Amex CDW Requirements
A recent American Express statement contained updated rules on their Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance Plan, commonly referred to a Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) and theft coverage. Here are some important features of the coverage:
* What is reimbursed: Damage to or theft of rental car.
* Length of coverage: Now a maximum of 30 consecutive days rather than 31 as in the past. In other words, Amex does not provide CDW coverage on car rental contracts longer than 30 days.
* Vehicles not covered: exotic cars, trucks, utility vehicles, and full-sized vans. Minivans are covered, but to be absolutely certain call Amex and ask if the specific model you plan to rent is covered.
* What is not reimbursed: Value added tax and/or sales tax unless such reimbursement is required by law.
Model Train Museum
In the Dallas Morning News, Jim Landers writes of the Marklin Model Railroad Factory and Museum in the town of Göppingen, 44 kilometers east and slightly south of Stuttgart.
Model railroaders all over the world are familiar with this company which, since 1859, has constructed the world's finest toy trains.
As early as 1891 Marklin showed a complete clockwork model railroad for 1-gauge track at the Leipzig Toy Fair. Others had produced trains that ran on track but Marklin was the first with a complete railroad, including turnout switches, signals and other accessories all built to a uniform scale.
In 1897, the company introduced the first fully electric toy railroad, and, in 1926, introduced railroads operated by 20-volt transformers.
These breakthroughs are explained at the museum and many of the company's early trains, including live steam trains powered by alcohol burners and clockwork trains wound with a key, are among the 900 locomotives and other toy models built on display.
The Marklin Museum is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Admission is free. Contact: Stadt. Verkehrsamt, Marketstrasse 2, Göppingen.
Figure Skating Package
The 1997 World Figure Skating Championships will be held in Lausanne, Switzerland, on March 17-23. Bryan Sports Events offers a tour package that includes: eight nights hotel accommodations at the Lausanne Palace or the Hotel de la Paix, breakfast, roundtrip airfare from New York (air supplement for other U.S. points of origin) to Geneva (Swissair or Air France) with transfer to Lausanne, an all-events ticket in a "prime" seating location, full sight-seeing program, daily transfer from hotel to ice rink and on-site escorts throughout. Per person, double occupancy price at the Palace is $3,895 (single supplement $1,400) and $3,595 (single supplement $900) at the Hotel de la Paix. Sight-seeing destinations include the Olympic Museum, Montreux, Chillon Castle, Gruyères and Zermatt.
Contact: Bryan Sports Events, 400 El Camino Real #1550, San Mateo CA 94402, tel. 415-579-0455 or 800-234-6432.
1996 Europe Red Guide Out
Michelin doesn't produce a red guide for Austria. The city of Salzburg, however, is covered in the Red Guide to Germany and Vienna is in its Red Guide to Europe. The 1996 edition of the latter has recently been released and is now available ($24.95). The guide offers a selection of hotels and restaurants for 66 main cities within 19 countries in Europe, totaling 4,753 establishments (2,655 hotels and 2,098 restaurants). New this year is a section for Prague of the Czech Republic.
Following are the guide's starred restaurants for Vienna and Salzburg.
Vienna
** Steirereck
* Korso (Hotel Bristol)
* La Scala (Hilton Vienna Plaza)
* Drei Husaren
* Gotffried
* Jahreszeiten
Salzburg
* Landhaus Eschlböck-Plomberg
Heidelberg is 800
In celebration of its 800th anniversary, Heidelberg has scheduled a year of festivals: Serenades in the Heidelberg Castle (starting June 6), Mozart Weeks (June 23-July 27), the Castle Theater Festival (July 27-Sept. 1) and the exhibition Liselotte from the Palatinate (Sept. 20-Jan. 26, 1997) are among more than 600 events planned.
Special deals include a "Stay 3 Nights, Pay for 2; Stay 4 Nights, Pay for 3" package at from 125 DM ($83) per person per night in a double room during June, September and October. The "Heidelberg plus Heidelberg Card" costs from 212 DM ($141) for two nights bed and breakfast. The "Castle Festival Arrangement" (July 30-Aug. 31) costs from 369 DM ($246) per person in a double room and includes two nights' hotel, plus breakfast, a tour of the Old Town, a meal at the "Alt Heidelberg," a theater festival meal and a ticket to a performance of your choice. Information: Verkehrsverein, Postfach 105860, D-69048 Heidelberg, tel. 06221 - 142211, fax 142222.
June 1996
