The magazine Geo Saison, in its current October 2011 issue, ran an article featuring their choice of the 18 best country hotels in Germany.

These country hotels are spread out all over the Germany, reaching from the North Sea down to the Alps. One of them is located in the heart of Germany, namely Hotel Schloss Zeilitzheim in Northern Bavaria.

On of our visits to my hometown in Northern Bavaria, we had an overnight at Hotel Schloss Zeilitzheim.

Country Hotel Schloss Zeilitzheim

Quoting an excerpt from the Geo Saison article, written by Hannah Glaser:

Den jungen, gutgelaunten Hausherrn von Schloss Zeilitzheim treffen wir im Garten, auf den Knien beim Löwenzahn stechen (We found the young and good-humored castle owner in the garden, on his knees pulling weeds).

This, among other daily routines, contributes to a familiar atmosphere when staying at the hotel.

Country Hotel Schloss Zeilitzheim

Hotel Schloss Zeilitzheim ranked 7th on the Geo-Saison list (full list available on Presse-Portal).

For more information, visit Zeilitzheim Castle Hotel in Bavaria, Germany.

A simple reminder for travelers:

Always take a small magnet on your holiday, they come in handy at the end. Just in case, you never thought about key cards containing anything other than an access code for your room

Hotel Key Card

What is on your magnetic key card?

Answer:
a.  Customer’s name
b.  Customer’s partial home address
c.  Hotel room number
d..  Check-in date and out dates
e. Customer’s credit card number and expiration date!

When  you turn them in to the front desk, your personal information is there for any employee to access by simply scanning the card in the hotel scanner. An  employee can take a hand full of cards home and by using a scanning device,  he/she can access the information onto a laptop computer and go shopping at your  expense.

Simply put, hotels do not erase the information on these cards until an employee reissues the card to the next hotel guest. At that time, the new guest’s information is electronically ‘overwritten’ on the card and the previous guest’s information is erased in the overwriting  process.

But until the card is rewritten for the next guest, it usually is kept in a drawer at the front desk with YOUR INFORMATION ON IT.

The bottom line is: Keep the cards, take them home with you as a souvenir, or destroy them. Never leave them behind in the room or room wastebasket, and do not turn them into the front desk when you check out of a room. They will not charge you  for the card (it’s illegal) and you’ll be sure, you are not leaving a lot of valuable personal information on it that could be easily lifted off with any simple scanning device card reader.

For the same reason, if you arrive at the airport and discover you still have the card key in your pocket, do not toss it in an airport trash basket. Take it home and destroy it by cutting it up, especially through the electronic information strip.

If you have a small magnet, pass it across the magnetic strip several times. Then try it out on the door, it will not work. A magnet erases everything on the card.

Information courtesy of:  Metropolitan Police Service.

We spent another weekend in lovely Franconia. We saw family, visited with long-lost relatives, talked to neighbors. Everybody, but the sun, came out to greet us.

Franconian vineyards

Dark skies and winter coats dominated the landscape wherever we went. The Nordheimer Weinfest saw lots of heavy coated patrons sitting under the famous Kastanienallee (chestnut alley).

Nordheimer Weinfest May 2010

These German winefests are for young and old as their wine culture has no bounds in regards to age. We enjoyed Flammkuchen (Tarte Flambee), Steak Brötchen, Fischbrötchen (photo), and good wine.

How would you like to harvest grapes on that hill?

Visit a  Franconian castle, or the online beer guide to Bamberg and Franconia, as well as  Franconia – the heart of Germany.

There is a lot to see and do in Franconia. They love to eat and drink well, at very reasonable prices!

On Saturday afternoon, my family and I took one of those rare trips to Frankfurt. I say rare as we tend to go downtown Frankfurt only about two or three times a year.

The most unusual site this time was seeing the Palais Quartier being worked on. It is an impressive site even while under construction – I am sure it will be a real bonus to Frankfurt once it is finished. Some facts:

17.400 qm of downtown Frankfurt asphalt will create 226.000 qm of office, retail, hotel and open space. The city will be enriched by 1390 parking spaces as well.

The name Palais Quartier derives from the original Thurn-und-Taxis-Palais (built between 1729 and 1939). During WW2, this baroque castle was almost completely demolished. Due to lack of space, reconstruction of the former castle will only have four axes instead of its original five.

This gigantic construction will finish in February 2009 and visitors will get plenty of shopping and leisure opportunities on eight floors. Europe’s longest free-floating express-escalator will take visitors to new heights (ground to fourth floor to be exact) in just 120 seconds.

This new Palais Quartier was designed by Architekturbüro KSP Engel&Zimmermann und M fuksas ARCH.

Construction is estimated to run close to a billion Euros.

Advertisement with the Palais Quartier construction in the background

Walking around the block

Something old and something new – just across the street!

Downtown Frankfurt is a busy place on a Saturday afternoon and it is well worth visiting anytime. Nevertheless, we were happy to come home with heavy feet, a light wallet and a renewed appreciation for our quiet suburban life in Oberursel.