Concerto

I made my way out to Bolzano airport (BZO) with a local bus which dropped me in an unattractive suburb, from which I had to walk the last kilometer or so, down the airfield access road. On the way I joined some old men in a local café among the 1970s high rises, where I had a cappuccino, a chocolate brioche bun and two glasses of fruity white wine for just €4.40 (this sort of underlines what a total scam most of Italy is). I just made it to the tiny terminal of BZO airport before a heavy shower of rain from the thundery sky.


One single scheduled flight departing and arriving at Bolzano airport


The SkyAlps plane ready for departure to Kassel airport


My seat was 1A

Arriving in the terminal of tiny Bolzano airport BZO I realised that it is indeed possible for an airport to resemble paradise, although the policeman on duty at security respectfully disagreed with me! On the screen in the airport there was one single flight scheduled for departure, as well as one arrival later in the afternoon, and this was the flight I was about to take to Kassel airport in Germany. I was the only person at check-in and the the agent gave me the best seat on the plane, 1A. Even the waiting area after the easygoing security check was pleasant, with views of three SkyAlps planes waiting on the apron (although only one of them was going anywhere). Boarding was a calm affair and we walked out to the Q400 Dash 8 plane on the apron.


Lining up on the runway for the only scheduled departure today from Bolzano airport BZO


Crossing the Austrian Alps on our way north to Germany


Approaching Kassel Calden airport KSF

With only 26 passengers the plane wasn't exactly full and people were spread out with plenty of space. The flight attendant treated me like a business class passenger and although there wasn't a wine tasting on today's flight she offered me a local Bolzano beer, with the offer of another one later on in the flight. These were accompanied by the same local snacks as on the last flight, Tarulli cracker biscuits and Loacker chocolate wafers. The weather above the Südtirol and over the Tirol region of Austria was quite unsettled with a bit of turbulence during the climb. Later, as we approached the Kassel area there were views of the forested and agricultural landscape below. The only downside to the flight was an old man in the 3rd row who hobbled down the aisle no less than seven times to visit the toilet. While passing he explained in eloquent Italian what his problem was and what he was doing in there and then, presuming I didn't understand him, repeated the whole lot in eloquent German. We arrived somewhat ahead of schedule at a sunny and quiet Kassel Calden airport (KSF) and I had some time to wait for the bus into Kassel itself.

Rating 8.5*
Seat 16D - 1A
Aircraft DH4
Registration 8H-ALE


Inflight catering on the BZO-KSF flight with SkyAlps


Kassel airport KSF is also a bit of a paradise


Exterior of KSF Kassel airport

Fabo.sk

With such low utilization, one has to wonder about skyalps financials. I wonder if the planes were acquired cheaply after OS dumped them, with views of plentiful ACMI contracts which failed to materialize.

BobFF68

To be fair the best definition should be "most of the famous tourist spots in Italy are a scam" I would say that 95% of cafe bars in Italy sell cappuccino and brioche ('cornetto' if you go south the gothic line) at around 3 EUR, that is the standard/normalized price "al banco" (at the bar) in 2024, if you order "al tavolo" then cafe can apply any surcharge they want, in any case matching the price list that should be always visible at any place. While in an standard bar of your neighborhood or near your office will probably charge you just 50 cents extra al tavolo, at the popular Instagrammable spot they may charge you up to 15-20 EUR. And if you go south of Rome in general prices go down up to 50% regarding food with very few exceptions.

Concerto

Yes, that is a good and useful clarification. Usually you can get a good coffee and brioche around the 3 Euro mark when standing at the counter in northern Italy.

As for SkyAlps, they seem to be taking over a number of the routes between Germany and Austria operated by Air Dolomiti (for example, FRA-INN). I guess these are routes that don't make much money.

Fabo.sk

My understanding is that that's where Skyalps wanted to enter, but LH is not willing to wetlease them or even codeshare.

Concerto

I think that the €49 Deutschland Ticket is a flop. Despite going on last year about how the €9 Ticket was a serious miscalculation, it somehow carried a simplicity of use that was totally incongruous in a country like Germany. In addition, there were perhaps delays because of the sheer number of people on the move, but with the €9 Ticket there was nowhere near the same amount of cancelled trains, buses and trams that I have experienced this year. I have not made a single trip with this year's €49 Ticket that has not involved serious disruption due to unexpected cancellations. If they hope to encourage people to park their cars and use public transport, then this year's effort is a miserable failure. Personally, I have gone by car more times than with the train or bus just because I didn't want to face the hassle all the cancellations cause.


