantage point.  Make sure you sit on the
river side.


4. Trier to LUXEMBOURG, to BRUGGES, Belgium.  There are
frequent trains from Trier to Luxembourg, a distance of
about 45 minutes.  I DONT KNOW IF I SHOULD RECOMMEND
LUXEMBOURG.  There is an old town section that meanders
steep hillsides.  But the landscape is difficult to walk,
and somewhat boring.  And some people still do not speak
English.

The Lonely Planet says that the HI Hostel is situated
nicely there, at the bottom of a hill.  Give me a break. 
The bus to there drops you off on top of a hill, with some
scenes of the old town and its bridges along the way.  Then
you must walk down a steep hill for about 200m, make a
U-turn and walk another steep hill for 200m, then walk some
more to the hostel.  Going down might be OK, but then you
have to come up again, dragging your bags, or call a taxi
to the station at 10+ Euro.  And I noticed that the walk
around the old town perimeter would be say 300m of just
trees and grass, for a glimpse of a bridge or city wall,
then again the same, thus demanding too much energy for
sights you can see similar ones much easier elsewhere,
namely in BRUGE, Belgium, my next destination.

So without walking downhill, I waited for the next bus to
the station, paid 1:50 Euro to the driver for the ticket,
arrived at the train station, and luckily found a small
tourist train taking off for sightseeing around town. 
I did that for an hour and then jumped on the next train to
Bruge.

a)BRUGES, Belgium.  As far as Bruge, as Lonely Planet says,
it is one of the best preserved medieval towns in Europe. 
The city was packed when I arrived on a Saturday, the 3
hostels I checked were all full, as also several hotels. 
(One wanted 230 Euros per night for a suite.)  So I took my
bags to storage, returned to the old city, walked all
around the MARKT and BURG squares, had a fine afternoon and
evening, and then returned to the station for the next
train to ANTWERP in Flanders (northern Belgium), on my way
to Amsterdam.

Overall, Bruge is a very pretty town, but I thought Trier
is even nicer, especially with the Moselle flowing thru it.
 I did the same in Antwerp, taking a taxi to the city,
browsed around for 2 hours at night, and returned to the
station for the late train to Amsterdam.


5. Final comment about Belgium and Holland.  I did NOT like
the strict enforcement of no-smoking laws on the trains in
these 2 countries.  In Austria, they let you smoke at the 2
ends of the wagons and overall I found Vienna and Austria
friendlier environment, one in which "LIVE and LET LIVE"
still functions.  Sitting several hours on a train at night
is not when I want to quit smoking.  So I decided I will
NOT visit Belgium again.

a) Amsterdam, SCHIPHOL Airport.  As far as Amsterdam
airport, I rate it as 10 among airports, briefly an
ingeniously designed shopping center with an airport, train
and metro stations attached to it, with the latest
amenities and gadgets of everything.  And all hostels being
full on Sep. 12, I came to the airport to spend the night.

I used to rate Holland as the highest civilization in the
Western world, along with Nordic Europe and Canada. 
However, what I witnessed at the airport at Schiphol was
nothing but a POLICE STATE at work, passengers being shaken
from sleep to show their tickets--3 times in one 30-minute
span--some passengers being shaken because they were
leaning on their bags on the next seat, when they were
allowed only to sit straight . . . turned me entirely off. 
Their idea of security was nothing but harassing
passengers, the staff the crudest and rudest bunch I have
seen at any airport.  To add insult to injury, the
loudspeaker came on frequently to warn people that smoking
is NOT allowed at the airport, BUT at bars and restaurants
scattered all over the shopping center.  In other words,
they were not concerned about the health effects of
smoking, they wanted to make money from people's smoking
habits, as the cheapest item on the menu, a small cup of
coffee at a bar or restaurant, still costs 2 Euros.

I had come to Amsterdam so that before my return flight I
could purchase a laptop and several other gadgets.  The
environment there turned me off so much that I did not buy
a single thing, and left with the resolution of never
coming back again.  As far as I am concerned, if you want
canals, go to (much nicer) Venice; if you want a vibrant
European city, go to Vienna (very civilized); if you want a
charming town with a nice old city and a nice pulse, go to
Trier, Germany.


6. MOUNTAINS. I crossed many mountains on this trip. Let's
view them from the perspective of their relative heights,
taking away the Himalayas that would dwarf all
mountains--which I observed from the base in Nepal. 
(Multiply these by 3.28 to convert meters to feet.)

Mountains just south of Sarajevo are 2,000+m
Transylvanian Alps in Romania are 2,544m.
Pindos Mountains of No. Greece and into Albania are 2,637m.
The Dinaric Alps south of Kosovo are 2,748m.
Rila Mount. south of Sofia are 2,914m
Mt. Olympus, the highest in Greece, is 2,917m.
The highest peak Atlas Mount. in Morocco is 4,167m
The highest (Monte Rosa) Alps are 4,634m
Mt. Ararat in Turkey is 5,165. (16,941 ft, like the Rockies
in USA and Canada)
Mt. McKinley in Alaska at 18,000+ ft is even higher
Kilimanjaro in Africa is 5,895m is higher
Mt. Aconcagua (Andes) in Argentina/Chile is about same.

Sirman