WHAT YOU WILL SEE:

Munich, Germany
Chic, cosmopolitan and carefree, Bavaria's capital and one of Germany's biggest cities, Munich has more than its share of great museums, architectural treasures, historic sites, and world-class shops, restaurants, and hotels. The same could be said of its abundance of lederhosen and oompah bands. But it's the overall feeling of welcome that makes the city so special. It is home to some 1.5 million people and one of Germany's major cultural centers (only Berlin outranks it in terms of museums and theaters). It's also one of Germany's most festive cities, and its location, at the foot of the Alps, is idyllic. With its buzzing factories, newspapers and television stations, and service and electronics industries, it's one of Europe's busiest and liveliest places. Subtler is Munich's amazing ability to combine Hollywood-type glamour and stylish international allure with its folkloric connections. Few other large cities have been as successful as Munich in marketing folklore, rusticity, and nostalgia for the golden days of yesteryear, yet this rustic ambience coexists with the hip and the avant-garde, high-tech industries, and a sharp political sense. This is what lends the city such a distinctive flair. Tourists flock to Munich year-round, but festival dates -- especially Fasching, or Carnival, in the winter, and Oktoberfest in the fall -- draw the most. This celebration, which began as a minor sideshow to a royal wedding in 1810, has become a symbol of the city itself. Redolent with nostalgia for old-time Bavaria, it draws more than 7 million visitors each year. For these 16 days every fall, raucous hordes cram themselves into the city to have a good time.

Salzburg, Austria
Art lovers call Salzburg the Golden City of High Baroque; historians refer to it as the Florence of the North, or the German Rome; and music lovers know it as the Festival City -- birthplace of Mozart and home of the world-famous Salzburger Festspiele (Salzburg Festival). The setting could not be more perfect. Salzburg lies on both banks of the Salzach River, at the point where it is pinched between two mountains, the Kapuzinerberg and the Mönchsberg. This former site of the Roman town of Juvavum is set against a pristine mountain backdrop. The Old Town lies on the left bank of the river, where a monastery and bishopric were founded in A.D. 700. From that simple start, Salzburg grew in power and prestige, becoming an archbishopric see in 798. At the height of the prince-archbishop's power, the city was known as the "German Rome." Salzburg is internationally known for its architectural grandeur. The Salzburg Cathedral (Dom) is the first deliberately Italian-style church to be built north of the Alps. Several beautiful castles and palaces dot the city: Hohensalzburg Fortress, Residenz, and Schloss Hellbrunn, 5km (3 miles) south of the city, summer residence of the prince-archbishops. The famous Fischer von Erlack laid out the beautifully baroque Mirabell Gardens. This is also the city of Mozart, who was born here in 1756. You can visit this favorite son's birthplace, the Gerburtshaus, an old burgher's house. While Salzburg is a visual pageant of Baroque motifs, music is the element that shapes the life of the city. It is heard everywhere: in churches, castles, palaces, and, of course, concert halls. Vsitors can explore other fascinating attractions, including the locations featured in The Sound of Music, filmed here in 1964. It's hard to take in the sights without imagining Maria and the von Trapp children trilling "Do-Re-Mi." Whether it's the melodies of Rodgers and Hammerstein or of Mozart filling your head, the city of Salzburg is a symphony of both sounds and sights.

Vienna, Austria
City of music, cafes, waltzes, parks, pastries, and wine -- that's Vienna. Vienna is a true cosmopolitan center, where different tribes and nationalities have for centuries fused their cultural identities to produce the intriguing and often-cynical Viennese. From the time the Romans selected a Celtic settlement on the Danube River as one of their most important central European forts, "Vindobona," the city we now know as Vienna, has played a vital role in European history. The ambience of the city is ornate and frothy: white horses dancing to elegant music; snow dusting the opulent draperies of Empress Maria Theresa's monument; lavish decorations filling the interior courtyards of outwardly severe town houses; a gilded Johann Strauss among a grove of green trees; the voluptuous music of Richard Strauss; the geometric impasto of Klimt's paintings; the stately pavane of a mechanical clock. Magnificent, magnetic, and magical, the city beguiles one and all with Old World charm and courtly grace. It is a place where headwaiters still bow as if saluting a Habsburg prince and Lipizzaner stallions dance intricate minuets to the strains of Mozart -- a city that waltzes. Like a well-bred grande dame, Vienna doesn't hurry, and, as you saunter through its stately streets, marveling at its Baroque palaces, neither should you. Explore churches filled with statues of golden saints and pink-cheeked cherubs, wander through treasure-packed museums, or while away an afternoon in one of those countless meccas of mocha (the inevitable cafés), you will feel lapped in lashings of rich, delicious, whipped cream -- the beloved Schlagobers that garnishes most Viennese pastries.

ICE (InterCity Express)
The ICE (InterCity Express), a tilting train. The German high speed train ICE guarantees quality with new, high-standardized equipment to provide travelers with a comfortable and pleasant experience. With a maximum speed of nearly 300 km/h, this service is highly efficient.

Types of Train Services
First Class:
- All seats are reclining and have an audio minijack, allowing passengers to plug in headphones and choose from about 7 music/entertainment channels and radio stations. Basic headphones can also be purchased on the trains.
- Newspapers are available. Beverages and snacks can also be purchased from the trolley cart.
- The service crew on the train takes orders for porters in the main cities in Germany.

Second Class:
- All seats are reclining and have an audio minijack, allowing passengers to plug in headphones and choose from about 7 music/entertainment channels and radio stations. Basic headphones can also be purchased on the trains.
- Newspapers are available. Beverages and snacks can also be purchased from the trolley cart.
- The service crew on the train takes orders for porters in the main cities in Germany.

On board services:
Each train has a restaurant car with two sections: the traditional restaurant and self-service bistro. Public phone booths and luggage lockers are also available on board the train. With exception of the first and last cars, the ICE train is a non-smoking area.
The latest ICE generation with tilting technology even offers a magnificent panoramic lounge at each end of the trains for a spectacular view of the landscape. With most ICE trains, there is one carriage (sometimes more) where individual seats are equipped with LCD screens. (The screens are actually built into the backrest of the seat in front.) Usually there are two video channels to choose from, which typically show feature films, like airlines would do. There are no speakers, but the corresponding audio is available via the audio minijack.
At both ends of ICE3 trains there is a passenger compartment (on one side 1st class, on the other side 2nd class) with a view on the tracks, due to transparency of the glass wall separating the compartment from the driver's cabin. In special circumstances the driver can make the wall opaque by the press of a button.

There is also a compartment with a play area for children.

All ICEs have "repeater" carriages, which are equipped with technology to enable mobile phone use (as the windows have a metal coating). Cell phone use is possible in these carts only. These carts are marked with a sticker of a symbolized mobile phone. "Silent" carriages have a sticker with a symbolized whispering sign. In these carriages use of laptops, mobile phones and other "noisy" equipment is prohibited.