Kassel Wilhelmshöhe station


This is the Bruchhauser Steine, visible as we drove by bus through the Sauerland


Standard seating in German regional trains; the upholstery is very durable
​​​​​​
The most trying trip, which was an adventure in itself, was finding my way from Kassel Calden airport back to the Ruhrgebiet. It started badly at Kassel Wilhelmshöhe, with the regional train being 20 minutes late. Further down, the line was disrupted so connections were missed due to the delay. Getting out at Brilon Wald was like stepping into a wartime Ukrainian bombed train station, in a worse state than East German stations at the fall of the wall, with a strong reek of pee everywhere. Somehow, along with a small group of travellers of varying nations and linguistic abilities, we found a bus that was supposed to transport us to the next station. This was a trip of incredible beauty, through the countryside of rural Sauerland, passing the impressive Bruchhauser Steine and villages with endless timber framed houses. I really felt transported to the middle ages and it made me think, once again, how Johann Sebastian Bach walked all over Germany from appointment to appointment as organist in various churches. The bus rumbled along a surfaced road, but the alignment of that twisting road won't have changed since the time of Bach. The bus abruptly dumped us in a sleepy place called Olsberg, at the little station of Bigge. No train, no other buses. We were really stuck in rural Sauerland and I envisioned sleeping in that tiny station with what were now three companions: a Rheinmetall worker from Bremen, a young Vietnamese girl and a burly Turk, these latter two speaking little or no German. The various transport apps promised trains and buses that never showed up. Eventually a regional train came along and we set off at a glacial pace for Dortmund. I finally made it back to Oberhausen at a late hour.


This is Osnabrück train station which I found to be quite attractive


And this is Duisburg main station


Duisburg station needs a lot of renovation work - it is, literally, falling to pieces

The adventure was tiring, certainly, but somehow fun. My other outings with the €49 Ticket were for hiking trips in the Ruhrgebiet (Ruhr region) and Niederrhein regions and were also plagued with missed connections due to unannounced cancellations. It took a long time, but I did manage to get where I was going. Sometimes you ended up having nice encounters with people and it was fun trying to decipher the strong Ruhrpott accent that many people in the Ruhr region have.


Regional trains in and around Osnabrück


Münster station


Standard 2nd class seating on the regional train to Gelsenkirchen

Concerto

The correct sequence for this trip was as follows:

Mülheim(Ruhr)Styrum - Duisburg Hbf: DBB 2nd class
Duisburg Hbf - Mannheim Hbf: DBB 1st class
Mannheim Hbf - Basel SBB DBB 1st class
Basel SBB - Bern 2nd class
Bern - Lausanne: SBB 2nd class
Lausanne - Montreux: SBB 2nd class

In fact, the original ticketed itinerary for this route was cancelled a few days before departure, which meant that I could take any train I wanted on the day of travel. In the end I found myself on the original itinerary once past Basel and in Switzerland because I was able to take a quicker train which left later (08h17 from Duisburg). This went down the high speed stretch between Cologne and Frankfurt Airport, whereas most of the cheaper itineraries run along the Rhine gorge, which is a slower route. There was even time for a lunch of lasagna in the MIGROS at Basel SBB station.


The small station at Mülheim Styrum is looking better than it did in the past


This is actually Krefeld station


Seating in the Deutsche Bahn lounge at Mannheim station

At €56 all the way to Montreux, the ticket was a pretty good deal, given that it included the whole trip through Switzerland. I used a Bahnbonus voucher worth 500 points to upgrade to 1st class within Germany (nobody checked it). A 1st class seat reservation cost €4.90, not cheap, and in the end it wasn't really necessary. My train reached Mannheim in what seemed like record time, leaving me 40 minutes to wait for the train to Basel. I showed my Super Sparpreis ticket and the 1st class voucher at the entrance of the DB lounge and was admitted (I have a feeling that shouldn't have happened). The lounge was simply a pleasant seating area elevated above the main entrance hall of the station, so you can observe everything that is going on. There wasn't much there, just a soft drink and coffee machine, from which I poured far too many cappuccinos (and ended up with a migraine later on). The other thing was a soft ice cream machine made from Hafer (oats), and this well and truly upset my stomach for a couple of days. Usually I completely avoid ice cream in the summer months because of hygiene issues, so this was a big mistake.


The ice cream making machine that made me a bit ill


Looking out over the interior concourse at Mannheim station


Main entrance onto the platforms at Mannheim main station

The train to Basel got me to SBB Swiss station with just a few minutes delay. From there, after a short lunch break in the MIGROS (open despite it being Sunday), I boarded the same train as shown on my original itinerary. With a change in Berne, then in Lausanne, I reached Montreux a few minutes early. The 2nd class journey was comfortable and the trains were not crowded, although the train leaving Lausanne for Montreux at 16h50 was quite busy. It was a standard 2nd class journey in Switzerland, with a good level of comfort and impeccable timing.


