crazy tara,
srm is my mom and we are booked for the Christmas Market in Germany that Begins Nov28. But we are leaving on the 26. Is that the one you are thinking of going on?? It sounds like its going to be great!!

Tmo

>>Does anyone know if we should pack snow boots for winter travels in Germany???<<

Not unless you're planning on doing some kind of cross-country "trekking" in your free time. You certainly won't need anything other than normal walking shoes for the tour.

Regards,

Chris

Hi Chris, here in the N.E. we can get sleet and snow at the end of Nov. and early Dec...no possibility in Germany and France?? I hate trapsing around in sleet with walking shoes. Not to menion how freezing your feet can get. Of course when on the coach, it doesn't matter.

There will, of course, be snow in the mountains, but personally I've never found it necessary to have any kind of special footwear, because you really don't go anywhere that you're likely to encounter bad walking conditions.

I guess it comes down to personal preference at the end of the day. If you have "snow boots" and you've got room in your suitcase, then it wouldn't do any harm to bring them if you wish to do so, but I always like to travel light personally.

Regards,

Chris

i really hope to be able to do insight winter wonderland but as i havent been told if it is a goer or not i am keeping my ears and eyes open to have plans c,d,e,f,g and h ready, as my plan a has been cancelled, winter wonderland is plan b. your sounds great too - of course everywhere in austria, germany, switzerland will just beautiful covered in snow. never know you may see me on your tour. have you been given any idea if your tour will be a goer?

So far it sounds like the tour is going. They booked it and took our money. I guess it can be cncld up to 45 days or something like that. I am not worried about it though. Did they say something to you about the iNsight tour yet??? Maybe you'll see us on yours
Either way, Austria, Germany and Switz are going to be beautiful no matter what tour were on...

Tmo

Since we are going over a few days early, we have been trying to plan some day excursions from Munich. We are thinking of going to Salzburg to do the Sound of Music Tour. Has anyone done this trip from Munich?? We are just wondering if anyone has any suggestions on it???

Thanks
Tmo

tmo..
I'm flying from Boston to Vienna via London this coming Friday (9/05/03) doing the "Sound of Music" tour. This is one tour that has been selling very well both in the Winter Break and the regular Summer tour. My tour was sold out back in late June or early July. A few of the BB members who took the tour during the Winter have all come back saying that it was one of the best tours they have taken and really enjoyed themselves.
Hope you decide on taking the tour.

Hi, Reference footwear. Usually there won't be any snow in southern Germany (outside the mountains) that time of year. But, it can be very rainy. I usually wear a pair of low walking boots that have been treated to repel water. Even if it isn't raining, boots are warmer. If you go to Salzburg ... two years ago, we were in Salzburg in late November and it snowed/sleeted the whole time we were there. Boots are not a bad idea.

tmo
you and your mum must be my kind of ladies - i am a sound of music addict and went to salzburg last year on a c____s tour, then returned at the end of the tour for 3 days on my own. loved it so much i decided that i was going to return to have a white christmas in salzburg so will be there from 18th to 29th december. the tour i am doing before is really an add on because we dont travel from australia for just a couple of weeks if we can avoid it. anyway i am assuming you are meaning a day trip to the sound of music rather than the 8 or so day insight sound of music trip.
to get to munich from salzburg is very easy, train from the main station - can look it up for you when i get home, am at work at the moment, trains go every hour at least and cost 24 euro in april 2002. train took 2 and half hours. there are several tours that do sound of music - i was recommended to the "origional sound of music" tour company, it is a half day and was around 30 euro by memory. the bus was full and we were taken to most of the sights, across the lake from the house that was used for the back of the home, in the distance the one used for the front of the home. the gazebo and the trees where she sang on the way to the house. of course the city sites and also to mondsee where the inside of the church was used for the wedding. if you are a mad sound of music fan you will have a great time but it could have been much better if the crowd on the bus had participated more. i guess i was unfortunate as the bus i was on was 3/4 full of a group of chinese tourists, who i guess are a bit more reserved than the aussies and perhaps the americans. there is so much to see in salzburg too, i bought a salzburg card which was around 34 euro that covered me for 72 hours - entry to so many attractions and also free bus transport. if you want to email me i can tell you heaps more about salzburg - where to stay etc as i have done a major hunt for december.email me at lovetotraveltara@yahoo.com if you like.

Crazy Tara...I tried to send you an email but it was sent back..try to email me at mohfanztara@hotmail if you want. It would be great to compare travel stories
Tmo

Do not plan a christmas tour to germany, vienna, etc. expecting to see lots of christmas lights. There aren't any. Well, that's not completely true. The Christmas markets themselves have some lights (Vienna had the best) and budapest had white lights strung in the trees along the main shopping street. But I was very surprised to find that almost no private homes or business were decorated for Christmas. They just don't do that there. We did see quite a few really homely stuffed santas hanging off of balconies though! The Christmas trees were very "Charlie Brown" like. A trunk with a dozen or so branches. I kind of liked the charm of them but most on the tour were appalled. The few decorated trees we saw had white lights and red ribbons. The only place we saw a tree ornament was in the hotel lobby! And where were all of those great German made Christmas ornaments? Apparently the Germans sell every one of them to us in america! Don't let this discourage you from taking that sort of a trip though. It was a wonderful experience nevertheless!

Okay chris, I'll give you that there may be 45 minutes less light in Vienna each day (and I truly applaud your brilliance for being able to find that information somewhere!). But I'll also stick by my opinion that it wasn't noticeable. Why not? Because on the christmas market tour, the tourist sites had limited winter hours and nothing was open at those times anyway. At 7:30 in the morning everyone was at the hotel provided breakfast and by 6:00 at night, everyone was at the hotel provided dinner. When we did want to do something in the evening, well, we were in big cities afterall and everyplace was very well lit. For example we had no problem visiting and viewing Heros Square at night. Most evenings which didn't have optionals were spent at the christmas markets and they were the most well lit places of all.

Just a clothing hint and then I'll shut up and go away--On our winter tour, the thing that most surprised me was the number of people who did not bring enough warm clothes! They were ALWAYS complaining about being cold (and I didn't think the temperatures got particularly low, but then I am from northern Ohio). Many were from warmer areas of the US and Australia. While they had wool coats and hats that would be okay for a Virginia or Tennessee winter, they were not warm enough for the below freezing evenings we had in Munich. You need a coat good enough for a New York or Boston winter. If you live in a warm climate, you'll probably have to order one. The coats they sell in most retail stores in the south are not going to cut it. And yes, you need warm, waterproof shoes or ankle boots as well or your feet will be constantly wet and your toes will freeze in the evenings (the woman on our tour trying to walk on a sheet of ice in 2 inch heels would have been a real hoot had it not been such a scary sight). Of course, you could luck out hit an unusually warm week, but I heard the southerners complaining about the cold when the temperature dropped to an unspeakable (yeah, right) 45F degrees.

Wow Pamelahamm!
I'm from Southern California and definately do not have a coat like the one you were mentioning. I know that you went on Real Europe in December (great journal by the way), but do you think that I will need a coat that warm for when I'm going in early November? I don't even think they sell coats that warm here in California. (We're wimps when it comes to cold wheather, what can I say?)