Saturday, December 04, 2004
Trip to Budapest, Prague and Vienna A & K
Abercrombie and Kent Invitation Only Trip for Travel Agents
To Budapest, Vienna and Prague
(and a 9 day trip for Dennis and Patty to Provence)
Our tiny receipt from Cagnes Sur Mer, France says, “Merci, a bientot. McDonald’s Cagnes Sur Mer.” Yes, we did eat a Big Mac in Provence….and McDonalds always has toilettes, a rarity in most villages. Of course, you can buy a hot chocolate or tea to pay your way into the facilities… but McDonald’s French fries are yummy and their little “Thank you, have a good day.” sounds so much nicer in French.
Well, what a trip! We were guests of Abercrombie and Kent, the Premier International Tour Company on a tour of Budapest, Prague and Vienna to experience for ourselves what clients/friends/family will experience with them such as Four Seasons/Imperial Palace quality hotels, luxurious large motor coach, first class rail service, traveling bellboy service (so you never schlep your bags). We had a wonderful concierge/tour leader in Lado Ciechanowski, who accompanied us on our entire trip. He is just like the proverbial mother, caring for everyone so efficiently and professionally and with a quirky sense of humor as well. He is from Normandy now, but doesn’t claim a specific country as ‘home”. Multi-lingual, he was extremely knowledgeable and helpful. On the Crystal Cruises we frequent, it is said that guests sometimes hire the butlers who serve them in the Penthouse Suites and take them home with them, yes, right off the ship…Well, Lado deserves a placement in that category. Lyn Fox from the A & K Oakbrook Office accompanied us as well, and gave us information we needed for helping clients who would like this experience and encouragement to ask for assistance from A & K to plan for guests. What’s not to like?
When the tour ended in Prague, Dennis and I flew to Nice, France, rented a new Volvo with a GPS system to spend 9 days on our own in Provence. We made unbelievable “finds” and even rested up from the 9-day A & K portion of the trip.
So, if you like to read details, stay tuned. If you don’t, that’s ok, just know that our trip was truly “the trip of a lifetime.” And, I would love to help you have the same experience when you are ready!
Details
Well, because we don’t like cramped seats when flying, we found Business Class Air at a special price RT Nice, France. Then, I booked Air France from the open-jaw ticket from Nice to Budapest, returning from Prague to Nice, then home again. We decided to fly a day early, stay overnight in Nice near the airport, then fly to Budapest to meet up with our invitation-only A & K Tour on Wednesday, November 10, 2004.
Wednesday, Nov 10
We were met and greeted by our driver from Limousine Service Hungary, Budapest@limohungary.com in an S Class Mercedes who delivered us to the Inter-Continental Budapest. We met Lado (chicken@wanado.fr) who told us lunch was waiting (about 1:pm) for us in the Corso Restaurant, a lovely buffet with wide choices, always lovely cheeses, desserts, salads, soups, Asian cuisine, or traditional Hungarian Eastern Europe fare. This is the custom, to provide guests with local cuisine, although duck 4 times on our trip was a funny little, not-planned, overkill (no pun intended.)
Everyone gathered in the reception area to tour the hotel accommodations and then to take a walking tour of Pest including refreshments at Gerbeaud’s famous coffee and chocolate house. We nicknamed it “Gerbils”, so we could remember the name. So we walked the pedestrian main street, down to the architecturally beautiful Fresh Market with domed glass ceiling. It was lovely, clean and well stocked. Upstairs are the linens which are hand embroidered by Hungarian women who also make crocheted pieces. It was a little frustrating to walk quickly through the market and not have time to shop, but as Dennis always says, “There will be more.” When we left the market, we rode the streetcar back to our hotel. Lado had our tickets and us on the streetcar before I could really figure out how he did it…
We went back to our hotel for a little rest (always short ones), then to the Kempinski Hotel for dinner. One the mezzanine level of this gorgeous hotel, there was chamber music with champagne service to celebrate a monthly ART OPENING. This is a community affair, by invitation, to meet the artist chosen for the month. It was elegant and we listened close by and could figure out who the young woman artist was and we could see her art displayed. She is a silk and textile artist who hand dies silk wall hangings and scarves. She, Ujhelyi Eszter, has the contract for the “scarf of the month” for a year for Kempinski, so her hand-colored scarves, which are commissioned, will have the Kempinski logo on them. That must be so nice for her to have that contract. And, her work was beautiful. More about this…
Our dinner was supurb and the conversation lively, as all of us were just getting acquainted. There were 22 total in our group including Lado and Lyn (A&K). The agents in the group were from other Premier, High Producing Virtuoso Agencies and AM EX Agencies all over the US. Some had spouses, some were singles, some had friends accompany them. They told us by the end of the trip, we would be best friends and that proved to be an added blessing. At dinner this first night we met Christine and Andy Chrystal from San Jose and Mary Myers from Knoxville, who was by herself on the trip.
