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Alpine trio from Chord tour

12 august 2011 • Travel time: with 22 June 2011 on 03 July 2011
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Perhaps this response to many "bison" of tourism will seem too detailed and lengthy. Well, read it diagonally or do not read at all. It is intended primarily for people who are just planning their trip to Europe. I looked for such responses myself and found many important details in them.

I'll start with the fact that this is our first trip abroad. Well-informed people refused: “Well, you, for 12 days at once! And then, when they learned that we were going with the whole family: I, my husband and sons aged 16 and 10, fell silent and did not express aloud my thoughts about our desperation and stupidity.

Like many, at first we dreamed of Prague, then, as we deepened our search for the Internet, Neuschwanstein Castle was added, followed by the Eagle's Nest, and then the dream of seeing the Alps in all their 4.000-meter beauty.

I must say that I grew up in a family of avid tourists, my first trip to the Caucasus (from 6) took place at the age of 11, my future husband joined 6 years later.


The Alpine Trio tour fully corresponded to all our mountain dreams.

This trip was a double gift from us: on July 3, the eldest son turned 16, and on July 5 we celebrated a silver wedding. Our children are studying in a special school with in-depth study of German, the eldest son will take an exam for a German language diploma this year. Therefore, from this side, a tour to 3 German-speaking countries was what was needed.

Now more about the organizational aspects. We booked seats shortly before the New Year, because we were sitting in front. There was an interesting moment during the preparation of documents. Since both parents go with their children, according to the rules, a notarized permission for children to go abroad is not required.

The Accord manager said such permission was needed. You can't do anything, I had to go to notaries. So, the first two lawyers said that this is complete nonsense, and they will not assure such a statement.

And only the third said favorably: "For 200 hryvnias I will assure you of any of your words. " When crossing the border, our customs officer did not look at this paper, saying that it was not needed.

The Hungarian visa was opened on June 6 (!!! ), we learned about it on June 11. So with clean passports and the whole family in Schengen let! Infolist received on June 17, all hotels and prices for optional tours were confirmed, some changes were only in time, but later.

Departure for the tour and its end did not coincide with our train, so we arrived in Lviv on June 21, having booked in advance places to spend the night in the lounges at the station. For booking + 10% of the cost, together a 4-bed room 375 UAH. , prepayment is not required.

Conditions are normal, trains did not interfere with sleep. Here is the address and phone number: http:// railway. lviv. ua / info / passengers / station-services / 032-226-20-65


Of course, in the city you can find a cheaper hotel and rent an apartment, but… Apartments for less than 3 days are not booked in advance, subscription - the cost of living per day. One night you need to start looking for accommodation the day before arrival, and its location and price may be unsatisfactory. And reviews of the Internet apartment business were bad. In addition, I really did not want to travel with bags in an unfamiliar city, given that the bus left for the tour at 8-30.

After staying in the recreation rooms, we went for a walk to Lviv. A wonderful city, deserves all the epithets that reward it. But still it is good that we met him at the beginning of our trip, after Zurich, Bern, Salzburg, Vienna, I would perceive him differently.

Let's meet the leader of our group. Mariana Chopik, a native of Ivano-Frankivsk, is a young friendly, attentive, friendly girl. Throughout the trip, Mariana diligently performed her duties, called guides, handed out city maps, informed us about the schedule for the day, made sure no one was behind, counted us several times, etc. We are grateful to her for organizing birthday greetings, in memory of the son there is a card with good wishes of our companions. Given the fact that this route was the first time, Mariana did well. But there is one serious flaw in it - the wrong language, which is full of parasitic words "namely", "tribute", "also", "I want to comment", "counting".

When Mariana was talking about something, we just wanted to shut up! Therefore, information about cities and countries was annoying. Our new anecdote: "It turns out Mozart and Rubik were namesakes and called them" Assam Mozart "and" Assam Rubik "!

"Audio and video were also the same: thank God, 80's music videos (Modern Tolking, ABBA, Bonnie M and the like) were included only once. Of the thematic films, only "Sisi is a Young Empress" was shown, the rest of the time the series "Tourists" and several comedies were shown. There were enough sanitary stops, and the group gathered well, one 15-20 minute stop for the toilet and another 40 minutes for a snack were enough.

