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Christmas Market in Prague

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John Anthony Ross
Member
Username: Rossjar

Post Number: 22
Registered: 10-2007
Posted From: 12.156.128.131
Posted on Wednesday, December 30, 2009 - 12:11 pm:   

I have always got great rates for hotel rooms in Prague using Hotel.com. Last year at Christmas I stayed 8 nights for about 450USD. I was at the Best Western very close to the main square. You cannot understate the beauty of the Christmas markets in Wensenslas Square and old town. I also watched a childrens chior sing in old town. A great chrtistmas memory!
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James E. Kale
Advanced Member
Username: Jimiam

Post Number: 155
Registered: 09-2006
Posted From: 71.191.18.193
Posted on Saturday, December 19, 2009 - 05:54 pm:   

JEB, you have it right. I was being tactful about the office staff. When we were there and trying to extend, the woman seemed distinctly more interested in private phone calls than public service. Finally got help at the check-in desk after the central res office closed.
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JEB
Senior Member
Username: Wingrider

Post Number: 440
Registered: 12-2003
Posted From: 208.63.163.252
Posted on Saturday, December 19, 2009 - 02:52 pm:   

I also went thru the extended phone "hold" for reservations while there last month. I stayed on the phone for well over an hour, working down from position 16, finally to me. Fortunately I was on a DSN phone at Edelweiss.

When I finally got back to the new hotel I think I figured out why. The small office on the left as you enter the front door is the reservations office. There were only 2 workers there answering the phone and talking to "walkins" at the same time. Then there was the usual BS sessions with each other, lunch and coffee breaks, etc, resulting in only 1 in that office answering phones most of the time. I went into that office a couple of times while there to inquire about reservations and there just didn't seem to be a feeling of "urgency" about them. Until they get some more help I think those long phone waits are going to be the norm.

Great report, sure wish we had ventured on to Prague, guess we'll save that for the next trip.

THANKS for taking the time to share it with all of us.
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Jan
Advanced Member
Username: Seychelle

Post Number: 305
Registered: 07-2006
Posted From: 70.137.25.218
Posted on Saturday, December 19, 2009 - 02:48 pm:   

Loved your report. May try and retrace some of your trip next year.

And the $200 trip to Andrews makes sense. In the end, you got a round trip to Germany for $100 apiece!!
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James E. Kale
Advanced Member
Username: Jimiam

Post Number: 154
Registered: 09-2006
Posted From: 71.191.18.193
Posted on Saturday, December 19, 2009 - 11:47 am:   

John D., it was an unusal situation with a second pop-up flight in addition to the regular one from Jackson. There were only about a dozen pax in the terminal. We all got on the pop-up with the fancy seats. We had called Jackson earlier and were told that the flight left with plenty of seats.
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D.B.M UK
Senior Member
Username: Overlandrover

Post Number: 5441
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 88.108.91.198
Posted on Saturday, December 19, 2009 - 11:32 am:   

James good report. Glad everything worked okay. Know what you mean about Ramstein not answering your e-mail about rooms. I am still waiting after a month.
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John R Garrison
Senior Member
Username: Majorg

Post Number: 2214
Registered: 02-2006
Posted From: 79.206.26.37
Posted on Saturday, December 19, 2009 - 10:34 am:   

James:

Excellent report! Thanks for writing it up and sharing it with us.

Happy Travels, John
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John D.
Moderator
Username: John_d

Post Number: 3678
Registered: 06-2003
Posted From: 86.42.129.81
Posted on Saturday, December 19, 2009 - 09:13 am:   

James,

Anyfurther details on the Monday C17 to Ramstein? Were there loads of seats? Any other Space-A folks? How many boarded at Andres? Was this the enroute one from Jackson? If so, any pax from Jackson?

