V:TES European Championship 2004 Info Letter (TM)

[MarcusVitel]

VTES European Championship

I. Introduction
II. Arrival by airplane
III. Arrival by train
IV. Arrival by car
V. Staying at the guesthouse
VI. Sightseeing tour
VII. The 10th Anniversary party
VIII. Registration
IX. Lunch
X. The rpg shop
XI. Smoking
XII. Contact
XIII. More information


I. Introduction

Another few days and the 6th VTES European Championship will begin. This
year the Championship will take place in Heidelberg, Germany. The
organisers, Johannes Walch and Andreas Nusser, are looking forward to
hosting almost 200 players from over 15 nations.

Due to frequently asked questions by participants we set up another
informal letter for helping participants getting around the EC:


II. Arrival by airplane

If you do arrive by airplane, you are most likely to arrive in Frankfurt
airport. Frankfurt airport has two big terminals. Terminal 1 and Terminal 2.
Usually if you depart from Frankfurt you will have to check in at the
same terminal you arrive, unless you take different flight companies.
Depending on the time of your arrival, you should be finished with
customs and picking up your luggage within 30-40 min for
any visitor. (It took me about 15 min this year to check through customs
when I came back from the US)

Here is a map of the Frankfurt airport:
http://www.vekn.de/main/ec2004/travel/plan.pdf

You can also visit the website http://www.frankfurt-airport.de for more
information (in German or English)

There are two options to go to Heidelberg from Frankfurt. Either you
take the train or you take an airport transportation cab.

Taking the train means that you have to go to Terminal 1 and get to level 0. If you arrive at Terminal 2 you need to the skyline train which transports you to Terminal 1. There is a counter for buying tickets. You need to buy a ticket for Heidelberg Hauptbahnhof. Tickets range from 16,50 EUR to around 25 EUR depending if you take the high velocity train or the regular train with more stops. The assistant should speak English, so do not worry to ask questions. For most trains to Heidelberg, you will have to change the train in Mannheim Hauptbahnhof. Any information for changing trains and finding the correct platform should be on your ticket. Most conductors speak English.

To inform you in advance off possible train connections you can also
visit the website of the German railroad company called .Die Bahn..
There website is http://www.bahn.de (English, Spanish and several other
languages).

From Heidelberg Hauptbahnhof you can call a cab. The cab should cost no
more than 10 EUR. Otherwise take the bus line 54 and go to Bonhoeffer
Straß 12. See this for more information:
http://www.vekn.de/main/ec2004/travel/s ... glisch.pdf

If you take the airport transportation cab the fair is around 29 EUR.
They pick you up at the airport and depending how many people, you are
travelling with you either ride with your friends or sahre the cab with
others. Reservations can be made up to 3 days ahead. Reservations can be
made here:
http://www.cvb-heidelberg.de/e705/e743/index_eng.html


III. Arrival by train

If you plan to arrive by train, you should look into arriving at
Heidelberg Hauptbahnhof. Depending where you start you probably have to
change your connection train at Mannheim Hauptbahnhof which is the
turnstile for all southern and northern train connections. Tickets
prices vary. Please look up the German railroad .Die Bahn. website at
www.bahn.de for any connections, reservations and so on.

Once you are in Heidelberg you can take a cab for at most 10 EUR. Please
let them have you bring to the seminar centre (Bonhoefferstraß 12)

Here is a map of the seminar centre in English:
http://www.vekn.de/main/ec2004/travel/s ... glisch.pdf


IV. Arrival by car

See instructions here
http://www.vekn.de/main/ec2004/travel/s ... glisch.pdf


V. Staying at the guesthouse

We have arranged for quite a few people a stay at the guesthouse. A list
for the people arriving at the guesthouse can be found here:
http://www.vekn.de/main/ec2004/booked

If you arrive in between 8 in the morning and 6 in the evening you can
just walk in the seminar centre and go to the reception and ask for your
key. I have made the reservations with your names (the people asking me
to stay at the
guesthouse).

If you do come in later or earlier please see the night reception (house
number 17): http://www.vekn.de/main/ec2004/travel/s ... glisch.pdf

Check in is around noon. I think it might be possible to just leave your
stuff at the reception. Please ask though.

Check out is at 11 am.

