EUROPEAN TOUR 2017
Article by: Gloria T.
Consolacion Cressler
International Editor and Host
Photographs and Film by:
Bill Lee Lanndis
Mary Tavarez
Kristofer Lepsoy
Film Edited by: Cuiru Wu
Now that 2017 is over, it is
time to reminisce about our
travels that we made throughout
this past year. It was another
amazing and fabulous trip! My
traveling Press Crew included
Bill Lee Lanndis, Mary Tavarez
and Kristofer Lepsoy. We went
back to one of my favorite
countries, Austria the land of The
Sound of Music, and a list
famous composers from Johan
Strauss, Mozart,Schubert,
Haydn, J. G. Albrechtsberger, to
A. Schoenberg, and many other
wonderful composers, and
of course, Beethoven had spent
a lot of time in Vienna. My most
favorite hotel to stay in Vienna
is the Intercontinental Hotel
which has beautiful large
chandeliers lining up in the
hallway and an incredible bar
surrounded by crystals including
a very friendly staff who are
all there ready to help. Many
business people stay at the
hotel and they come from all
over the world – many you can
you meet at the bar. My personal
choice, every time is the
beautiful corner hotel suite,
which I thoroughly enjoy staying
in every time.
The first day when we arrived at
the Intercontinental Hotel,
first impression is being
greeted by the friendly staff
with their incredibly lovely
smiles. This is one of the
reasons why I love staying at
the Intercontinental Hotels
because it’s so personal, they
treat you as a member of their
own family. It was a pleasure to
see our long-time friend who is
the Head of the Concierge, Mr.
Christian Plank. He is friendly
and very accommodating, and
ready to help. Christian has
helped us with what we need
around town and by providing us
directions to special and unique
places to visit.
We also met with Mr. Gerhard
Harwarth, the Restaurants Supervisor,
and Mr. Adam Kuhtreiber the
Revenue Manager assigned to us
by their lovely General Manager,
Ms. Brigitte Trattner. Adam
handled all our reservations and accomodation
he is
a very nice man. So if you plan
to go to the beautiful city of
Vienna make sure to stay at the
Intercontinental Hotel, their
website is www.intercontinentalhotel.com/vienna .
In addition, I also want to
thank Mr. Ronald Hoogerbrugge,
another General Manager at the
Intercontinental Hotel and we
are grateful and thank him for
all his help.
The following day we were picked
up by my long-time friend
International Businessman,
Robert Lester of Vienna, Austria
and Dubai to take us to the Wine
Festival in Wagram, Austria to
the Anton Bauer Winery, which is
an hour ride from Vienna. It was
great to see my long-time
friends Toni Bauer, third
generation winemaker, and his
partner, the sweet and lovely
Gudron, and Toni's sister
Sieglinde Bauer and her daughter
Sonja Bauer. Wow! Every time I
see Sonja, who just keeps
growing and is tall for her
young age. As
always… we tasted so many
delicious Anton Bauer Wines and
several types of ham and
sausages that were paired with
their delectable wines. Anton
Bauer wines are of high quality
made of different varieties of
grapes. They have many wine
connoisseurs who were tasting
their wines during the wine
festival. Anton Bauer wines are
sold all over Europe and the
United States, and you can find
them in restaurants, large hotel
chains and country clubs. Look
at their website: www.antonbauer.at
In
the afternoon the famous Chef,
Hotelier and Restaurant Owner,
Author and Wine Producer: Chef
Toni Morwald invited us to his
restaurant and hotel. Previous
to the invitation, he took us
first to his wine cellar where
we tasted his select wines from
his vineyard. That afternoon his
brother served their special
wines for the
wine festival which were a
pleasure to taste and so full of
flavor. Afterwards, he took us
to his kitchen at one of his
restaurants he started cooking
us an amazing dinner which we
were filming. The way he moved
you can see that he is truly an
expert at his craft. When he
finished cooking our sumptuous
food, we all sat down and ate
his delicious dinner that was
paired with flavorful ANTON
BAUER WINES. This experience was
a real treat. Before we left
Chef Toni Morwald gave each of
us a thick recipe book full of
beautiful photos of the
wonderful food that he had
personally prepared. We each
were very happy to receive his
gift. Their website isWWW.MOERWALD.AT
The next day we decided
to go on a tour. Because
this was the first
Austrian visit for Mary Tavarez
and Kristoffer Lepsoy so
we tour the city of Vienna. We
spent a long time at Schonbrunn
Palace, the former summer
residence of the Habsburgs
family which was built in 1642.
