| 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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