GMC in Europe 2008

I have the good fortune of having as patients a lovely couple who are native Austrians.  They have graciously forwarded a list of the best in Viennese dining establishments.  Here is the list complete with websites for some advanced reconnaissance if one so desires.  All of these places are in Vienna’s “inner city”, the Innenstadt:

Restaurants:

1.  Figlmuller- A Viennese tradition.       www.figlmuller.at

2.  Gusshaus- Viennese cuisine.    www.gusshaus.at

3.  Plachutta- Viennese cuisine.   www.plachutta.at

4.  Julius Meinl- A Viennese tradition for fine coffees/food

Wine cellars:

1.  Zwoelfapostelkeller- great wine/good food.   www.zwoelf-apostelkeller.at

2.  Augustiner Keller       www.bitzinger.at

3.  Melker Stiftskeller      www.melkerstiftskeller.at

Cafe:

1.  Cafe Landtmann beim Burgtheater    www.cafe-wien.at  

There you go.  As the Autrians say  “Wien, Wien, nur Du allein”.   

Enjoy,  Adam

So far we have had pretty good advice sent our way by John Coghill about notifying credit card companies about your planned travel, finding out which bank ATM’s in Europe will not charge a service fee for use, and info from Casterbridge on how much to budget.

Two more ideas (travel debit card and pre-purchase of Euro’s):

You can go to any AAA store, there is one in Cromwell I use, and purchase a VISA travel debit card (just use it like a credit card abroad and not a debit) that you pre-load money onto before you leave.

(more…)

For those of you boarding the bus at Cheshire, and planning to park your car:

Yes, we will have a designated section of the church parking lot set aside for you. There will be signage when you arrive.

Yes, it’s a safe place to park. No, it’s unguarded. Yes, the Cheshire police often stop in to have a cup of coffee and write reports while they sit in their cruisers. And yes, we like that.

Yes, I’d like to know your license plate number and name when you arrive. Yes, I’ll have a list at the door of the bus. And yes, we’ll hand it to the good people at the church office so they know your car is there.

Yes, this is likely to be much more convenient than driving your car to the airport and back. And no, I am completely not envious of the folks who are driving to Boston (unless of course they’re having a Wednesday evening “out” and having a great time, in which case my answer is Yes, I’m kind of envious).

And finally…

Yes, I made up some of these questions, based on questions I’ve already been asked.

But yes, I hope the questions I made up, and their real answers, will be reassuring to those of you who plan to park their cars here.

Leavin’ on a jet plane,

Don’t know when I’ll be back again…

Well, there is an itinerary. I suppose I could consult that.

We’re leaving one week from today. I’m excited!

I’m also checking to make sure

• I’ve made arrangements for the house while we’re gone
• I can see (heading to the optometrist this morning!)
• I have tickets and passport for the journey
• I’ve memorized my music where called for (why don’t those words stick?!)

We’ve received itineraries in an email from John C., and I plan to post them in the tour pages when I get a breath.

See you Sunday at Trinity, and again on Tuesday.

And again on Thursday morning, a week from today!

A Roman Catholic friend has asked me to visit The Infant Jesus of Prague, located in the Church of Our Lady of Victory.  The statue dates back to the 1600’s and is venerated throughout the Hispanic world.  See http://www.karmel.at/prag-jesu/english/firsten.htm for more complete information.

I checked the websites of the three hotels where we will be staying, and they all have hair dryers in the rooms.  Fewer electrical doohickeys to worry about!!

Today’s Times features Prague in Travel section

Hi GMC Tour Participants,

A couple of people have shared some hints which I will now share with you as we get ready to roll two weeks from today.

• Hint #1 from Paula, our wonderful GMC Treasurer, who says if you buy some Euros now to have with you at the beginning of our trip, you’ll maybe save some money as the value of the dollar continues to decline — that hint pleases my Scottish blood!
• Hint #2 from Margaret Tyler, our fabulous contralto, who says, scan your Passport and any important medical cards you never want to lose and e-mail them to yourself. Even if you do lose them, you can visit an Internet Cafe while we’re away and you can get copies if needed.

I’ll be updating information as soon as I get it from our contact in the UK and in reading the Casterbridge Leader’s Book, I have come across several pages of valuable information which I’ll send along to Participants as soon as I figure out how to do it!

One big travel tip is—PACK LIGHTLY! Please save me any nightmares by promising to be sure to have your airline tickets and Passports with you when we leave for Boston as I would hate to leave anyone home!

I’m down two of the twenty pounds I wanted to lose before leaving — Aargh! Jelly beans and chocolate bunnies — why do they appear every year?????

14 days and counting! Cheerio!

John, the Virgin Blogger

This (blogging) is plunging into virtually unknown territory for me.

While convalescing, I found some interesting websites to preview our tour. I’ll copy them below, and hope they reach you.

It will be a great adventure.

Joyce

• PRAGUE- Heart of Europe
• Czech dictionary
• Great photos of Prague
• Baden St. Stephens

You might be asking, “But…where are we singing?”

We now have a page for each of the three concert venues on this blog-site.

Some of the information is still preliminary, and all of the venue pages will be updated as we get closer to the tour.

The easiest way to get to the venue pages is…to look up and to the right. There is a link called “Venues” at the top of the page.

You can point your mouse at that word, and a menu will drop down showing our three tour cities. Click on one of them, and it will take you directly to that page.

Or, just click on the word “Venues” to see a directory page with all three venues listed.

The pages will be revised as we receive more information.