It has 1,441 rooms and 45 were
open to visit. When
you are at the palace you can
admire the beautiful ballroom
used for their formal events.
Mozart played his music in the
mirrored Schonbrunn Palace very
early on in his life, as a
six-year old prodigy. Even
Napoleon had meetings there… and
so had many other royals and top
government officials. It is
truly a magnificent palace. When
you go to Vienna make sure to
visit this palace - you will
enjoy the visit. In the evening,
our group had a good dinner at
one of the nearby restaurants
serving local food in which we
requested to Robert. We
celebrated the birthday of my
long-time friend Robert Lester,
so it is always exciting to try
different foods from other
countries. Some of their items
on the menu included the insides
of the cow; it’s is not that
bad, and I can state that it is
always nice to try new things.
The following day a limousine
picked us up, our favorite
driver Manfred drove us to
another loved place of mine, the
beautiful wooden castle in the
Austrian Alps, the Stanglwirt
Bio Hotel in Going Tyrol
Austria. It is a 5
Star Hotel (I
rate it a 7 Star) founded during
the 1600’s, It began as an
tavern, then became an inn, and
then evolved into this
beautiful Bio
Hotel called Stanglwirt
(The Wooden Castle).
Everything is nice and big at
this place, it is truly
impressive. At
this time Balthazar Hauser, the
father and Magdalena Hauser the
mother were on vacation here in
the United States for a deserved
good rest. But Maria Hauser,
Johannes Hauser and Elisabeth
Hauser where there . They
made sure that our stay was a
wonderful one. It is always nice
to see the good works of
Balthazar Hauser, the managing
director of Stanglwirt. His
ingenious great designs is what
has made Stanglwirt into what we
have with us today. In addition,
the fabulous talents of all
family members who help run the
hotel starting from him to
Magdalena Hauser, to Maria
Hauser, Johannes Hauser, and
Elisabeth Hauser. All family
members contribute with their
staff to make this place a very
special place to stay. The staff
looks wonderful dressed in their
Austrian costumes, so you truly
feel that you are in Austria
(although the staff comes from
different parts of Europe).
Besides the Hauser family
running the Stanglwirt , all
in the family are also talented
musicians while some play
instruments others sing. Every
year they hold a music festival
where the people from the
surrounding area gather at the
Stanglwirt for this event.
Stanglwirt is truly a luxury
resort with different rooms and
suites from single rooms to
beautiful 2 story lofts, with 3
bedrooms to 4 bedrooms
apartments, with a large king
size beds. Many suites have
living rooms adorned with
beautiful fireplaces, plus
additional rooms with your own
whirlpool spa and sauna, with a
balcony with a stunning view of
the rolling hills and mountains.
You can smell the freshness in
the air. From there you can also
see some of the different spas
and swimming pools, besides the
one inside that was designed by
the genius Bhaltazar Hauser. All
the guests at Stanglwirt are
pampered with first class
treatment, all starting off with
welcome greetings, then offered
drinks in their beautiful
restaurant which is close to the
lobby. And once you enter your
room a nice cold bottle of
champagne and chocolates await
you there with another greeting
card, and then another one on
the TV. So that additional
effort makes you immediately
feel extra special.
When you go to dinner you will
see several tables with
selections of different cheeses
from all over the world but
much of the cheese come from
their own animals that they
raise.. The cows
are the largest cows that
you see and they are massaged
every day, then taken out to
pasture along the Austrian Alps
consuming crisp clean grass. So
the milk tastes very good and
the meat is so tender
and as you chew it melts
in your mouth. All the organic
vegetables served come from
their own farms. Johannes
Hauser, the Food and Beverages
Manager who is also
in charge of the farm is is also proud to call
himself a farmer. So you will
find that you are eating very
fresh clean vegetables - all the
food served are so
delicious. I so look forward to
visiting Stanglwirt again, and
you will too, once you have
visited there.