Crystal gave me some insider tips. It is so nice to hear what these top agents have experienced. I also got wonderful ideas about finding the best airfares possible for any destination. I’ll be trying those tips for clients.
After dinner, Mary and I went upstairs to the Mezannine, met the artist, Ujhelyi Eszter, textile designer (ujhelyi.artsstudio@chello.hu)and bought several of her beautiful scarves. Ask and I’ll show them to you.
The Inter-Continental had a little business center where an Internet Card can be purchased for about $9.00 and it can be used in the business center or in the Internet Bar. I checked e-mails…
Nice touch by A&K: Postcards to send home with local stamps already attached were in our folders.
Thursday, Nov 11
Rita Verzar rita@startadsl.hu was our guide and Jasper was our driver. We were taken to the Villa Barto where George Oravetz played for us a private little chamber concert, some Mozart and some Hungarian music. This former home of Barto, a famous musician who captured Hungarian folk music, recorded it and wrote it and his home is now a museum. He led a rather isolated life and worked tirelessly to capture the music of older Hungarian people. This was one of the “insider events” A & K always includes for guests. A treat to see how Barto lived.
Buda is the residential side of the Blue Danube and Pest, the flatter side is where most governmental buildings are found. Our room at the Inter-Continental overlooked the River and we could see the Palace illuminating the who Buda side of the river at night. It was a spectacular site. Our room was small but elegant and well furnished.
Bronze Orion sits in front of the of the National Museum. We drove through the city and highlights and history were explained to us. We saw the embassies of countries from around the world. We saw Heros Square where there is ice skating many months in the winter. We stopped to see the Jewish Temple and sculpture of the fallen Jewish people, a sprawling tree with little tiny leaves engraved with names of the lost.
We stopped at the Hilton for lunch and had a tour of the hotel, we saw the old walls of the city, and I did manage to buy a little hand embroidered cloth from a lady on the street. Our host was Hajnalka Hegedus, group and conference sales executive hajni.hegedus@hilton.com at the Hilton. In the afternoon we took a walking tour of Buda to view the Royal Palace, visit the Matthias Church and Fishermen’s Bastion before departing to the nearby Bela Bartok House.
We had a meeting with Anthony Bay, the A & K Marketing and Sales Manager from Europe and he encouraged us to know avenues for making clients trips glorious. Cindy Hollowell is our Memphis rep. We had 22 people on a 40 passenger bus, so we could spread out and visit, too. Anthony told us that A & K has a new partner Intrawest which includes Whistler properties and that has given a big financial boost to the company. Jeff remains in charge of A & K. A & K has 120 guardian angels (local guides) to accompany guests around the world.
A & K has tiered pricing, silver, gold and platinum. Hotels always book one below Jr. Suite, always full breakfasts and guardian angels for sightseeing. Platinum is ALL the best of everything. There are signature programs which are canned FITs with fixed itineraries for clients who don’t need FITs. The MS River Cloud is the best in Europe for river cruising with A & K. There are European Villas contracted with A &K. A & K will open an office in Florence.
Petra is the head concierge at the 4 Seasons/Budapest. She hosted a tour for us and an elegant dinner. The hotel was gorgeous. Hearts were in the joining of the marble on the floors, art deco chandeliers, beautiful ironwork, excellent location. Dinner was elegant with flowers, 3 wines, cantaloupe and sherbet with a delicious sauce. Halibut was perfectly grilled with a light crust.
Friday, Nov 12
We went to St. Andrew for shopping and bought an antique art nouveau tray for Carl and Trish for Christmas and amber shops and Herend Factory shop. St. Andrews is an island of 5 communities, a ferry boat town. Isabel is a lovely little town. The primate (not a monkey) of Hungary lives here. We visited Pannanhalma Abbey, a boys school and visited the library, a private one, to see their huge ancient collection of manuscripts and books.
We saw the River Cloud and Marjorie 1 and 2. The Rousalette river boat holds only 6 people. We were told about a film Mondo Vino to see.
We arrived at our hotel, the Hotel Imperial in Vienna about 5:30. We made a site inspection and had a lovely dinner in the hotel’s Marble Hall. Our room was so large, when we turned on the weather channel, music from Vienna filled our room, so we danced. The room was unbelievably large and comfortable and elegant.