Meanwhile, the bus was filled with tourists, 80 percent of whom spoke Russian. With a slight delay of 8-40 we set off, the Carpathian landscapes, beautiful weather, and everyone's mood were pleasing to the eye. After about 2.


5:00 made a stop for lunch at the roadside cafe "Okay": fast, tasty, large portions, reasonable prices. The next short stop was in front of the border, at a gas station with an exchange office. The exchange rate was 43.99 hryvnias per 1.000 forints.

We exchanged money here for our entire stay in Hungary (including the baths in Miskolc), thus freeing ourselves in the next few days from looking for exchanges and saving the euro for more distant countries.

We would have crossed the border normally, in three hours, but ...The Hungarian customs officer first chose two suitcases of tourists for inspection. Order. Then for some reason he decided to look at the luggage of drivers. That's where he found a pack of cigarettes. To our indignant questions, Mariana chatted: “You know, drivers can, they are not checked to see if this is a change at customs. Honestly, no one has ever understood why they can? !!

We don't know how it ended, protocol or fine, but the group sat in a hot bus without air conditioning for almost 1.5 hours… The driver returned angry and no one apologized to the 42 passengers.

We turned the clock back an hour, hello distant Europe!

Our journey to Budapest continued, and Mariana tried to introduce us to each other, calling in turn to the microphone. Not everyone responded to the invitation, ashamed or lazy. Our satellites were from Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kryvyi Rih, Zaporizhia, Odessa, Lviv, Sevastopol, Chernivtsi. The group was disciplined, friendly, no conflicts, average age 45-50.

On this day, Mariana collected money for optional excursions in Budapest, and the rest - a day later on the way to Munich.

We arrived in Budapest around 21-15.

Hotel "Arena" 4 * (air conditioning, minibar, safe, hair dryer, TV (with pay channels included), Wi-Fi paid, balcony overlooking the stadium, quite noisy).

http:// www. danubiushotels. com / ru / hotels / hungary / budapest / danubius_hotel_arena

Here, another unpleasant surprise awaited our family, who were tired of the road, worries and impressions. It turns out that in the resettlement list we considered numbers of different types: Double and Twin.


In his story, he skillfully mixed historical facts with legends and fables, showed us the most famous places in Budapest. I think he could talk about Budapest not 4 hours, but 8 hours in a row, and we would be happy to listen to him (probably the only guide, thanks to the diction of which you could move 20-30 m away from the band and take pictures without losing this is the thread of his story).

It would be naive to hope to see and taste Budapest in such a short time.

I liked the city, I wanted to come back here for 3 days, wander around the city on my own, visit the Parliament, synagogue, museums, climb the basilica, tread my paths in the ancient streets of Buda, quietly shoot amazing panoramas, pay tribute to the national, because of him in Hungary as Mariana gave us a "Hungarian dictionary" on the moon, but the words of this strange language are not that difficult to pronounce from the first to the tenth time.

After the sightseeing tour, most of the group went to Szentendre (13-00), and then for a boat trip with champagne (17-00) (. We have free time until 17-45 and our own children's program. Well of course we go to the zoo (Allatkert in Hungarian)! The cost of tickets (7800 forints in all) and the map in English were found on the zoo's website http:// www. zoobudapest. com / english. Needless to say, we really liked it!

The twilight hall impressed in the Australian exposition. Entering it from the bright light, it is difficult to navigate, but after a couple of minutes you realize that about 3 meters from you under the ceiling hang large bats, and on the floor in a cozy "mink" doze some marsupials. "Flyers" did not sleep, they had lunch time, which consisted of cherries, apples, oranges… A real miracle - a garden of butterflies, circling around in a magical dance, sit on clothes and fly away again. I really liked the aquarium, which is located in the basement under the Palm House (it has such cute sloths! ).

A rich collection of bright fish, corals, shrimp, jellyfish… Plus to this coolness (in Budapest it was +34), I did not want to go.