Stanglwirt is also a beautiful
wedding destination. You will
find that you all will be
pampered by
the staff and a must is to
explore and soak in their
beautiful spas, unique hot
springs and swimming pools. This
pampering will make your special
day truly a memorable one. They
have a 5 Star Chef that will
prepare the food to your heart’s
desire, for you and your guests.
Stanglwirt is a beautiful place
to have your perfect dream of a
wedding overlooking the Austrian
Alps thus making you feel like
you are in the mountains with
the Von Trapp family. So make
sure to book your wedding now.
For companies please note: they
have several spaces where you
can hold your conferences and
seminars for small or big
groups. Your guests will be
pampered and can go to the
different spas and hot springs
after their meeting to relax
before they dine and indulge
in marvelous food and a wide
selection of different wines
from all over the world; just
ask for recommendations from
their wine sommelier
who is real
expert on wines.
Stanglwirt is a Green
Spa Resort with uniquely
designed pools, beautiful indoor
and outside spas that are truly
out of this world. They
consist of an Indoor
Rock Pool, an Outdoor
Rock Pool, aRock
Whirlpool (where you relax
in a giant Jacuzzi (36°C) next
to the Aquarium), a Family
Sport Pool (outdoor), a Panorama
Relaxation Room, and the Oasis
of Silence Relaxation Room, a Salt
Grotto (where you enjoy the
healing of warm salt steam on
your vocal cords, skin and
bronchial system). The Stone
Sauna (where warm sandstone
rocks and eucalyptus steams
provide relief for tired backs
and aching bones), the Mountain
Crystal Steam Bath (where
you are astonished by magical
sparkling crystals), the Pinewood
Bio Sauna (where you can
truly relax in this stylish
mountain chalet and smell the
scent of organic pinewood), and
the Wilder Kaiser Sauna (a
large sauna cottage for the
whole family with an incredible
view of the splendid landscape).
Also do be sure to visit the Saltwater
Pool, the Pro Sport Lap Pool,
Relaxation Areas, Marble Steam
Bath, the Waterfall Grotto, and
the Natural Swimming Lake. They
also offer a highly exclusive
SPAwith treatments for your
body, mind and soul. They
currently offer 9000 m² of
wellness and spa (1500 m² of
that are purely water/wet
areas). All of these areas are
located in the middle of nature
all so very wide and spacious
with direct views to the
Austrian Alps where you smell
clean fresh mountain air.
As I mentioned before,
Stanglwirt Bio Hotel is often
visited by famous celebrities
and top government officials
from countries from all over the
world. Celebrities of the like; Prince
Albert of Monaco, Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Actress
Ashley Judd, Caroline of Monaco,
George Harrison, Gloria Gaynor,
Heidi Klum, Hillary Clinton,
Marcus Schenkenberg, Mark
Williams (Mr. Weasley – Harry
Potter), Muhammed Ali, Pamela
Anderson, Bing Crosby, Clark
Gable, Pierre Brice ,
and many more famous people a nd
of course yours truly. Arnold
Schwarzenegger spend
much of his time at Stanglwirt
when he goes home to visit his
family and friends.
There are so many things to do
at Stanglwirt besides
soaking in the beautiful spas.
You can have a lesson, or ride
the beautiful white Lipizzaner
Horses, play
tennis, or play golf, or
fishing. And during winter time
you can ski and have a sleigh
rides throughout the area. And
they have an special program
during the month of December so
Stanglwirt is fully book during
that time.. They also have a
state of the art gym that you
can exercise in after eating all
that sumptuous food from their
different restaurants. If lucky,
you may find Arnold
Schwarzenegger and other
celebrities exercising in the
gym, or maybe dining in the
restaurant. In the evenings they
have a live band and you can
dance to the music.