Saturday, November 13
In Vienna we tourned the Ring Road seeing the sights and we visited the museum where Gustov Klempt’s art noveau paintings were displayed. His famous “Kiss” was displayed commercially in every form, scarves, notebooks, postcards, etc. In the Third Man, a movie, the ferris wheel in Vienna is filmed. Viking River Cruise was docked. Joanne Strauss was paid $100,000 to come to America after money was transferred to Austria. He was smart, good looking. He had women after him, so he bought a Newfoundland dog to send locks of hair to his admirers. We toured the Briston Hotel and then had a few hours for independent walking. In the afternoon we walked to Helene Runtscheiner’s apartment for tea served by men in white coats. This was another little insider view provided by A & K, and Helene was a gracious lady whose family had owned her building for 4 generations. During the occupation, the family was relegated to the attic, but now it is the family home again.
We returned to rest for an hour, then we Walked to the Grand Hotel Wien for a site inspection followed by reception and dinner.
Sunday, Nov 14, 2004
We departed by coach to Schonbrunn Palace
Schoenberg Palace was built to resemble Versailles. There were 1,441 rooms. Leopold had it built for his son. Maria Theresa started using it as a summer home in l741. What a place. We returned to the hotel and had a pizza with Chris and Andy. Then, we went to Bratslava over the Danube.
In the afternoon we visited Bratislava, capital of Slovakia and took a tour of the Old Town, then back to the Hotel Imperial. We went to Hotel Sacher for a site inspection followed by dinner.
Monday, Nov 15, 2004
We are now riding the train for 4 hours from Vienna to Prague. We have our box lunches furnished by the hotel. Train sits 3 across in small cubicles. Some were hot, but we were able to spread out. Ours was fine. Drinks were ordered and served. Passports were checked and stamped. Not much English spoken by service people on train. Lado got our tickets as a group, but we received a little voucher which said he had our group tickets, so we showed it to the conductor.
We arrived into Prague and met our guide for bus to hotel drop-off of carry-ons. His name Vladimir Davidovic (vladavic@volny.cz).
We walked to the old square to see the Jewish Museum Graveyard and the Old/New part of the complex. This area was preserved during the German occupation in order to show in the future a race which disappeared. We saw beautiful shops and artists around the square. We saw the clock 70 million dollar, 8 year project to complete. It is so beautiful, modern and sleek. Shortly after they opened, the hotel was flooded
We were received into the Presidential Suite at the Four Seasons Hotel with hors d’oeuvres and wine by many of the hotel staff, then to a fabulous dinner with beautiful red brocade tabletops on rounds of 8 at each table with flowers, place cards, etc. Appetizers, shrimp, salmon, dessert and then other little desserts (a common practice we discovered.)
Tuesday, Nov 16, 2004
We walked today after being dropped by the bus at the top of the hill to the Loreto Church . Dennis and I got lost from our group so we walked along the road down the hill, bought garnet errings and an amber ring in small shops there. We caught a cab to the Prague Castle and to hook up at the Lions Court Restaurant, which we remembered from our early morning conversation. The cab driver didn’t understand ‘Lion’s Court”, so we stopped 3 businessmen, asked them to write out the name for us and then we showed the little piece of paper to the cabdriver and he took us right there. They wrote LVI DVOR. That worked. We waited for our group and when they arrived, they were very happy we found our way. Not nearly as happy as we. The Castle was magnificent. We took a cab back to our hotel and the group walked, but we knew how far it was. It was rainy so we walked about the historic square, bought a mug and black beads, then home to our Four Seasons Hotel.
We took a sight inspection of the Imperial Hotel Palace Praha , a Leading Hotel of the World. This is a lovely hotel which has hosted President Bush and Michael Jackson. We had yet another lovely dinner with wines, ham appetizers with horseradish and duck for dinner. We had duck, soup and torte for lunch at Lions Court, so duck twice in one day was just ducky.
Wednesday, Nov 17, 2004
Today we walked to the National Theatre and had a private tour of the Estates Theatre by the former Symphony Conductor, a delightful gentleman who told us it was good that we couldn’t read checz because there were doors which said, “admittance forbidden” and therefore we could go in, but since we couldn’t read, we could enter. . Also, we could take pix though there were signs which said we couldn’t because his eyesight was poor and he couldn’t see us taking pictures. As he told us the history of the National Theatre where Mozart played, he would stop and play a piece for us on the piano. Then, we toured the backstage area and took a coffee break in the Actors’ lounge. Then, we went to the back of the theatre in the lobby area and were entertained by an ensemble of 5 musicians on the balcony who played music for us. This was yet another, behind the scenes A & K experience for us. We walked around Wenceslas Square.
We walked from there to the Municipal Building for a look and had a coffee in the café. It was a beautiful Baroque Building. Troya Chateau ride in our bus to summer place with wonderful frescos.
Today before lunch we took a hotel tour of Hotel Carlo !V. Lovely hotel about 4 blocks from the historic center. This former post office was restored with modern rooms and beautiful lobby. Standard rooms are VERY small. Deluxe is larger. Jr. Suites are best. The Presidential Suite was quite large, but austere. Back to our hotel to rest. I had a massage at 5:30. We had dinner at the Belvedere Restaurant, chicken or salmon, excellent but not as nice as our hotel fare had been everywhere we went.
