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DAY
1 DEPARTURE FROM NORTH AMERICA
Enjoy full meal service on your scheduled wide-bodied flight
to Prague.
DAY
2 ARRIVE
PRAGUE (3 NIGHTS) (THE LITTLE QUARTER)
You will be met at the airport by your tour manager/guide
and transferred to your hotel. Prague is the capital of the
Czech Republic, built on seven hills astride a great river.
The beauty of Prague is legendary; Goethe described the city
as “the most precious stone in the crown of this world.”
Upon our arrival in Prague, we visit the Church of St. Nicholas,
one of Prague’s most spectacular Baroque churches, completed
in 1761. Ornately decorated; the church features statues,
frescoes and paintings by the leading artists of the day.
We conclude our day with a visit to St. Thomas’s, the
oldest beer hall in Prague, dating back to 1352. Augustinian
monks first brewed beer here for Prague Castle. We visit the
three beer halls, including the most spectacular named “the
cave” furnished in mock medieval style.
DAY 3
PRAGUE (THE ROYAL ROUTE)
Today we follow the route of the coronation processions
for the Bohemian kings and queens, linking two important royal
seats, the Royal Court and Prague Castle. Our Walking
Tour begins on the former site of the Royal Court,
now the Municipal House. We pass under the Gothic Powder Gate
and walk along one of Prague’s most historic streets,
the Celetna. We continue down the Celetna
until we reach Old Town Square, site of much
of Prague’s colorful history. We have time to explore
the square and its varied architecture before visiting the
Old Town Hall. Established in 1338 after
King John of Luxembourg agreed to set up a town council, the
town hall became a site for executions and uprisings. We ascend
the Hall Tower, where we will have wonderful
views over the city. We also view the Town Hall Clock,
which provides one of Prague’s greatest shows each hour.
Our walk continues along Karlova Street before passing under
Bridge Tower, the entrance to the magnificent Charles
Bridge. The bridge connects the Old Town and the
Little Quarter, and is flanked by statues of the great Saints.
We continue through the Little Quarter on Mostecka Street
and continuing into Hradcany via Nerudova Street. Our walk
concludes at Prague Castle, founded in the
9th century, overlooking the city center. Inside Prague Castle,
we will visit St. Vitus Cathedral, the city’s
most distinctive landmark built in 1344 on the orders of Charles
IV. We continue with a stroll down Golden Lane,
one of Prague’s most charming streets and conclude our
afternoon in Prague Castle with a visit to the Royal
Palace the seat of the Bohemian princes. After dinner,
we can explore the area around Wenceslas Square.
DAY
4
PRAGUE (THE LESSER TOWN)
This morning we explore the Mala Strana,
or Lesser Town. This is Prague’s baroque soul, founded
in 1257 as the second of the royal towns. During the 17th
and 18th centuries, foreign noblemen and the Catholic church
engaged outstanding architects and artists to embellish what
is the city’s most picturesque quarter. Full of old
palaces, including the magnificent Wallenstein Palace; Lesser
Town is a maze of crooked cobblestone lanes full of old churches,
museums, inns, wine cellars and charming parks. We have the
remainder of the day to explore Prague at our leisure.
DAY 5 PRAGUE
- BERLIN (3 NIGHTS)
This morning we will travel to the historic and modern
capital city of Berlin. Our sightseeing begins with a visit
to Museum Haus am Checkpoint Charlie, where
we will view parts of the Berlin Wall,
as well as an illustrated history of the Berlin Wall, and
the division it caused in the city and in Germany. This afternoon
we will take a Walking Tour of Breitscheidplatz and
Ku’ Damm, the center of the former West Berlin.
The Ku’ Damm is Berlin’s showcase boulevard, renowned
for its great cafes visited by famous writers, directors and
painters. During our walk, we will see the Kantdreieck, a
building containing only right angles, the Judisches Gemeindehaus,
Fasanenstrasse, the Theater des Westens, the Ludwig-Erhard
Haus, and the spectacular Europa Center. At the conclusion
of our walk, we will visit the Kaiser-Wilhelm Gedachtniskirche
(Memorial Church), where you will see the destructive
power of war. The church was damaged heavily during WWII and
has been left in its damaged state as a reminder of war and
its consequences.