1st class seating on the stretch from Mannheim Hbf to Basel SBB


Arrival at the Swiss station of Basel SBB


Lac Léman (Lake Geneva) just before arriving at Lausanne

offerendum

No! German train stations are the most elegant in the world. You couldn't expect better!

Concerto

Some of them are amazing, from Görlitz with its Jugendstil design, to Frankfurt with its imposing façade, to the ultra modern new main station in Berlin. But some of them really need some money spent on them to stop the decay before bits start falling on passengers heads.

Concerto

After a busy day running all over the place to various meetings, I had a couple of hours in the Geneva SWISS Business lounge which was blissfully quiet. Hot food items were quite good, with lentil soup, mushroom ravioli and sliced pork with rice. The food and beverage options were not the best quality, but they were adequate.


The SWISS Business Class lounge at Geneva airport


Hot food options in the Geneva lounge


Gate area at GVA for the Eurowings flight to DUS

This evening's Eurowings flight to Düsseldorf left from gate A5, with a calm boarding process - I was in Group 1, which made it more pleasant! This was a Mileage Bargain ticket for 15,000 miles round trip to Düsseldorf with around €74 of taxes. These tickets are really quite a good deal because they book into the SMART tariff with Eurowings, which includes free seat selection and extra legroom seats, along with Group 1 boarding. As an FTL status member I can also visit the business lounge, but fast track security was not included at GVA.


Seating on the Eurowings flight to Düsseldorf


My emergency exit row seat


View of Lake Geneva after takeoff from Geneva

The plane itself was mostly empty, which was a shame because it means that this route might get axed if the loads are low. I enjoyed my emergency row seat and moved into the window seat to get some nice sunset views over the Ruhr area, as we turned to come into land at DUS. The BoB trolley had some nice items on it but I bought a sparkling water only because I had eaten enough in the lounge. This was one of my better Eurowings flights, with a pleasant cabin crew.

Rating 8.5%
Seat 10D - 10F
Aircraft 31B
Registration D-AKNV


This is the only inflight catering that I bought from the BoB trolley, a bottle of sparkling water


Over the Ruhr region, approaching Düsseldorf airport


Leaving the Eurowings plane at DUS

Concerto

Sorry, guys, this has been a nightmare period with endless competitions to play for as well as recitals leading up to the Swiss Championships of brass instruments. In addition we are now in the middle of the violin exams. Also, I had made a bit of a mess of the next post about Osnabrück and had to rewrite it, dividing it into two posts to avoid it being too long. But the good news is that I did manage to find a free morning in which to make a flight over the Alps, with amazing views of the Glacier du Trient and the Mont Blanc massif. That will be the subject of a upcoming trip report!

Concerto

Why Osnabrück? Well, the Westfälische Friede (the Peace of Westphalia) was signed there in 1648 thus ending the Thirty Years War, so it must be an interesting place. In truth, it was hit hard in World War II and had to be extensively reconstructed, like most cities in Germany. It's not that they did a bad job of it, it just turned out to be somehow soulless. Luckily the old city center remained more or less intact and there are many interesting timber framed houses to be seen. The cathedral (Dom) is also worth a visit, with its peaceful cloisters and treasury, but so are numerous other churches which somehow survived the war.


This is the interior of the Barösta Kaffeehaus


Entrance to the Felix Nussbaum Museum


One of the amazing facades in the streets of Osnabrück

I wanted to visit the Felix Nussbaum Museum, but it was closed for renovations and I was offered the chance to visit the rather good Osnabrück city museum for free instead. I will have to return for Nussbaum, a Jewish artist and painter who met his end in one of the camps during the war. I also visited the Erich Maria Remarque center, which did not charge an entry fee. Remarque wrote the famous World War I novel Nichts neues aus der Westen (All Quiet on the Western Front). Afterwards, I headed straight for the wine festival which was taking place in the square in front of the church, just in front of the Remarque Center, and only just managed to avoid ending up dancing on the tables again! For food, I visited the Rampendahl brewery on each of the nights I was in Osnabrück, which offered an excellent buffet for only €13.13 on Sunday and for €12.12 on weekdays. You don't often get deals like that these days. For excellent coffee and light eats I visited the slightly pretentious Barösta Kaffeehaus which was very welcoming nonetheless.


While walking through the cathedral I found this portal, a veritable trompe l'oeil in the literal sense


The treasury of the cathedral is worth a visit, one of the best I have seen


Beer vats in the Rampendahl brewery

From the point of view of visiting old monuments and buildings, the highpoint was probably the Rathaus, which is where the Peace of Westphalia was signed. You could visit most of the imposing building, which contains the administrative offices of the city. There is a small explanatory exhibition and you can freely visit the hall-like room where the treaty was signed. I felt that this place has significative importance in view of the current crisis between Russia and Ukraine. It was a good place to be when I was there.