Up early to leave but first breakfast, always a treat.. Excellent food. Upstairs to pack. We took a long walk over St. Charles bridge, then back for a little lunch. Appetizers from the chef, then Ceasar Salad with shrimp, lovely breads and small cookies for dessert.
Then we left in private transport for the airport. Lado was on our plane to Paris where we missed our connection and were re-booked an hour later into Nice. We had a Hertz Rental waiting for us in Nice with a GPS we nicknamed “the witch.”
We stayed at the Negresco for that overnight (it was late arriving), and then an additional night in Nice, visiting the market and enjoyed a walk through old town..
Laddo suggested some sites for us near Nice, like the Saturday Market, Sunday, Cannes/Antibes/ Monaco preferably. St. Jean Cap Ferrat (Villa Eyburise de Rothchild)
St. Paul de Vance Matisse Chapel
Tourettes Sur Loup, very pretty medieval village
I was told by Will to contact Joanna Heathcoat in Paris with HJ Marketing for small boutique hotel collection. Will Herriage was hooking up with her for a tour in Paris after the A & K trip. I was told to try the Negresco Hotel in Nice or the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo or the Hermitage in Monte Carlo.
Foundation Meight for modern art
Grasse for perfume
Summary of contacts made in Budapest, Prague and Vienna
Lions Court was the name of the restaurant near the Castle in Prague
Hotel Sacher in Vienna was hosted by Roko Palmic, Director of Sales, rpalmic@sacher.com
Prague Guide was Vladimir Davidovic, vladavid@valny.cz
Budapest Guide was Rita Verzar rita@startadsl.hu
Budapest Limo budapest@limohungary.com
Alan Weiss CTC from Palo Alto 650 327 3711 alan.b.weiss@aexp.com
Bernice Winschuhm bernicew@scullytravel.net
Bernice@skullytravel.net 973 263 0500
Chocolate Shop in Budapest Gerbaud Haz
Hilton Budapest, hiltonhu@hungary.net Hajnalka Hegedus hajni.hegedus@hilton.com
Anthony Bay abay@europe.abercrombiekent.com
Christine Chrystal, MCC chris@bungey.com 605 473 8516
Ujhelyi Eszter, Budapest Artist with scarves ujhelyi.artstudio@chello.hu Lado chicken@wanado.fr A&K guide for whole trip
hajni.hegedus@hilton.com Hajnalka Hegedus was our Hilton Hotel host
Vladimir Davidovic (vladavic@volny.cz) our Prague tour director VIP Service
Christine Chrysta, chris@bungey.com
Hotel Imperial in Vienna Melanie weidinger Melanie. weidinger@starwoodhotels.com
Allegro Restaurant at Four Seasons Hotel Prague 420 221 426 880
Lyn Fox lfox@abercrombiekent.com 800 323 7308
Amy Spence
3733 Stanford Avenue
Dallas, TX 75225
214-368-3877-h
214-532-7635-c
214-361-0027-work
Strong Travel Services
8214 Westchester Drive
Suite 670
Dallas TX 75225
Alan Weiss CTC
Certified Travel Consultant
American Express Travel Services
250 University Avenue
Palo Alto CA 94301
Phone 650-327-3711x81210
800-766-0804x81210
Fax 650-327-0354
Home information:
121 E. Santa Inez Avenue
San Mateo CA 94401
Phone 650-347-9661
Cell phone: 650-867-2100
Email: baweiss at pacbell.net
Dr. Patty Calvert
3323 Windermere Lane
Memphis, TN 38125
901 748 2966
pattyc3224 at aol.com
fax 90l 748 2967
Hello to you and Dennis. I wish I had bought more Christmas gifts on our trip instead of fighting the crowds at the malls in Dallas.
Larry and Patsy Martin (home address
11 Cavendish Court
Dallas, TX 75225
Phone 214-363-6756
email lmartin58 at sbcglobal.net
Patsy Martin
Strong Travel Services
8214 Westchester Drive, Suite 670
Dallas, TX 75225
214-361-0027
email patsy at strongtravel.com
Chris and Andy Chrystal
622 Bainbridge Street
Foster City, CA 94440
650-341-4917 Home
650-473-8516 Chris work
chris at bungey.com work
christine5777 at sbcglobal.net home
Sara Benchoff
3883 Turtle Creek Blvd. #1110
Dallas, Tx 75219214-219-1667
sara_benchoff at hotmail.com
Peggy Miller
ACCHouse of Travel InternationalA Virtuoso Agency
310 Happ Road, Suite 216Northfield IL 60093
tel:847 784-5140tel:888 308-7426fax: 847 441-7479
off: peggy at hoti.com
home:peggyzm51@hotmail.com
.
