Comfort Hotel - on road between Erfurt, Germany and Weimar, Germany - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

On the outskirts of Erfurt, GERMANY, we noticed a banner proclaiming special room rates as we drove by the Comfort Hotel on the road between Erfurt and Weimar.

The hotel, actually a motel, was new and had a large, free parking lot. We got a nice room with all amenities for under $55 a night for two, including an above-average German buffet breakfast.

* For dinner in Erfurt we ate an excellent pizza at Don Camillo (29 Michaelisstrasse), about a 5-minute walk from the Fischmarkt, for under $30 for two including wine. The host was remarkably friendly and spoke fluent English, a rarity in the former GDR.

* We were in Berlin at the time of the 4-day Ascension Day holiday. All the hotels, even at $200 a night, were fully booked and the main tourist bureau in the Europa Center had no leads. Through a private agency, Erste Mitwohnzentrale (phone 324 30 31), we lucked into an outstanding private room (Mommsenstrasse 57, 10629 Berlin; phone 49 30 327 56 58 or 49 30 324 79 78, or fax 49 30 327 056 59).

The landlady, Patricia Brettingham-Smith, is a British expatriate who has lived in Berlin for 30 years. She has a bright, airy, modern apartment on the second floor with an accessible lift. There are three bed rooms with two shared baths in an area of the apartment separated from Patricia's quarters. For several nights when we were there, there were no other guests, so we had a de facto private bath.

Her apartment is in Charlottenburg on a quiet street, one (long) block from the Ku'damm, three (short) blocks from the Charlottenburg S-bahn station and two (short) blocks from the No. 149 bus line. There is a plethora of good restaurants within a 5-minute walk -- Greek, Italian, sushi, Spanish, etc. (If asked, Patricia will share her refrigerator for storage of breakfast and cocktail-hour items.)

If you book directly with her you can save the agency commission. The room for two that we had rented went for about $55 a night. (May '99)

ROGER & ANNE WEISS, Bayside, CA

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