DAY
6
BERLIN (EAST BERLIN: A NEW FREEDOM)
Our morning commences with a visit to the Reichstag,
a building destroyed by the Allies in WWII, which today is
again the home of the country's parliament. The building still
evokes the neo-Renaissance style it had when it opened in
1894, though a new glass dome designed by Sir Norman Foster
crowns the modern version. We will go through the west gate
for an Elevator Ride up to the dome,
where a sweeping vista of Berlin opens before us on the Observation
Platform. We continue to Brandenburg
Gate, a triumphal arch, which stood in no man’s
land between East and West Berlin during the Cold War and
became a symbol of a divided Germany. We will enter the Room
of Silence, built into one of the guardhouses,
where visitors gather to meditate and reflect on Germany's
past, before continuing with a Walking Tour down
the famous Unter den Linden, one of Berlin’s
most fashionable and important boulevards. Along the walk
we will view the Deutsche Staatsbibliothek, the Equestrian
Statue of Frederick the Great, Humboldt-Universitat and the
Deutsche Staatsoper, before stopping for a visit to the Neue
Wache, a monument to victims of Militarism and Fascism.
The building houses the mortal remains of the Unknown Soldier
from the battlefields and of an unknown prisoner from a concentration
camp. This afternoon we visit the Pergamon Museum,
where we will focus on the Department of Greek
and Roman Antiquities, housed in the north and
east wings of the museum. We will enter the central hall to
view the Pergamon Altar (180-160 b.c.), which is so large
that it has a huge room all to itself, and some 27 steps lead
from the museum floor up to the colonnade. We will conclude
the day with a visit to the Berliner Dom (Berlin
Cathedral), a modern cathedral destroyed during WWII, but
fully restored to its original beauty.
DAY
7 BERLIN (THE TREASURES OF BERLIN)
This morning we visit Schloss Charlottenburg,
one of the finest examples of baroque architecture in Germany.
Built by Sophie Charlotte, the wife of Friedrich I, the residence
was begun as a summer palace, but eventually grew into the
massive structure we will view today. Our visit will include
the Historical Apartments, including
the apartments of Friedrich and his "philosopher queen,"
the Reception Chamber, decorated with frieze panels, vaulted
ceilings, and mirror-paneled niches, and the Porcelain Chamber,
containing a fine collection of Chinese porcelain. We will
also visit the new wing, known as the Knobelsdorff-Flügel,
which contains the apartments of Friedrich the Great. We will
have a bit of free time to wander and explore the extensive
Royal Park, including the French
style Baroque garden, before continuing to the Tiergarten,
the largest green space in central Berlin, with more than
14 miles of meandering walkways, canals, ponds, and flowerbeds.
Among the park's monuments we will view is the Victory
Column, a golden goddess of victory perched atop
a soaring red-granite pedestal. Those that choose can climb
the 290-step spiral staircase to the 157-ft. Observation
Platform. We conclude the day with a visit to the
Gemäldegalerie (Picture Gallery),
one of Germany's finest art museums. Several rooms are devoted
to early German masters, including the Dürer collection,
as well as many of the great European masters including Raphael,
Titian, Botticelli, Correggio, van Eyck, Bosch, Brueghel,
and Rembrandt. This evening we will explore and dine in the
historic Nikolaiviertel, restored in time
for the city's 750th anniversary, located on the banks of
the Spree River. This is where Berlin was born, and many of
the medieval and baroque buildings in the neighborhood were
completely reconstructed after World War II.
DAY
8 DEPARTURE FROM BERLIN
Our enjoyable and rewarding
tour will come to an end as our tour manager/guide accompanies
us to the airport for the return flight home.
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