-Day 1 Overnight Flight to Germany (Berlin)
Day 2 Guten Tag Berlin
Meet your tour director and check into hotel
Details: Nikolai Quarter
Curriculum Connections: Grade 11: Profession of Faith 2: Faith Seeking Understanding, Christian Moral Development 2: Seeking Understanding // Grace 11 & 12: Prayer and Sacramental Life 1: Prayer, Profession of Faith 3: Faith Lived // Grade 12: Prayer and Sacramental Life 2. Sacrament, Prayer and Sacramental Life 3. Living out Prayer and Sacrament
Day 3 Berlin landmarks
Details: Berlin guided sightseeing tour
Join a professional, licensed tour guide as you discover one of the most historical cities in Germany. Although nothing remains of the mortar and cement-block barrier between East and West Berlin, the Berlin Wall (built in 1961; destroyed in 1989) is still a main “site” in Berlin. View the well-known Brandenburg Gate, once a main gate hidden behind a 10-foot barrier and now known for celebratory dancing on its flat top during the reunification. Travel to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum, the most famous border crossing point. Checkpoint Charlie, once a wooden guard hut, was the most (in)famous border-crossing point between East and West Berlin from 1961 to 1989. All that remains of the checkpoint itself is a skeletal watchtower and a memorial of attempted escapees. Follow your guide as they lead you through the museum’s accounts of the most ingenious of these escape attempts— even a few by hot air balloon.
Details: Checkpoint Charlie Museum visit
Visit the museum that documents the history and significance of the most famous crossing point between East and West Berlin during the Cold War.
Details: Neues Palais guided visit
Visit the Neues Palais, ordered by Frederick the Great, including the Palace, the Grotto, and the Theater.
Details: Alexanderplatz treasure hunt
Take interactive learning to another level with a Tour Director-led treasure hunt of Alexanderplatz, Berlin's most famous public square! Enjoy an after-dinner adventure, complete exciting activities and solve fun clues. Each clue and every activity is built to maximize on-tour experiential learning.
Day 4 Berlin--Prague
Details: Transfer via Dresden to Prague
Stop in Dresden for a visit to the Baroque-style Zwinger Museum where Bavarian Princes once lived and collected master art works. The museum’s exterior, framed by statues of gods and goddesses, boasts 6 linked pavilions surrounding a vast esplanade embellished with pools and fountains. Tucked safely inside, you’ll find masterpieces such as Raphael’s Sistine Madonna and great works by Van Eyck, Vermeer and Veronese. The grand collection of Meissen (European porcelain) is a flattering ode to fine china.
Curriculum Connections: Grade 12: Profession of Faith 2: Faith Seeking Understanding
Details: Zwinger Museum visit
Explore the massive hallways and high-vaulted rooms of the grand Zwinger Palace in Dresden, which is considered a major landmark for German Baroque architecture. Housed inside this impressive building is a collection of artifacts documenting Dresden’s cultural heritage, including old master paintings and old scientific instruments.
Details: Prague city walk
Feel the inspiration for Franz Kafka’s novels as you stroll the medieval streets of the Mala Strana (Little Quarter). Stop in Josefov (Jewish Quarter), to view Europe’s oldest synagogue, dating from 1270.
Day 5 Prague landmarks
Details: Prague guided sightseeing tour
Follow a professional licensed tour guide on a sightseeing adventure through the most prized city in Eastern Europe. As the former capital of the Holy Roman Empire, the city was built on beauty and decadence from a wide array of architectural styles (including Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and Art Nouveau). See Hradcany (Prague Castle) where Europe’s grand ruling family, the Habsburgs, lived and reigned. Wander into the castle’s courtyard to view the richly textured flying buttresses of St. Vitus Cathedral, the sacred structure that took 600 years to complete.
Details: Prague Castle
Prague Castle in the Hradcany quarter, was named by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest ancient castle in the world. Prague Castle represents virtually all of the architectural designs of the last millennium and contains several churches, a monastery, gardens as well as multiple museums.
Details: Visit St. Vitus Cathedral
Curriculum Connections: Grade 11: Profession of Faith 2: Faith Seeking Understanding, Christian Moral Development 2: Seeking Understanding // Grade 11 & 12: Profession of Faith 3: Faith Lived, Prayer and Sacramental Life 1: Prayer // Grade 12: Prayer and Sacramental Life 2. Sacrament, Prayer and Sacramental Life 3. Living out Prayer and Sacrament
Day 6 Prague--Krakow
Travel to Kraków
Details: Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum guided visit
Travel to Auschwitz, Nazi Germany’s largest internment and extermination camp, to pay your respects and remember the millions of innocent men, women and children who were killed there during Hitler’s reign. Curriculum Connections: Grade 11: Prayer and Sacramental Life 1: Prayer // Grade 12: Profession of Faith 3: Faith Lived, Christian Moral Development 1: Foundations
Day 7 Krakow landmarks
Traditional Polish dinner
Details: Krakow guided sightseeing tour
Untouched by bombing during World War II, Krakow has maintained much of its delicate beauty and rich history. (UNESCO has declared the entire city one of the 12 most significant historic sites in the world.) Its magnificent airy castle, built by Sigismund the Old in an Italian villa style, was the seat of Poland's royal government. The Rynek Glówny, medieval Europe's largest town square, dealt with more mundane concerns, and the market stalls and merchants that still congregate here carry on the old traditions.