To Budapest, Vienna and Prague
(and a 9 day trip for Dennis and Patty to Provence)
Our tiny receipt from Cagnes Sur Mer, France says, “Merci, a bientot. McDonald’s Cagnes Sur Mer.” Yes, we did eat a Big Mac in Provence….and McDonalds always has toilettes, a rarity in most villages. Of course, you can buy a hot chocolate or tea to pay your way into the facilities… but McDonald’s French fries are yummy and their little “Thank you, have a good day.” sounds so much nicer in French.
Well, what a trip! We were guests of Abercrombie and Kent, the Premier International Tour Company on a tour of Budapest, Prague and Vienna to experience for ourselves what clients/friends/family will experience with them such as Four Seasons/Imperial Palace quality hotels, luxurious large motor coach, first class rail service, traveling bellboy service (so you never schlep your bags). We had a wonderful concierge/tour leader in Lado Ciechanowski, who accompanied us on our entire trip. He is just like the proverbial mother, caring for everyone so efficiently and professionally and with a quirky sense of humor as well. He is from Normandy now, but doesn’t claim a specific country as ‘home”. Multi-lingual, he was extremely knowledgeable and helpful. On the Crystal Cruises we frequent, it is said that guests sometimes hire the butlers who serve them in the Penthouse Suites and take them home with them, yes, right off the ship…Well, Lado deserves a placement in that category. Lyn Fox from the A & K Oakbrook Office accompanied us as well, and gave us information we needed for helping clients who would like this experience and encouragement to ask for assistance from A & K to plan for guests. What’s not to like?
When the tour ended in Prague, Dennis and I flew to Nice, France, rented a new Volvo with a GPS system to spend 9 days on our own in Provence. We made unbelievable “finds” and even rested up from the 9-day A & K portion of the trip.
So, if you like to read details, stay tuned. If you don’t, that’s ok, just know that our trip was truly “the trip of a lifetime.” And, I would love to help you have the same experience when you are ready!
Details
Well, because we don’t like cramped seats when flying, we found Business Class Air at a special price RT Nice, France. Then, I booked Air France from the open-jaw ticket from Nice to Budapest, returning from Prague to Nice, then home again. We decided to fly a day early, stay overnight in Nice near the airport, then fly to Budapest to meet up with our invitation-only A & K Tour on Wednesday, November 10, 2004.
Wednesday, Nov 10
We were met and greeted by our driver from Limousine Service Hungary, Budapest@limohungary.com in an S Class Mercedes who delivered us to the Inter-Continental Budapest. We met Lado (chicken@wanado.fr) who told us lunch was waiting (about 1:pm) for us in the Corso Restaurant, a lovely buffet with wide choices, always lovely cheeses, desserts, salads, soups, Asian cuisine, or traditional Hungarian Eastern Europe fare. This is the custom, to provide guests with local cuisine, although duck 4 times on our trip was a funny little, not-planned, overkill (no pun intended.)
Everyone gathered in the reception area to tour the hotel accommodations and then to take a walking tour of Pest including refreshments at Gerbeaud’s famous coffee and chocolate house. We nicknamed it “Gerbils”, so we could remember the name. So we walked the pedestrian main street, down to the architecturally beautiful Fresh Market with domed glass ceiling. It was lovely, clean and well stocked. Upstairs are the linens which are hand embroidered by Hungarian women who also make crocheted pieces. It was a little frustrating to walk quickly through the market and not have time to shop, but as Dennis always says, “There will be more.” When we left the market, we rode the streetcar back to our hotel. Lado had our tickets and us on the streetcar before I could really figure out how he did it…
We went back to our hotel for a little rest (always short ones), then to the Kempinski Hotel for dinner. One the mezzanine level of this gorgeous hotel, there was chamber music with champagne service to celebrate a monthly ART OPENING. This is a community affair, by invitation, to meet the artist chosen for the month. It was elegant and we listened close by and could figure out who the young woman artist was and we could see her art displayed. She is a silk and textile artist who hand dies silk wall hangings and scarves. She, Ujhelyi Eszter, has the contract for the “scarf of the month” for a year for Kempinski, so her hand-colored scarves, which are commissioned, will have the Kempinski logo on them. That must be so nice for her to have that contract. And, her work was beautiful. More about this…
Our dinner was supurb and the conversation lively, as all of us were just getting acquainted. There were 22 total in our group including Lado and Lyn (A&K). The agents in the group were from other Premier, High Producing Virtuoso Agencies and AM EX Agencies all over the US. Some had spouses, some were singles, some had friends accompany them. They told us by the end of the trip, we would be best friends and that proved to be an added blessing. At dinner this first night we met Christine and Andy Chrystal from San Jose and Mary Myers from Knoxville, who was by herself on the trip.