As you can see, we were fascinated. At 4 o'clock he began to persistently remind himself of an empty stomach, all the "snacks" from the bag had already been eaten, and then it turned out that all the zoo's "common food" is already rolling.


We decide to go to the well-known "Paprika", we know the way from the reviews: "If you stand with your back to the Heroes go left (Dozsa Gyorgy, 72), go about 10 minutes. " That's how it was, we just went fast enough, and no one stopped the time. Moreover, they were very afraid to be late for the bus, and the time is already 16-20. In short, they started asking locals. The first (as it later turned out to be 500 meters from the target) firmly answered "I don't know". The second was a security guard of a residential complex, who was sitting in a booth (200 meters to the goal). The same answer… In despair we turn around and go back, but a miracle!

at the crossroads we hear the Russian language. "Girls, tell me, where is Paprika? " "" Yes, very close, 3 minutes! »Unpleasant conclusion: maybe Hungarians are not very hospitable? will the popularity of Paprika restaurant be envied? At that time, 6-7 tables were occupied in the hall, and only one of them spoke "incomprehensible" language.

We were served very quickly: goulash soup, delicious bread, beer, cola. A total of 4080 forints (93 hryvnias). It is a pity that we could not try other dishes, next time we will leave more time for lunch. Full and peaceful, we returned to Heroes' Square (go, in fact, 10-12 minutes), exactly at 17-45 the bus arrived, and we went to pick up the rest of the group from the ship. Well, judging by the high spirits of tourists, champagne was enough))). This elective was liked by everyone, it was mentioned many times, it helped to make friends with the band. But for some reason no one talked about Szentendra.

After a little struggle with the traffic jams in Budapest, we left the city at about 18-30.

We had to drive another 220 km to Sopron on the border with Austria. Exhausted by the hot busy day, tourists rested, monotonous plains of Hungary swam out the window. And here there were wind power plants.

The youngest son, an electrician at heart, immediately came to life, tried to count them, but got lost, took many photos and videos with windmills. The topic of wind energy and solar power occupied him until the end of the trip, as well as other technical wonders abroad. By the way, the total capacity of wind power plants in Hungary is 350 MW, in Germany - 27.000 MW, in Austria - 1.000 MW, in Ukraine - 87 MW.

Somewhere halfway there was a strong storm, I think it slowed down our movement. We arrived at the hotel "Lever" 4 * (minibar, hair dryer, TV, Wi-Fi paid, balcony overlooking the forest, silence) about 21-30, so we could not swim in the pool, although we dreamed of it from Budapest.


http:// www. danubiushotels. com / ru / hotels / hungary / sopron / hotel_lover

Only when we woke up in the morning, we were able to appreciate what a beautiful place our hotel is. Around the forest, the silence is broken only by the chirping of birds, on the lawn in front of the hotel sunbeds, in the woods marked trails for walks.

I did not want to go!

But again we had to move 470 km. The weather was not hot, 17-18 degrees, changing the pictures outside the window did not let me get bored. First the sleepy Sopron, a well-groomed provincial town, then the buildings that were once a customs checkpoint, drivers pay tolls on Austrian roads and set off again. Hello, simple and clear German!

Almost immediately there are noticeable differences in how residential and industrial buildings are built, how fields are cultivated. After about 70 km we find ourselves in the suburbs of Vienna, you can see the high spiers of churches, but the bus takes us further west.

After 85-90 km to the right on a high cliff above the Danube you can clearly see the significant buildings of the abbey of Melk, then the bend of the Danube and the dam near the city of Ibs. The road goes away from the river, and on the left the foothills of the Alps begin to appear.

After Linz, the mountains become even bigger, we drive along the shores of a small picturesque lake, everyone admires and asks what it is called. "Mondsee" - answers Mariana. Naive, we did not yet know the beauty of lakes and mountains ahead of us!

Before Salzburg at about 13:00 we stop for lunch at one of the restaurants of the Rosenberger chain. Some people preferred salads, but we couldn't resist desserts: apple strudel and air cake were good. In the list of 10 varieties of coffee I saw an acquaintance's name Kaiser-melange, ordered. Already when paying at the checkout, I remembered where the name is familiar (from the reviews of tourists! ): The cashier kindly reminded us to choose 3 gift cups.


