Eurail: Austria-Switzerland-Germany-Spain

Austria, Switzerland, Germany

A vintage shot of my sister, Lin, where we stopped to snap this photo in Austria.

We were lucky to travel through 9 countries during our first summer to Europe. Its very easy to travel on one pass and cost via the Eurail.  Here is the route we made and the link to the Eurail system...  

Rome to Rio is an excellent source now for planning your routes or time schedules.

http://www.eurail.com/planning/railway-map

Our route for our first trip to Europe.

We chose London-Paris-Brussels-Liechtenstein-Germany-Austria-Switzerland-Italy-French Riviera towns-Spain and return to Paris.

The terrain is gorgeous along the train rides between Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

 I've misplaced some of my photos of these areas but will add more as I'm able.. 

 

Heidleberg, Germany is a beautiful city on the river with a lovely castle.

                                                                                   Commercial photo

Frankfurt Germany is the most international, financial city in the world.  Busy yet beautiful, it still has the charm of small "guest houses" on street corners for dining.  USA has a large military base in the city.

Spain

Pamplona, Spain, is the home of the annual Running of the Bulls San Fermin Festival.  We timed our train journey just right to attend the daily bullfights and watch the bulls run through the city.  Again, my photos are vintage 70's but capture the celebrations.

After the bulls run through the streets with the men each morning, they enter the arena for bullfights.  The young men actually run from the streets leading the bulls into the arena. We stayed at a pensione (private home room) during the festival-very common during this busy week and hotels are full.

The town fully participates throughout the first week of July each year.  There are celebrations all morning, siestas in the afternoons and out again at night to dine.  I stuck my head into this bar below to snap this photo...there are mainly men out at night.

We caught the fights in Barcelona also, another beautiful mediterranean city in Spain.  The trains travel between the two cities also.