The Rathaus (town hall) where the Peace of Westphalia was signed


This is the room where the treaty was actually signed

Concerto

So as not to overload a single post with photos, I have divided the Osnabrück Story into two chapters. There are also some walking opportunities in and around Osnabrück. Since the Holiday Inn was not so far from the not unattractive main station (Hauptbahnhof), I picked up a local train for the short trip to the tiny station of Osnabrück Altstadt. From there, a walking route led me to a mill (Pernickelmühle, dating from 1220) situated on the oddly named Hase river, where there was a weir on the river. From this idyllic spot the route wound through what remains of the old city center of Osnabrück, with some examples of amazing timber framed buildings with ornate painting decorations on them. I have far too many photos of these houses, so I chose just one or two for here.


Wine festival in front of the Marienkirche


Yet another of the lovely facades in the old town of Osnabrück


Nice metallic sculpture in the old town of Osnabrück


A modern facade in Osnabrück!

Once the walking route crosses what clearly was the old city wall, traversing the B68, a busy road, it very quickly disappears into greenery and you find yourself almost immediately in the countryside! Of course, you are not totally out of town, but the walk heads towards Weststadt (the western outskirts of Osnabrück) heads through what appeared later to be open fields. I made a lengthy stop at the botanical gardens, a pleasant and well cared for oasis of green, with a central hothouse for tropical plants. This was a sort of tower and you could climb up metal gantry steps to reach the top canopy of the trees. The walk continues deeper into the countryside, but I took one of the buses back to the center of Osnabrück.


Dom St Petrus, the cathedral of Osnabrück


Botanical gardens of Osnabrück


My walking route heads out into open countryside


I had to slip in a selfie!

Concerto

I was partly attracted to visiting Osnabrück because there is a Holiday Inn there and I need enough points to qualify for Platinum this year. But I also felt that it would be an interesting place that deserved a visit. The Holiday Inn Osnabrück turned out to be a good hotel fairly near the station (about 7 minutes walk) which looked like it was a newbuild (I forgot to ask). The area around the reception desk was very tastefully designed, with a slightly hip seating area to the left facing reception and a restaurant on the right, Restaurant Echt. Passing through the space between the reception area and the restaurant, where breakfast is served, you come to a lovely bar complete with a fake (but convincing) fireplace right in the middle of the space. July in Germany had not exactly been cold, but temperatures were cool and the fireplace was welcome.


Exterior of the Holiday Inn at Osnabrück


The bar area in the HI Osnabrück is really pleasant


There is an equally pleasant seating area near reception

As a Platinum member, the reception staff offered me a complimentary drink at the bar, but also credited my account with 500 welcome points (usually it's a choice between points or a drink). I was also upgraded to an upper floor room which resembled a junior suite, with a separate sitting area and a big desk, quite rare in hotels these days. There was a free minibar with a choice of water, soft drinks and beer, which was replenished each day. The minibar was offered in addition to the tea and coffee making facilities. The sleeping area was decent with new beds and bedclothes and the room was dark enough so I could sleep well. The bathroom was fairly standard with a very good shower (stable water pressure and temperature) but no bathtub. As usual, there wasn't enough space to put my washbag, shaver and other things, so I left them in one of the room cupboards.


This is the reception area of the HI Osnabrück


This was the first impression of my junior suite


This was the sleeping area

The only truly negative aspect of this hotel was the cost of the breakfast, €23, which I declined, opting to go to a nearby bakery and cafe for a breakfast at a third of that cost. All the same, the hotel had a nice ambience and it was pleasant to hang around there, especially in the bar area, but I wanted to get out and see Osnabrück. There is a network of buses that pass nearby and at the main station, but you can in fact easily walk everywhere in Osnabrück. A final word about the train station, Osnabrück Hbf: along with Koblenz train station, the station in Osnabrück is one of the nicest ones I have been to in Germany.


This was the seating area in the junior suite


And this was the bathroom, with an accidental selfie

tom tulpe

Platinums, any anyone staying in the room with them, get free breakfast, if they choose it as their welcome amenity. Easily beats the 500 points (which don't even count towards status) or drinks vouchers in terms of value.

It's a well-known spiel to be offered "points or drinks voucher?" - the answer to that should alwys be "breakfast please", unless it's included in the room rate, e.g. at HIX.

Oh forget that, mix-up with Accor. Sorry. You ned to be Diamond for the free IHG breakfast.