Yes, nature did not allow us to refuse the gift, and we carried this dish for another 10 days)))! We did not order such coffee in Rosenberger anymore.

On the road again.

We pass Salzburg: you can see the fortress of Hohensalzburg, which rises above the city and the surrounding valley. Even now it inspires respect, how the medieval people trembled before its owners! Wait for us, fortress, we will be back soon.

And again the border: inhale - Austria, exhale - Germany, so all the borders would be so easy to overcome. Already 13-40, and 120 kilometers to Munich. Again our eyes are captivated by the lake, Mariana herself tells us that this is Chiemsee, on one of the islands on which King Ludwig II of Bavaria built his castle - Herrenchiemsee.

Finally, the autobahn is being replaced by urban development - we are in Munich, the closer to the center, the more interesting, the head is constantly spinning from left to right and vice versa. 15-30 - we are on Max Josefplatz near the Bavarian National Opera.

The bus part of the tour begins.

Familiar from the Internet names of streets, squares, buildings, seen photos are beginning to get in touch with the real city. So that's what you, Munich, the image from your head does not quite coincide with reality. Areas are smaller, streets are already, houses are lower… And there are many more people.

Quote from the website of our guide to Munich Irina Rozinova: "If you do not like Munich, then I do not know where in Germany you might like. " (German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, July 2009). Irina is dressed in the Bavarian national dress, she deserves it (it turns out that in Bavaria the cult of national dress, in most places we visited, sellers, waiters, guests were dressed so; we had the feeling that around us a big costume show).

Unexpectedly for me we are brought to Nymphenburg. Give 25 minutes for WC and photo.

Of course, such a raid is better than not seeing the palace at all.


While my husband and eldest son are taking photos, the younger one and I run through the first part of the central alley of the park, looking at ancient statues, vases and fountains along the way. Very beautiful palace and park ensemble, not without reason it is called "Munich Versailles". Swans and huge fish swim in the central canal. The depth of the canal is only 70 cm, in the autumn before the frosts water is drained from it, and the caught fish is sold for a lot of money. Then the canal is refilled with water and in winter it is a favorite place for skating and curling.

The bus tour ends at the Odeons. A few words about Teatinerkirch, Feldherrnhalle - and on the way through the labyrinths of streets and passages. We emerge near the Frauenkirche, 17-30, the evening bell is just beginning.

Irina takes us further, to Marienplatz, tells about the New Town Hall (it is a pity that we did not have time until 17-00, when the clock in the town hall shows the play), shows various shops, cafes. At the end of the tour Irina leads those who want to go to the Hoffbrä uhaus beer hall, on the way shows the restaurant Hacksnbauer, famous for its meat dishes. All, 18-00, we are free until 20-30.

We begin to implement our plans. If we are here, then first of all we go to the Hoffbrä uhaus, look around. Very bright, but stuffy, noisy and very specific smell. Not our format, kids after all. The next goal - to climb the tower of "Old Peter" (entrance 2 * 1.5 +2 * 1 = 5 euros). At Viktualenmarkt we buy pastries for recharging - and up to 280 with something. Views from the open area - you stagger! We take photos, rest and down.

In the underground supermarket on the corner of Marienplatz we replenish the stock of products for dinner and beyond, shopping Kaufingerstrasse and Neuhauserstrasse go to Karlstor and Stachus Square.

Of the morning electives, only 15 people gathered at the Pinakothek, so the bus took everyone to 8-30 to Izar-Tor. From this place to our destination only 10 minutes on foot. The official name of the museum is the German Museum of Masterpieces of Natural Science and Technology. http:// www. german museum. de / en / information / The cost of an entrance "family" ticket for four 17 euros. On 6 floors of the main building there is an exposition in 60 different areas of science and technology. In addition, there are branches: the Center for Vehicles and the Center for Aeronautics, Aviation and Space Research.

As you know, it takes at least two days to see all the treasures of the museum, we had only 3 hours.


