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From: greg@olivee.UUCP (Greg Paley)
Newsgroups: net.travel,net.kids
Subject: Suggestions wanted - Europe with kids
Message-ID: <491@olivee.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 27-Sep-85 18:46:49 EDT
Article-I.D.: olivee.491
Posted: Fri Sep 27 18:46:49 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 29-Sep-85 06:50:44 EDT
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Xref: watmath net.travel:1793 net.kids:2107

We are planning (fairly leisurely) a trip to Europe with our
kids, probably for summer of 1987 (they'll be 4 and 6).  We
are planning to fly, via London, to Gothenburg, Sweden where
we'll pick up a car.  From there we plan to drive to Copenhagen,
Odense, through Germany (stay with friends near Munich), onto
Vienna, back to Munich, and then to Paris, Calais, ferry to
Dover, and then drop off the car in London to have it shipped
back, before flying back from there to San Francisco.  We plan
to take 6-7 weeks altogether.

We have Leila Hadley's "Fieldings Guide To Europe with Children"
but would be interested in other suggestions for "must see"
sights and hotels/inns/private homes that are comfortable for
families.  We know Southern Germany (the Rhine area and on
down) fairly well, and will be able to stay with friends for part 
of our time there.  However, we've never been to Sweden, Denmark,
or Germany north of Hannover.  We've been to Vienna, but only
briefly and weren't too happy with our accommodations there.  
As for Paris, we've heard good things about the Hotel Place des
Vogues, but would like other suggestions.  Same applies to London.

This is, therefore, actually a request for all kinds of info, and
I'd be very grateful for any pieces of info someone might have.
I speak fluent German and fairly good French, so for the areas of 
northern Germany (maybe someplace near, if not in, Hamburg) 
Vienna, France between Strasbourg and Paris and Paris itself,
we'd like to know about comfortable hotels even if no English 
is spoken there.  To us, comfortable means that we'd like 
our own bath or shower and WC, and that the people be friendly 
and open to having children stay there.
I've heard that private homes are a good bet in Copenhagen - any
experiences someone wants to share?  We were thinking of hanging
around Gothenburg, Sweden for only a day or so (to recover a bit
from jet lag before driving off) and then heading on down the
southwest coast and ferrying (from Helsingor) to Denmark.  Is
it reasonable to try to drive Gothenburg -> Copenhagen in one
day with kids, or are we better to count on stopping off (maybe
someplace like Bastad)?  Right now, these are names and routes
on maps to us, rather than real places and highways.

Plans we have, based on areas we know, for Germany include trying
to get a reservation at "Auf Schoenburg" in Oberwesel (on the
Rhine, beween Koblenz and Wiesbaden), staying a couple of nights
in Rothenburg ob der Taube before going to our friends' house
just South of Munich.  From there, we plan day-excursions to
Ludwig's various castles and to the Zugspitze, near Garmisch-
Partenkirchen.  We'll probably stop overnight in Salzburg on our
way to Vienna, and someplace in upper Styria on our way back.  These
plans are all very loose now, and we'll gladly modify them if someone
knows of a particularly worthwhile place to stay or see in or around
any of these areas.

By the same token, I'd also be grateful for places people would
advise that we AVOID.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions, criticisms or comments.


	- Greg Paley