Month: November 2012

Visit some of the famous glass galleries in Prague and admire beautiful works of art the country has become world-known for. Local glasswork factories offer the possibility to experience this traditional Czech craft and to create your own piece of art using your artistic flair to paint a piece of glass.

According to the Prague Information service, there are about 500 hundred towers and spires in Prague. Towers and spires thus became one of the symbols of Prague. Some of them can be also used for cultural and entertainment events. Explore their magic and visit the five most famous Prague Towers.

On Friday October 5, the anniversary of Vaclav Havel’s birth, a resolution of the Government of the Czech Republic comes to fruition when the Ruzyne airport takes on the name Vaclav Havel Airport Prague. Members of the domestic political leadership, as well as key social and cultural figures have been invited to the formal opening, along with ambassadors of various nations present in the Czech Republic and airport partners. Accompanying the formal opening is a photographic exposition featuring photographs from the CTK archives documenting the life and work of Vaclav Havel, as well as the uncovering of an art object by Borek Sipek commemorating the works of the first post-November president.

Vienna can offer event organisers a huge choice of bedrooms, ranging from luxury hotels in former palais, international and Austrian hotel chains and family-run establishments through to small, quaint guest houses. Between July and September visitors can also take advantage of student halls of residence which serve as low-cost summer hotels.

The city can offer…

 

19 five-star hotels 3,827 rooms 7,242 beds

158 four-star hotels 13,210 rooms 24,908 beds

153 three-star hotels 7,186 rooms 14,296 beds

70 two- and one-star hotels 2,376 rooms 4,769 beds

9 summer hotels 965 rooms 1,690 beds

409 hotels 27,564 rooms 52,905 beds

Frankfurt am Main, commonly known as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth largest city in Germany, with a 2011 population of 695,624. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010. The city is at the centre of the larger Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region which has a population of 5,600,000 and is Germanys second largest metropolitan region.

 

Frankfurt is the financial and transportation centre of Germany and the largest financial centre in continental Europe. It is the seat of the European Central Bank, the German Federal Bank, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, and the Frankfurt Trade Fair, as well as several large commercial banks, e.g. Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank and DZ Bank. Frankfurt Airport is one of the world’s busiest international airports, Frankfurt Central Station is one of the largest terminal stations in Europe, and the Frankfurter Kreuz is one of the most heavily used Autobahn interchanges in Europe. Frankfurt lies in the former American Occupation Zone of Germany, and it was formerly the headquarters city of the U.S. Army in Germany.

 

Frankfurt is an international centre for finance, commerce, culture, transport, education and tourism. It is therefore considered an alpha world city as listed by the Loughborough University group’s 2010 inventory. It was ranked 10th among global cities by the Global Power City Index 2011, 11th by the Global City Competitiveness Index 2012 and 7th among international financial centers by the International Financial Centers Development Index 2012.

Stricter night time curfews recently introduced at Frankfurt airport will force Lufthansa to relocate its busy Cape Town service to Munich. The decision was announced to the media by Kay Kratky, Lufthansa’s passenger manager, at Julys meeting of the Frankfurt aviation club, with reports appearing on airliners.de and news24.com.

 

Introduced at the end of 2011, the curfew at Frankfurt prohibits departures after 23.00. Lufthansa’s Cape Town service departs every evening at 22.15 and this restriction allows little if any leeway should a flight be delayed for any reason. According to Fraport (the operator of Frankfurt) around 14,000 passengers have been stranded overnight (because their flights failed to depart on schedule) since the new curfew took effect.

 

Some 10,000 of these were flying Lufthansa with the remainder booked with foreign carriers. Passengers have either been accommodated at nearby hotels or have had to sleep inside the airport terminal. Frankfurt is a major airline hub so only passengers who originate there will be inconvenienced as Lufthansa holds a monopoly for this route. Lufthansa passengers connecting from other airports in Germany or elsewhere in Europe will be offered connections to Cape Town via Munich.

Regional carrier Flybe has confirmed via Twitter that it will drop its Southampton-Frankfurt route from mid-September. A follower of the airline’s Twitter feed posted the following tweet:
“@flybe looking at flights from Southampton to Frankfurt in Sept /Oct but dates on the website are greyed out after 10/9.”

 

To which Flybe responded: “@newbathroom1 Hi, unfortunately this route will be stopping due to there not being enough demand. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.”
Last year the carrier dropped flights from Frankfurt to both Birmingham and Manchester and this latest move will leave no Flybe services from the German hub.

Gulf Air now claims its German passenger have seamless rail travel to all cities across Germany. Passengers can buy one combined ‘Rail & Fly’ ticket that allows them to fly on the airline and travel to and from any destination on Germany’s Deutsche Bahn network. When booking you need to select Deutsche Bahn Rail Station as your end destination. Upon arrival in Frankfurt you proceed to the fly-rail booth and will be given a voucher for the train.

 

A Bahrain-Frankfurt ‘Rail & Fly’ ticket cost BD308.100 in early July, rising to BD333.100 on July 25, inclusive of taxes.
Karim Makhlouf, Gulf Air Chief Commercial Officer, said Germany is a key premium market for Gulf Air and the agreement will strengthen its presence in the country and enable it to serve the substantial number of passengers who travel to Frankfurt and beyond.

 

Gulf Air now operates 11-weekly flights in two split schedules giving customers convenient options to travel to and from Frankfurt. On Tuesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, the flight will depart Frankfurt at 1620 and reach Bahrain at 2320. The increase in frequency also provides better connectivity to Frankfurt (via Bahrain) for passengers travelling from Lahore, Addis Ababa, Islamabad, Karachi, Chennai, Jeddah, Khartoum, Kochi and Mumbai.

Starwood has announced the first European property under its “eco-wise” Element brand. The 133-studio and suite Element Frankfurt Airport is scheduled to open in 2014, and will be located within the Gateway Gardens development, a new city district on the site of former US military airbase. The district is linked to Frankfurt airport by a shuttle service (approx. four minutes to Terminal 1, and two minutes to Terminal 2), with access to the ICE Express rail system. As with all Element properties, the hotel will be built adhering to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards.

 

Features will include a 24-hour business centre, a meeting room, and a signature restaurant and espresso bar, while rooms will offer fully-equipped kitchen, swivelling flat screen TVs, large desks with open shelving and custom-designed cupboards, bathrooms with rain showers and dual-flush toilets. Starwood’s Element brand launched in 2008 with a property in Lexington, Massachusetts, and has since grown to 15 hotels either open or under development. Most of these are located in the US, including properties in Las Vegas, Miami, Houston and New York.