Stanglwirt has received a
numerous awards over the years
from Conde Nast Traveler - Gold
List 2016, TripAdvisor
Traveller's Choice Award 2016, 3
Lilies from Relax Guide 2016,
and TripAdvisor Certificate of
Excellence (for the years
2011/12/13/14/15). For this
reason it should be listed as “the eighth
wonder of the world” due
to its unique history. It
began in the 1600’s and up to
the present they have served
guests with continuous
impeccable service. The building
itself is so beautiful because
of the designs of the exterior
and interiors, and its
incredible location is truly
“the eighth
wonder of the world”.
Make sure to make your
reservation now to visit
Stanglwirt, and do mention my
name when you speak with Maria
and Johannes Hauser, and later
on you can meet the rest of the
family. Stanglwirt has different
pricing options depending on the
season. Don’t delay in going
there… because when you stay
there, you will feel like you
are in heaven. You can enjoy the
different spas with their unique
designs when staying at
Stanglwirt which will leave you
with wonderful memories of your
visit. There is also a village
called Kitzbuhel close to
Stanglwirt where you can buy
beautiful Austrian gifts and
trinkets, Stanglwirt is only one
hour away from Munich and
Salzburg. To know more about
Stanglwirt go to www.stanglwirt.com and
if you want to ask me personally
about Stanglwirt and other
places in this article you can
email me at gloria@blacktiemagazine.com
or queenglori@aol.com or elitepronet@aol.com
From there we went to Salzburg
the home of the famous composer
Amadeus Mozart and of course up
on the hill is the mansion of
the VON
TRAPP Family of The Sound
of Music.
It was just an hour ride from
Stanglwirt (the first time that
I went to Salzburg I stayed in a
hotel in Salzburg). So first we
went to the mansion where the
famous composer Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart was born right in the
center of the city of Salzburg.
He was an influential and
prolific composer of classical
music during his time. He start
composing music at a young age
of 3 to 4. At the age of eight
he already wrote his first
symphony. He became well known
as a child prodigy. All and all
in his short life he wrote 600
sheets of music. Visiting his
mansion which is now a museum is
another destination to visit.
You will see how Mozart and his
family lived during that period.
The movie The
Sound of Music was
depicted from the family of the
VON TRAPPs in Salzburg on the
top of the hill. I am sure that
a lot of you had seen the movie The
Sound of Music,
the mansion still looks as
beautiful as before. It has been
converted into a hotel and part
of it is a museum. You will see
a photograph of the original Von
Trapp Family on
a wall inside the mansion. Just
by being in that place makes you
feel that you are there at the
time when they were filming THE
SOUND OF MUSIC and
visualizing all the children
singing and climbing up the
stairs. The inside décor has
changed a little bit but the
outside remains the same. It is
another place that you need to
visit and experience in Salzburg
to understand another part of
their history. You can make
reservations directly at the
Hotel which is called now Villa
Trapp.
Their website is www.villa-trapp.com .
Salzburg is usually very busy
during summer due to their
annual festival.
Our next stop on this trip
was to the city of Berlin, the
new capital of Germany. At one
time the capital was Bonn
Germany (in fact one of my
uncles served as an Ambassador
there) but during the
reunification of Germany in 1990
Berlin then became the capital
of Germany. We arrived at the
Intercontinental Hotel in Berlin
in the afternoon. This Berlin
Intercontinental is one of the
largest Intercontinental Hotels I
know because I had stayed in
several Intercontinental Hotels
all over the world another one
is the Intercontinental Hotel in
Dubai that is a massive size.
Several American Presidents have
stayed here in Berlin
Intercontinental from the late
President Ronald Reagan to
President Barack Obama, and
other famous government
officials from other countries.
As always we were greeted by
their friendly staff and I got
the chance to meet their General
Manager Mr. Aernout De Jong, a
very nice gentlemen. I also had
the opportunity to interview the
lovely Christiane Reisberger who
is the Office Manager -
Executive Office, you will
see my interview with her later
at the Marlene Dietrich Lounge.
I was able to have discussion
with several lovely ladies from
the Front Desk to the VIP Lounge
which included Lisa Lichtblau,
Reception Manager, Katharina
Eycke, Rooms Division Manager,
Elisabeth Kruzewitz, Jessica
Schrapp, Jana Schmidt, and
Kristina Mladenouc.