We singled out those halls that were interesting to our technically oriented son: physics, mining, machinery parts, electrical engineering, aviation and shipbuilding. The most interesting thing is that there is no rule "Do not touch the exhibits with your hands. "

You can see the device of a sailing schooner, a small steamer, a submarine, and this is not a reconstruction, but real exhibits! The effect of work is created almost everywhere. For example, on the ship's captain's bridge you can see the blue sea, hear the cries of seagulls, and all the control levers spin perfectly and cause the reaction of the devices. There is a pilot's seat and a rudder, and in front of it an airplane that listens to your turns of the rudder, or a model that demonstrates the control of helicopter movement.

In addition, at certain times, strictly on schedule in different halls are demonstrations, such as experiments with liquid nitrogen, glassblowing, papermaking.

We chose the model of the railway (unfortunately, it didn't work) and high-voltage installations (breathtaking, scary, noisy, experiments with voltages up to 1.1 million volts, I really liked it! ). The son said, “This is the best museum in the world! "It's hard to disagree with him.

At 12-30 departure for electives.

We have a new guide, Eugene Wilk, Ph. D. , a man who thoroughly studied the life of King Ludwig II of Bavaria and wrote a book about it. On the way to Schwangau and back (about 1.5 hours) Eugene informed us in great detail about Ludwig, the castles, the plots that are present in the design of Neuschwanstein Castle. As it turned out, he prepared us for a reason. But in order. First, from the parking lot of tourist buses we were taken by a special powerful bus (we had to wait for almost half an hour) on a steep road to the area of ​ ​ the bridge Marienbrü cke.

These buses run in pairs: first both up, then both down, on a narrow road they will not miss. They gave time for a photo break, the views from the bridge are incredible: the Alps, the lakes, a fairy-tale castle on a rock, and a 90-meter abyss with a waterfall, perfectly integrated into the surrounding landscape. We were lucky, the castle had no restoration forests.


What did you like more? In my opinion, the surrounding landscapes surpass the interior. After the castle we were given about 30 minutes on a leisurely descent to the bus stop, but we, of course, were fascinated, so we did not want to go, so we ran down in 10-12 minutes.

On the way to Neuschwanstein we passed the town of Landsberg. Eugene said that after the war, Nazi criminals were held in a local prison, immediately tried and executed.

Next to the prison is a church and a cemetery with rows of identical wooden crosses.

We returned to Munich around 20-00, at first we were dissatisfied with it, it would be better to spend extra time near the castle. But it turned out that there is no disaster without good: we were able to swim in the hotel pool, go to the sauna, relax physically, so to speak.

Zurich + Rhine Falls

It's raining again in Munich in the morning, but we're not sad - Switzerland is ahead!

We have to travel about 320 km, the first 210 in Germany and a little Austria. Along the way, the weather begins to improve rapidly, in Austria it is already sunny and even hot. But here is the border with Switzerland, we are preparing passports again. A serious Swiss customs officer selectively collects their 15-year-old man from the bus, inquiring inquisitively from Mariana about the purpose of our trip, how much time we will spend in the country. She answers evasively - an excursion to Zurich, the border guard leaves.

The wait is always nauseating, we meanwhile watch the car with Polish license plates being checked, all bags, packets of provisions, all kinds of car junk being unloaded from it. At the same time, cars with Austrian, German, etc. numbers pass unhindered. Yes, they do not believe in the Slavs in Europe! Finally, after half an hour of waiting, we are released. Another 15 minutes - and a stop near the town of Rorschach, near the viewing platform of the majestic Lake Constance.

Blue sky, dark blue lake, dotted with triangles of white sails, and between them in the haze - the foothills of the Alps and many towns. I must say that in Switzerland we were incredibly lucky with the weather, as ordered, three piercing sunny days.


We arrived in Zurich around 1 pm, the bus unloaded us in the center near Lake Zurich. We were here on Sunday, it seemed like a problem when planning the trip, because all the shops are closed and so on.

But in fact, Sunday was a big plus - the city was, so to speak, half empty. The accumulation of people was observed only on the waterfront. And under the station, where the bus boarding took place, there is a shopping center Shopping Ville with various snack shops, a supermarket "Migros", which is open until 22 hours. Near the bridge over the river there is a supermarket Coop, which closes earlier, in 20-40 was already closed.