!! IMPORTANT !!
Paying: Please do pay the organisers in cash at the saturday EC
registration. I strongly recommend you bringing enough cash with you. It
is 49 EUR for a single room/night and 65 EUR for a double/night. If you
do not have the money for the hotel at the EC registration we will not
let you play or let you stay another night at the guesthouse. There will
be a separate table near the registration tables for paying the guesthouse.
!! IMPORTANT !!

Paying drinks, telephone etc. : You will just pay us the money
for the stay. Everything else (mini bar, telephone and such has to be
paid at the reception when checking out)

Breakfast, lunch and dinner is not included. The reception sells
breakfast tickets. You may also have breakfast at the liberty. Same
applies for lunch and dinner.


VI. Sightseeing tour.

On Friday the 26th we offer a little sightseeing tour. If you plan to
attend be at the Bismarckplatz at noon. We have two guides. Johannes and Fabian. Fabian is more history orientated. He will likely go to all the
historic places and his tour will be a little bit longer while Johannes
while just go to some of the main attractions.


VII. The 10th Anniversary party

On Friday the 26th we will celebrate the 10th Anniversary party at the
Linerty restaurant just beneath the SRH guesthouse. WE will stay in a
separate room of the Liberty. The party costs nothing and anybody
(girl-friend, wife, husband and so on) may attend. Preregistered players
will receive two free drink tickets which allows to acquire any of the
following drinks: coke, water, apple juice and beer. Other drinks can be
purchased normally.

Stephan Lavrut will host a VTES trivia quiz throughout the night.
The winner will receive an anniversary set (set A and B).


VIII. Registration

Be sure to:

- Register early. Registration begins at 9 am on both days. Please be on
time. See the schedule at http://www.vekn.de/main/ec2004/schedule. We will not accept any late entries.
- Bring enough cash with you. We cannot accept any credit cards.
- To pick up the information + instruction paper. The instructions will
be handed out at the door of the seminar centre. Please read through
them. They will contain the most important information of the processes
you will go through.
- To receive the arm wrist bands. Each band matches a different colour.
They will be given out at the EC and each colour represents a different
tournament.
If you do not posses the right colour you cannot participate in the
event. If you lose them during the day we will give you a warning. The
bands are also essential in gaining the anniversary sets and will be
marked. If you lose them we cannot hand out another Anniversary set.

Each player will receive a plastic/paper bag with promo cards. Players
who have signed up for the anniversary sets, t-shirts and other stuff
will get it along with the bag. Please be sure to check everything for
correctness.


IX. Lunch

Note: There is a small change towards the information on lunch which we
had on the vekn site.

Lunch at the university cafeteria is not an option anymore. We have
found another solution though.

The restaurant Liberty offers two different meals (Schnitzels + French
Fries + Salad or something with noodles like Spaghetti) for 8,80 EUR
including one soft drink or an all you can eat buffet without a drink
for 12 EUR.

Lunch tickets can be bought on friday until 5 pm at the reception, on
sat/sun after registration and before seating, also at the end of round 1.

Of course you can bring your own drinks and food.


X. The local RPG shop

After the registration a local shop will open a rpg shop. The shop
offers along cards things like card protection, rpg books etc. The rpg
shop will open for two days. If you do not find anything on Saturday you
can ask the guy if he has it at the store. He will likely have it and
bring it in on Sunday then.


XI. Smoking

Smoking is prohibited at the seminar centre. If you do feel the need for
smoking please get outside on the patio. There are ash trays.


XII. Contact

You can contact Johannes or me through email until Wednesday.

Johannes email address is Johannes@scram.de
Mine is a.nusser@vekn.de

From Thursday on we don´t check emails on a regular basis.
However you can get in touch with us by cell phone:

Johannes Walch +49 160 8841138
Andreas Nusser +49 160 8841105
Erol Ögü +49 178 8632460

The number of the seminar centre is +49 6221 882219


XIII. More information

Tourist information on Heidelberg http://www.cvb-heidelberg.de
SRH Seminar center http://www.seminazentrum.srh.de
German railroad .Die Bahn. http://www.bahn.de
Airport cab http://www.tls-heidelberg.de
Frankfurt airport: http://www.frankfurt-airport.de
V:EKN Germany http://www.vekn.de