By the way, $65 (~40 euros) for a 4-star hotel in Prague for two people is awesome - that's only 20 Euro each! One can hardly get a B&B for that price anywhere!
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James E. Kale
Advanced Member
Username: Jimiam

Post Number: 153
Registered: 09-2006
Posted From: 71.191.18.193
Posted on Saturday, December 19, 2009 - 08:00 am:   

On the evening of Nov. 23, we headed to Andrews for the regular Monday C17 to Ramstein. Our strategy was to avoid the post-Thanksgiving rush. Luck was with us, and there were two flights that night with plenty of seats. Within an hour of arriving at the terminal, we were on the plane which was all tricked out for some general, with pallets of seats. We flew in comfort and arrived mid-morning on Tuesday, walked over to the new Ramstein Inn and got a beautiful room for three days and were later able to extend for a fourth.

We headed out with no specific plans except an idea that we would like to go by train to Prague and, failing that, would probably go to the Christmas markets in Nurnberg and Stuttgart. A fellow SPAT suggested trying the on-base travel office, RTT, which now has offices in the Inn complex.

Although we’ve traveled to Ramstein many times, we’ve always rented a car and were new to German trains. They work a lot like airlines. You can pay all kinds of different fares, but the decent deals are mostly bookings three days in advance, including a Saturday night stay. If we had left the next day, we would have paid about 500E round-trip for two. By waiting until Saturday, we paid about 160E. The RTT agent was great at working out the options and got us a much better deal than we probably could have worked out on the Deutsche Bahn website. For more information on good deals on the train, see the recent trip report posted by Jan, “Christmas Markets in Europe.”

While waiting to leave, we rented a Smart car from AMCR with an office in the shopping mall attached to the new Inn. They were great folks to deal with. Sixt also has an office there, along with one other company, and Hertz is still in the area. We had a good time taking day trips, but looking back a better plan might have been to spend the time by renting one-way from Hertz (you can drop off Hertz cars to any Hertz office in Germany with no fee) to someplace new to us, possibly Nurnberg, begin our train trip on Saturday from there, and return on the train all the way back to Landstuhl.

The train trip was an adventure, involving multiple changes, then an express bus operated by Deutsche Bahn (included in the ticket price) from Nurnberg to the main train station in Prague. We were nervous about the changes with only minutes between trains, but they proved to be easy. The trains were enjoyable all the way, but the bus was even better. It was a luxurious bus that made no stops but had a bathroom and snacks on board.

We had booked the Hotel Sonata in Prague. It is heavily promoted on Hotels.com and rated as four stars. It was a jewel, located a block off Wenceslas Square and just up the street from the National Museum. We inquired at the train station and were told it was only about 500 meters. It would have been, except we managed to turn it into an hour’s trudge in the dark by taking every wrong turn there is to take. We finally found it by digging Penny, our GPS, out of the suitcase. Should have thought of that in the first place. Back to the hotel - a large room by European standards with a gleaming bath, nice staff at the desk, and a good full buffet breakfast for $65 a night. When you factor in the breakfast, it only ran about $15 more than an Air Force Inn. It is also within a block of two metro stations and the trolley which takes you to the castle, although, with the exception of the castle, everything was within an easy stroll. There is an internet café nearby, as well as KFC, with free wifi.

This time of the year, the days are short, but Prague was all dressed up for Christmas. It was beautiful after dark. There were Christmas markets at the far end of Wenceslas Square as well as in the Old Town Square. Prices were more reasonable than in Germany. We bought a puppet, some wooden toys and decorations, and a gingerbread nativity. Another plus was that there were few tourists.

We’ll skip most of the sightseeing details, but it was all fun. We used Rick Steves, and Rick always takes good care of us. One thing to note is the castle. There are several ticket choices - long tour, short tour, and audioguides, and the price does add up very quickly. The woman at the ticket booth was doing a very hard sell, saying that you needed the audioguide because there were no explanations inside and that without the audioguide you would be required to wait an hour or more to get into the cathedral. Nonsense! In every room, there were written explanations in multiple languages. Some people did rent audioguides, but generally only one per couple. There were no lines anywhere. We opted for the short tour, not very short at all, without the guides. Later, we discovered there is a 50% senior reduction that was not posted. Ask for it.