This city immediately fell in love, fell in love with our whole family - it was so bright and stylish in front of us. In other weather, Zurich might have seemed boring, but on a sunny day, buildings in subtle pastel shades of gray, blue, beige, and olive just shimmered against the blue-green Limmat River and the wooded hills surrounding the city.

Low 3-4-storey houses, each with its own centuries-old history, the streets are so narrow that walking on them, as if invading the privacy of their inhabitants, small squares, each with its own unique fountain (the most delicious iced drinking water! ) - in the background all this church towers seem so high!

Our guide in Switzerland was Olga Lenzlinger, the tours were very interesting, but… Unfortunately, Olga's voice is not strong enough, and she works without a microphone, so some of the information just did not reach us.

The tour began from the Fraumü nster church, Olga spoke in detail about the famous stained glass windows of Marc Chagall, then the Protestant Cathedral of Grossmü nster with its delicate carved towers and strict ascetic atmosphere. Then we delved into the labyrinth of the streets of Niederdorf, saw the house where the Fuhrer of the Russian Revolution lived.

Here we meet for the first time the main local transport - Zurich trams. They drive often and strictly on schedule, move very quietly and even pedestrians have to give way. At the stop, if you want to get in or out of the car, you need to press the button - then the desired door will open.


The sightseeing tour took only 1.5 hours, at 14-30 we are already on the square near the station. Short briefing - and an hour of free time to the toilet, snacks, replenish food supplies.

Let me remind you that the currency of Switzerland is the Swiss franc, but in shops, cafes, ticket offices accepted in payment and the euro, mostly converting at the rate of 1 euro = 1.2 francs, handed over in francs. The exceptions were railway and cable cars: the transfer rate of 1.15 plus a commission of 4 francs, as a result of 25 euros became equal to 25 francs ((((.

At 15-30 we went on an optional excursion to the Rhine Falls. The journey took only 50 minutes.

They listened to the church bells, watched the Zurich people gather near St. Peter's Church for the evening service: modestly dressed, mostly in black, they talked lively, it was obvious that they were happy to meet acquaintances. (It turns out that the churches play the role of our houses of culture: there are clubs of handicrafts and cooking, singing groups, etc. , there are concerts.

And what a pleasure to wander slowly through the narrow streets, to peek into the neat flowering courtyards, to consider their lives! They returned to the station because they promised their son to take a good look at the Swiss trains. They are truly amazing: elegant high-speed, two-story, more modest locals - as if living their lives. Drivers, conductors, controllers are not visible.

Thanks to the drivers, we drove 18 km to the place of accommodation in Regensdorf "only" in half an hour and kept the planned schedule for the next day. Hotel "Best Western Trend" 4 * (minibar, hairdryer, TV, quiet)

http:// www. trend hotel. ch / english / Lodging / Lodging.html

really and did not consider. Surprisingly, the minibar was taped with paper tape, and the set of detergents was hidden behind a glass door closed with a key, with the inscription "If necessary, contact the reception. " Breakfast was also a little weaker than in other hotels. But the bed was great, and that's all we needed!

Baden + Bern + Interlaken + Lucerne


Departure from the hotel for 8-30.22 km of road - and we are in Baden. Here a few people from our group go to the thermal baths, although for 16 francs they will have only 45 minutes there, the rest are waiting for them. To Marian's remarks, he replied: "We are obliged to fulfill the program of the tour, they have the right to attend this elective. "

Well, the hour-long walk through Baden was unforgettable, we do not regret it. Near the bus stop there was a stand with a map of the city, the central shopping area was nearby, but we preferred to walk around the town, to watch. Here they are building a house, biting into the mountain (almost like in the Crimea, only fewer people and more equipment). Here they took a kindergarten for a walk: 10 kids in the same bright vests, and with them as many as 3 nannies! Here is a bus-accordion (! ) Masterfully squeezed through a narrow winding road. We descended the steep streets to the bridge across the Limat.

Under the feet we notice paving slabs with different

Translated automatically from Ukrainian. View original
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