Crystal gave me some insider tips. It is so nice to hear what these top agents have experienced. I also got wonderful ideas about finding the best airfares possible for any destination. I’ll be trying those tips for clients.
After dinner, Mary and I went upstairs to the Mezannine, met the artist, Ujhelyi Eszter, textile designer (ujhelyi.artsstudio@chello.hu)and bought several of her beautiful scarves. Ask and I’ll show them to you.
The Inter-Continental had a little business center where an Internet Card can be purchased for about $9.00 and it can be used in the business center or in the Internet Bar. I checked e-mails…
Nice touch by A&K: Postcards to send home with local stamps already attached were in our folders.
Thursday, Nov 11
Rita Verzar rita@startadsl.hu was our guide and Jasper was our driver. We were taken to the Villa Barto where George Oravetz played for us a private little chamber concert, some Mozart and some Hungarian music. This former home of Barto, a famous musician who captured Hungarian folk music, recorded it and wrote it and his home is now a museum. He led a rather isolated life and worked tirelessly to capture the music of older Hungarian people. This was one of the “insider events” A & K always includes for guests. A treat to see how Barto lived.
Buda is the residential side of the Blue Danube and Pest, the flatter side is where most governmental buildings are found. Our room at the Inter-Continental overlooked the River and we could see the Palace illuminating the who Buda side of the river at night. It was a spectacular site. Our room was small but elegant and well furnished.
Bronze Orion sits in front of the of the National Museum. We drove through the city and highlights and history were explained to us. We saw the embassies of countries from around the world. We saw Heros Square where there is ice skating many months in the winter. We stopped to see the Jewish Temple and sculpture of the fallen Jewish people, a sprawling tree with little tiny leaves engraved with names of the lost.
We stopped at the Hilton for lunch and had a tour of the hotel, we saw the old walls of the city, and I did manage to buy a little hand embroidered cloth from a lady on the street. Our host was Hajnalka Hegedus, group and conference sales executive hajni.hegedus@hilton.com at the Hilton. In the afternoon we took a walking tour of Buda to view the Royal Palace, visit the Matthias Church and Fishermen’s Bastion before departing to the nearby Bela Bartok House.
We had a meeting with Anthony Bay, the A & K Marketing and Sales Manager from Europe and he encouraged us to know avenues for making clients trips glorious. Cindy Hollowell is our Memphis rep. We had 22 people on a 40 passenger bus, so we could spread out and visit, too. Anthony told us that A & K has a new partner Intrawest which includes Whistler properties and that has given a big financial boost to the company. Jeff remains in charge of A & K. A & K has 120 guardian angels (local guides) to accompany guests around the world.
A & K has tiered pricing, silver, gold and platinum. Hotels always book one below Jr. Suite, always full breakfasts and guardian angels for sightseeing. Platinum is ALL the best of everything. There are signature programs which are canned FITs with fixed itineraries for clients who don’t need FITs. The MS River Cloud is the best in Europe for river cruising with A & K. There are European Villas contracted with A &K. A & K will open an office in Florence.
Petra is the head concierge at the 4 Seasons/Budapest. She hosted a tour for us and an elegant dinner. The hotel was gorgeous. Hearts were in the joining of the marble on the floors, art deco chandeliers, beautiful ironwork, excellent location. Dinner was elegant with flowers, 3 wines, cantaloupe and sherbet with a delicious sauce. Halibut was perfectly grilled with a light crust.
Friday, Nov 12
We went to St. Andrew for shopping and bought an antique art nouveau tray for Carl and Trish for Christmas and amber shops and Herend Factory shop. St. Andrews is an island of 5 communities, a ferry boat town. Isabel is a lovely little town. The primate (not a monkey) of Hungary lives here. We visited Pannanhalma Abbey, a boys school and visited the library, a private one, to see their huge ancient collection of manuscripts and books.
We saw the River Cloud and Marjorie 1 and 2. The Rousalette river boat holds only 6 people. We were told about a film Mondo Vino to see.
We arrived at our hotel, the Hotel Imperial in Vienna about 5:30. We made a site inspection and had a lovely dinner in the hotel’s Marble Hall. Our room was so large, when we turned on the weather channel, music from Vienna filled our room, so we danced. The room was unbelievably large and comfortable and elegant.
Saturday, November 13
In Vienna we tourned the Ring Road seeing the sights and we visited the museum where Gustov Klempt’s art noveau paintings were displayed. His famous “Kiss” was displayed commercially in every form, scarves, notebooks, postcards, etc. In the Third Man, a movie, the ferris wheel in Vienna is filmed. Viking River Cruise was docked. Joanne Strauss was paid $100,000 to come to America after money was transferred to Austria. He was smart, good looking. He had women after him, so he bought a Newfoundland dog to send locks of hair to his admirers. We toured the Briston Hotel and then had a few hours for independent walking. In the afternoon we walked to Helene Runtscheiner’s apartment for tea served by men in white coats. This was another little insider view provided by A & K, and Helene was a gracious lady whose family had owned her building for 4 generations. During the occupation, the family was relegated to the attic, but now it is the family home again.
