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DAY
1 DEPARTURE FROM NORTH AMERICA
Enjoy
full meal service on your scheduled wide-bodied flight
to Vienna.
DAY
2 ARRIVE VIENNA (3 NIGHTS)
You will be met at the airport by your tour manager/guide
where we board our own private coach and transfer to our
hotel in Vienna, capital of Austria and for 600 years the
glittering capital of the Hapsburg Empire. Vienna has an
incomparable musical heritage and is the city of Mozart,
Beethoven, Schubert, Hayden, Brahms and Johann Strauss.
Our first visit this afternoon
will be to the former winter palace of the Habsburgs, the
vast and impressive Hofburg Palace, which sits in the
heart of Vienna. This complex of imperial edifices grew
with the empire, so that today the palace is virtually a
city within a city. Our visit will include the
Imperial Apartments; the Imperial Treasury,
featuring the crown jewels and an assortment of imperial
riches.
DAY
3 VIENNA - HAYDN, BEETHOVEN, AND BRAHMS (AND MORE)
We start the day at Schubert’s Birth House and a
walking tour of Nußdorf neighborhood. Then we will stop at
Johann Strauss’ Apartment and Haydn’s House
with Brahms’ Room. We will spend some meditative
time at the Central Cemetery where we will find
Beethoven's Tomb, Mozart's Monument,
Schoenberg’s Tomb, Schubert's Tomb, and Brahm’s Tomb.
Other notable musicians buried here are Antonio Salieri,
Hugo Wolf, Karl Goldmark, and the singer Lotte
Lehmann.
· Your
First Concert Performance will be today
DAY
4 VIENNA AND BEETHOVEN
We will begin our tour with a visit to St. Stephen’s
Cathedral, one of Europe’s great Medieval Churches built
over a period of 300 years beginning in 1258. We start our
musical exploration of Vienna with a visit to
including and Mozart’s Figarohaus Apartment.
Next we will explore the life and
work of Beethoven with a visit to the Heiligenstadt
Testament House, and will follow some of Beethoven’s
walks and visit Heiligenstadt Park. We will also
visit the museum at the
Pasqualati House and spend a moment at the site of his
death.
DAY
5 VIENNA - ST. FLORIAN - SALZBURG AREA (3 NIGHTS)
Leaving Vienna this morning we travel to Salzburg. En route
we will visit the Abbey of St. Florian where Anton
Bruckner, recognized as Austria’s greatest composer of
church music, worked and is buried. After ample time to
explore St Florian we continue on the city forever
associated with Mozart.
· Your Second Concert Performance
will be today
DAY
6 SALZBURG
Our morning begins with a Walking Tour through the
Old City, a maze of meandering lanes, curious steeples,
cobbled streets and spacious squares. Here we will view
Mozart's Birthplace, the Old Square, the
Cathedral, and the Residenz. A highlight of our
walk will be the Glockenspiel, an early 18th century
carillon with 35 bells, which we can hear from one of the
cafes lining the edges of the Mozartplatz, while sipping our
favorite coffee or drink. We continue with a visit to the
Residenz, Salzburg’s opulent palace, which was the seat of
the Salzburg prince-archbishops. The child prodigy Mozart
often played in the Conference Room for guests, and in 1867,
Emperor Franz Joseph received Napoléon III in the palace.
We will enjoy a tour of the richly decorated State Rooms,
and the Residenzgalerie Salzburg, an art gallery that
contains European paintings from the 16th to the 19th
century, displayed in 15 historic rooms. We continue with a
visit to Salzburg Cathedral, world renowned for its
4,000-pipe organ. Hailed by some critics as the "most
perfect" Renaissance building in the Germanic countries, the
cathedral has a marble façade and twin symmetrical towers.
We will conclude our afternoon on Salzburg’s most famous
street, the Getreidegasse, which is lined with small
shops, interesting houses and wrought-iron signs.
· Your Third Concert Performance
will be today
DAY
7 DAY TRIP TO NEUSCHWANSTEIN, WEISKIRCHE &
LINDERHOF
This morning we will take a day trip into the heart of
Bavaria to explore the former treasures of "Mad" King Ludwig
II. We begin with a visit to Neuschwanstein Castle,
situated on an outcrop of rock towering over a gorge in the
River Pollat. This is one of Germany's most famous castles,
though the king himself only lived there for 172 days. The
Throne Room, designed in Byzantine style with
gilded mural paintings, mosaics and a huge chandelier, will
highlight our tour. Our day continues to Wieskirche, where
we will visit the unique Church of Zum Gegeisselten
Heiland. The church is the most resplendent example of
South German Rococo and is one of the finest Rococo churches
in the world, designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO
in 1983. Our day in Bavaria concludes with a visit to
Linderhof Palace, another of Ludwig II's residences,
which clearly shows his fondness for France and Louis XIV.
After touring the extravagantly decorated rooms of the
palace, we will explore the extensive Park, featuring
French-style Formal Gardens, Italianate terraced gardens, a
Moorish kiosk with a lavish Peacock Throne, and the Grotto
with a lake, stage, throne, and colorful lighting.
DAY
8
DEPARTURE FROM SALZBURG
Your enjoyable and rewarding
tour will come to an end as your tour manager/guide accompanies
you to the airport for the return flight home.
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