A terrible mishap occurred in the Prague at the KFC. Jim lost his wallet which probably fell out of his coat when he was busy trying to get our little computer up on WiFi. He is one of these guys who never loses anything. In fact he was wearing the Navy Watch Cap he was issued in Jan, 1958. Upon return to Ramstein we went to the office at the gate. The German officials there were extremely helpful and courteous. They had to wait until 0900 to check with the base ID office to ensure we were in the data base. We had copies of the military ids and we had our passports, but that was not cutting it. There was a young wife who had also misplaced hers. She left, but came back in about 15 minutes. She apologized for not realizing we were walking and needed to be sponsored. She had to leave but would return. In about a half hour she came back, sponsored us onto the base, loaded us and baggage in the car with her two small children and drove us to the ID office. Military helping military - you just cannot compare that!! The ID office was full of folks. We filled out a form for a lost id and had a seat. Jim noticed on the form that a signature was required by some other office and then saw the same info on the TV. We were advised that the office was "on the corner across from the theater". We ended up in the Host Nation Office asking directions. They were very helpful and allowed us to leave our baggage there while we trucked down another four long blocks. We finally found the building. Inside, there was nothing visible except a bullet proof, no see through window. After a couple of minutes, a voice asked if the could help. We slid the forms under the glass. The person on the other side, signed the, stamped them and handed them back without every asking for passports or other id. We trucked back, picked up our luggage from the Host Nation Office and back to the id office. Once there, things went rather well. The line had moved along while we were gone. The young Air Force lady who helped us out and issued the replacement cards was very nice. She called a cab for us and came out to wait and ensure the cab would be there. All in all, not a bad experience, but Jim is still upset over losing the cards. Perhaps he should keep them in the band of the Navy Watch Cap!! BTW, there was no money or credit cards in the wallet. Just stuff.

Now for the annoyance with the Ramstein Inn. As retirees, we could only make reservations 24 hours in advance, and we made sure to call as soon as possible for a reservation for our return. We made multiple attempts. At one point, Jim spent an entire hour and exhausted a phone card on hold standing outdoors at a phone booth, trying to get through. All the while, he was being told he was in position 2. We also tried by email which never got a response at all. Not only was it frustrating not to be able to inquire about a reservation, it would not have been possible to cancel one. I don’t know if the staff is overwhelmed or what, but the system sure wasn’t working. Since we were arriving late, we folded the tent and booked a room at the Circle Inn in Ramstein village, near the base gate. It was quite nice with an excellent breakfast, but at $150 - ouch!!

Getting out the next day wasn’t completely smooth but not bad. We knew that it would be unlikely to get back into Andrews since the return flights are generally medevacs that don’t take passengers. Our first hope was for a noon flight to Dover. Cancelled that one. There was a late afternoon flight, also to Dover. We booked a room at Dover and waited. Roll call on time, got boarding passes, and were whisked right into the departure lounge. The first bad news was that the flight would stop in Gander, and probably be on the ground for three hours. The second bad news was that after being taken to the plane on the blue bus, we returned to the terminal. A hour or so later, we did that again. Then we were told that there was an indefinite delay, and we were released from the departure lounge. At that point, all of us who had booked rooms in Dover cancelled them, thinking that even if the flight went, we wouldn’t arrive before morning. Just as everyone was leaving to go find dinner, they called us back. Off we went.

The Gander stop was cancelled, and by midnight, we were in Dover - without rooms. We considered the options, and did something we’ve done before. We hired a car to drive us to Andrews where our car was. It was $200, but this was the math. A room on the outside would have run at least $70. A one-way car rental would have been about $100. Throw in a couple of meals, and you are at $200 anyway. By 3 a.m., we were in our own bed. Where to next?

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