We returned to rest for an hour, then we Walked to the Grand Hotel Wien for a site inspection followed by reception and dinner.
Sunday, Nov 14, 2004
We departed by coach to Schonbrunn Palace
Schoenberg Palace was built to resemble Versailles. There were 1,441 rooms. Leopold had it built for his son. Maria Theresa started using it as a summer home in l741. What a place. We returned to the hotel and had a pizza with Chris and Andy. Then, we went to Bratslava over the Danube.
In the afternoon we visited Bratislava, capital of Slovakia and took a tour of the Old Town, then back to the Hotel Imperial. We went to Hotel Sacher for a site inspection followed by dinner.
Monday, Nov 15, 2004
We are now riding the train for 4 hours from Vienna to Prague. We have our box lunches furnished by the hotel. Train sits 3 across in small cubicles. Some were hot, but we were able to spread out. Ours was fine. Drinks were ordered and served. Passports were checked and stamped. Not much English spoken by service people on train. Lado got our tickets as a group, but we received a little voucher which said he had our group tickets, so we showed it to the conductor.
We arrived into Prague and met our guide for bus to hotel drop-off of carry-ons. His name Vladimir Davidovic (vladavic@volny.cz).
We walked to the old square to see the Jewish Museum Graveyard and the Old/New part of the complex. This area was preserved during the German occupation in order to show in the future a race which disappeared. We saw beautiful shops and artists around the square. We saw the clock 70 million dollar, 8 year project to complete. It is so beautiful, modern and sleek. Shortly after they opened, the hotel was flooded
We were received into the Presidential Suite at the Four Seasons Hotel with hors d’oeuvres and wine by many of the hotel staff, then to a fabulous dinner with beautiful red brocade tabletops on rounds of 8 at each table with flowers, place cards, etc. Appetizers, shrimp, salmon, dessert and then other little desserts (a common practice we discovered.)
Tuesday, Nov 16, 2004
We walked today after being dropped by the bus at the top of the hill to the Loreto Church . Dennis and I got lost from our group so we walked along the road down the hill, bought garnet errings and an amber ring in small shops there. We caught a cab to the Prague Castle and to hook up at the Lions Court Restaurant, which we remembered from our early morning conversation. The cab driver didn’t understand ‘Lion’s Court”, so we stopped 3 businessmen, asked them to write out the name for us and then we showed the little piece of paper to the cabdriver and he took us right there. They wrote LVI DVOR. That worked. We waited for our group and when they arrived, they were very happy we found our way. Not nearly as happy as we. The Castle was magnificent. We took a cab back to our hotel and the group walked, but we knew how far it was. It was rainy so we walked about the historic square, bought a mug and black beads, then home to our Four Seasons Hotel.
We took a sight inspection of the Imperial Hotel Palace Praha , a Leading Hotel of the World. This is a lovely hotel which has hosted President Bush and Michael Jackson. We had yet another lovely dinner with wines, ham appetizers with horseradish and duck for dinner. We had duck, soup and torte for lunch at Lions Court, so duck twice in one day was just ducky.
Wednesday, Nov 17, 2004
Today we walked to the National Theatre and had a private tour of the Estates Theatre by the former Symphony Conductor, a delightful gentleman who told us it was good that we couldn’t read checz because there were doors which said, “admittance forbidden” and therefore we could go in, but since we couldn’t read, we could enter. . Also, we could take pix though there were signs which said we couldn’t because his eyesight was poor and he couldn’t see us taking pictures. As he told us the history of the National Theatre where Mozart played, he would stop and play a piece for us on the piano. Then, we toured the backstage area and took a coffee break in the Actors’ lounge. Then, we went to the back of the theatre in the lobby area and were entertained by an ensemble of 5 musicians on the balcony who played music for us. This was yet another, behind the scenes A & K experience for us. We walked around Wenceslas Square.
We walked from there to the Municipal Building for a look and had a coffee in the café. It was a beautiful Baroque Building. Troya Chateau ride in our bus to summer place with wonderful frescos.
Today before lunch we took a hotel tour of Hotel Carlo !V. Lovely hotel about 4 blocks from the historic center. This former post office was restored with modern rooms and beautiful lobby. Standard rooms are VERY small. Deluxe is larger. Jr. Suites are best. The Presidential Suite was quite large, but austere. Back to our hotel to rest. I had a massage at 5:30. We had dinner at the Belvedere Restaurant, chicken or salmon, excellent but not as nice as our hotel fare had been everywhere we went.