We also met with my friend from
Berlin, Businessman Michael
Sabeth - it was nice to see him
again. The next day we all went
for a tour of the whole city of
Berlin from the west to the
east. I have been to the old
East Berlin, was there shortly
after the wall came down with my other friends.
Even to now you can still see
the difference between the west
and the east. Berlin has
beautiful old buildings that
surround the city. Should you
get the chance to visit Germany
do make sure to visit Berlin.
Make sure to check in at the
Intercontinental Hotel - you
will love the hotel as much as
we loved it. It has a stylish
indoor swimming pool, several
restaurants and the Marlene
Dietrich Lounge is very
beautiful and
very spacious VIP Lounge.
Their
website is www.berlin.intercontinental.com .
After several days in Berlin it
was time to go to London to see
friends and relatives. My friend
Tina Francisco and her daughter
Audry (both live in Paris) came
to meet us in London (I saw them
the year before in Paris). I
also met with my friend Patsy
O'Hagan who is a nurse in
London, and sister of my friend
Tina O'Hagan from Ireland who I
have visited several times. My
niece came to join us for dinner
the entire time when we were in
London. The first day in London,
Bill and I when to the store
that sells souvenirs. My friend
who owns the store gave Bill
discounted special pricing on
the many gifts he purchased. It
was nice to see him again. His
store is close to the famous
Ritz Hotel. After that Bill and
I stop at one of this nice
Italian Restaurant by Picadilly
name CICCHETTI, it is a very
busy restaurant due to
serving delicious food and the
staff are friendly. Alessio, who
was assigned to us made sure to
take good care of us in spite of
the restaurant being busy. This
time we stayed at Crown Plaza
London Kensington because it is
closer to Kensington Palace. And
all met the friendly staff
from Gustavo Justo, Diego Tituana, Roberta Nistri, Gessica
Cancilleri, Gianluca Bassi and
Flavio Ricci. Crown Plaza is
also a part of Intercontinental
Hotel.
One day Bill and I met with my
friend, a royalty, the Duchess
Maria Perry who takes us to
Kensington palace every time I’m
in London. At this visit I was
with Bill Lee Lanndis. First we
had dinner, but before
dining we always toast first
with champagne before the
delicious dinner. Afterward we
toured Kensington Palace from
the first floor all the way to
the top floor. We saw the rooms
where the past monarch lived,
Queen Victoria grew up
in this Palace, and where the
late Princess Diana used to
live. When we reached the top
floor all the beautiful clothes
of Princess Diana are displayed.
We enjoyed the tour too much, we
forgot that we were meeting my
niece and additional friends
from Paris and London for dinner
again that evening. If my niece
had not phoned me I would have
slipped. It is time for the
article to go to press, so I am
signing off. We will share with
you again about our next
wonderful trips!
We thank our sponsors and host
starting off with The
Intercontinental Hotel Vienna
Austria, and its General Manager
Brigitte Trattner, Mr. Ronald
Hogerbruggh General Manager of
Intercontinental Hotel,
Intercontinental Hotel Berlin,
Crown Plaza Kensington, London,
Anton Bauer Wines, Wagram,
Austria, Chef Morwald of Wagram,
Austria, Stanglwirt Bio Hotel
(The Wooden Castle & Green Spa
Resort), International Wine
Masters, Giorgio G. Cognac (by
famous designer Giorgio GUCCI),
Emperors Brand, Wine World Wide
Inc., Robert Lester of Vienna
Austria & Dubai, Black Tie
International Magazine, and
Gerard Mc Keon, Publisher of
Black Tie International
Magazine. Additionally, our
friends Robert Lester, Duchess
Maria Perry, General Manager, Ms Brigittie Trattner, General
Manager, Mr. Ronald Hoogerbrugge, Adam Kuhtreiber, Mr.
Gerhard Harwarth , Christian
Plank all from Intercontinental
Vienna, Tina O'Hagan, Patsy
O'Hagan, Tina and Audry
Francisco, My niece
Nerrissa and
of course the Hauser family and
their staff, and our favorite
driver Manfred. Their generous
hospitality made our trip so
much more enjoyable. We thank
you all.