Up early to leave but first breakfast, always a treat.. Excellent food. Upstairs to pack. We took a long walk over St. Charles bridge, then back for a little lunch. Appetizers from the chef, then Ceasar Salad with shrimp, lovely breads and small cookies for dessert.
Then we left in private transport for the airport. Lado was on our plane to Paris where we missed our connection and were re-booked an hour later into Nice. We had a Hertz Rental waiting for us in Nice with a GPS we nicknamed “the witch.”
We stayed at the Negresco for that overnight (it was late arriving), and then an additional night in Nice, visiting the market and enjoyed a walk through old town..
Laddo suggested some sites for us near Nice, like the Saturday Market, Sunday, Cannes/Antibes/ Monaco preferably. St. Jean Cap Ferrat (Villa Eyburise de Rothchild)
St. Paul de Vance Matisse Chapel
Tourettes Sur Loup, very pretty medieval village
I was told by Will to contact Joanna Heathcoat in Paris with HJ Marketing for small boutique hotel collection. Will Herriage was hooking up with her for a tour in Paris after the A & K trip. I was told to try the Negresco Hotel in Nice or the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo or the Hermitage in Monte Carlo.
Foundation Meight for modern art
Grasse for perfume
Summary of contacts made in Budapest, Prague and Vienna
Lions Court was the name of the restaurant near the Castle in Prague
Hotel Sacher in Vienna was hosted by Roko Palmic, Director of Sales, rpalmic@sacher.com
Prague Guide was Vladimir Davidovic, vladavid@valny.cz
Budapest Guide was Rita Verzar rita@startadsl.hu
Budapest Limo budapest@limohungary.com
Alan Weiss CTC from Palo Alto 650 327 3711 alan.b.weiss@aexp.com
Bernice Winschuhm bernicew@scullytravel.net
Bernice@skullytravel.net 973 263 0500
Chocolate Shop in Budapest Gerbaud Haz
Hilton Budapest, hiltonhu@hungary.net Hajnalka Hegedus hajni.hegedus@hilton.com
Anthony Bay abay@europe.abercrombiekent.com
Christine Chrystal, MCC chris@bungey.com 605 473 8516
Ujhelyi Eszter, Budapest Artist with scarves ujhelyi.artstudio@chello.hu Lado chicken@wanado.fr A&K guide for whole trip
hajni.hegedus@hilton.com Hajnalka Hegedus was our Hilton Hotel host
Vladimir Davidovic (vladavic@volny.cz) our Prague tour director VIP Service
Christine Chrysta, chris@bungey.com
Hotel Imperial in Vienna Melanie weidinger Melanie. weidinger@starwoodhotels.com
Allegro Restaurant at Four Seasons Hotel Prague 420 221 426 880
Lyn Fox lfox@abercrombiekent.com 800 323 7308
Amy Spence
3733 Stanford Avenue
Dallas, TX 75225
214-368-3877-h
214-532-7635-c
214-361-0027-work
Strong Travel Services
8214 Westchester Drive
Suite 670
Dallas TX 75225
Alan Weiss CTC
Certified Travel Consultant
American Express Travel Services
250 University Avenue
Palo Alto CA 94301
Phone 650-327-3711x81210
800-766-0804x81210
Fax 650-327-0354
Home information:
121 E. Santa Inez Avenue
San Mateo CA 94401
Phone 650-347-9661
Cell phone: 650-867-2100
Email: baweiss at pacbell.net
Dr. Patty Calvert
3323 Windermere Lane
Memphis, TN 38125
901 748 2966
pattyc3224 at aol.com
fax 90l 748 2967
Hello to you and Dennis. I wish I had bought more Christmas gifts on our trip instead of fighting the crowds at the malls in Dallas.
Larry and Patsy Martin (home address
11 Cavendish Court
Dallas, TX 75225
Phone 214-363-6756
email lmartin58 at sbcglobal.net
Patsy Martin
Strong Travel Services
8214 Westchester Drive, Suite 670
Dallas, TX 75225
214-361-0027
email patsy at strongtravel.com
Chris and Andy Chrystal
622 Bainbridge Street
Foster City, CA 94440
650-341-4917 Home
650-473-8516 Chris work
chris at bungey.com work
christine5777 at sbcglobal.net home
Sara Benchoff
3883 Turtle Creek Blvd. #1110
Dallas, Tx 75219214-219-1667
sara_benchoff at hotmail.com
Peggy Miller
ACCHouse of Travel InternationalA Virtuoso Agency
310 Happ Road, Suite 216Northfield IL 60093
tel:847 784-5140tel:888 308-7426fax: 847 441-7479
off: peggy at hoti.com
home:peggyzm51@hotmail.com
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