Details: Wawel Hill, Wawel Castle & Cathedral
Curriculum Connections: Grade 11: Profession of Faith 2: Faith Seeking Understanding, Christian Moral Development 2: Seeking Understanding // Grade 11 & 12: Prayer and Sacramental Life 1: Prayer, Profession of Faith 3: Faith Lived // Grade 12: Prayer and Sacramental Life 2. Sacrament, Prayer and Sacramental Life 3. Living out Prayer and Sacrament
Details: St. Mary's Basilica
Curriculum Connections: Grade 11: Profession of Faith 2: Faith Seeking Understanding, Christian Moral Development 2: Seeking Understanding // Grade 11 & 12: Profession of Faith 3: Faith Lived, Prayer and Sacramental Life 1: Prayer
Details: Kazimierz Jewish Quarter
Explore the Kazimierz Jewish Quarter, the main cultural center of Polish Jewry with its unique Oriental atmosphere. Its soul perished during the traumatic events of the Second World War, but many of the buildings, some still with Yiddish inscriptions, survived. Today, the revival of Jewish life and activity in Kazimierz is visible in the numerous restored buildings, fashionable cafes, and restaurants.
Day 9 Budapest landmarks
Goulash dinner
Details: Budapest guided sightseeing tour
Travel with a professional licensed tour guide through the meandering streets of Budapest. Wave to the 90 statues of Hungarian historical heroes that line the outside of the Neo-Gothic Hungarian Parliament. Continue through Castle Hill, the historic center of Buda, on your way to Fisherman's Bastion, a lookout tower behind the Matthias Church where residents once gazed upon the thriving fishing settlement. Head to the Royal Palace on Castle Hill, the original site of the castle built in the 13th century. Visit Matthias Church, as riotously painted as an Easter egg. Bet your traveling companions to find an unpainted inch of the church’s interior (a sure win for you). Originally named the Church of the Blessed Virgin in Buda and converted into a mosque when Ottoman armies seized Buda in 1541, the church, with its multi-colored tin roof, is one of the most photographed sights in Budapest. Descend the stairway to the right of the altar for a quick journey into the crypt and treasury.
Details: Matthias Church
Curriculum Connections: Grade 11: Profession of Faith 2: Faith Seeking Understanding, Christian Moral Development 2: Seeking Understanding // Grade 11 & 12: Profession of Faith 3: Faith Lived
--Day 10 Start extension to Vienna
Travel to Vienna via Gyor
Day 11 Vienna landmarks
Wiener Schnitzel dinner
Details: Vienna guided sightseeing tour
Join a professional licensed tour guide on a sightseeing adventure around Vienna, the city of brilliant musicians, Baroque art and architecture, and velvet-clad coffeehouses. Along your journey, you’ll sense the power and decadence of the city’s early ruling family, the almighty Habsburgs. Wander down the infamous Ringstraße, the series of boulevards circling the city, commissioned by Emperor Franz Josef in 1857. Pass the world-famous Opera House and the 450-foot Gothic St. Stephan’s Cathedral, Vienna’s most adored symbol. Encounter the Neoclassical Parliament, where the Austrian National and Federal Councils congregate. See the Habsburgs' winter retreat at the Hofburg (Imperial Palace). Inside lies the Imperial Treasury, which includes religious relics like the nails from the Crucifixion and the thorns from Christ’s crown. End the adventure with a visit to Schönbrunn Palace, where the Habsburg’s ruled until 1918 and six-year-old Mozart serenaded Marie Antoinette.
Details: Schönbrunn Palace visit
Stop just outside the city center for a visit to the 1,441-room Schönbrunn Palace, which was designed for the Habsburgs
before becoming the imperial summer palace during the 40-year reign of Maria Theresa. It was the scene of great
aristocratic events during the Congress of Vienna, including a performance by a 6-year-old Mozart.
Details: Visit St. Stephen’s Cathedral
Curriculum Connections: Grade 11: Profession of Faith 2: Faith Seeking Understanding, Christian Moral Development 2: Seeking Understanding // Grade 11 & 12: Profession of Faith 3: Faith Lived // Grade 11: Profession of Faith 1: Faith Foundation //Grade 12: Scripture 1: Core Teachings
Tour Includes:
- Round-trip airfare
- 8 overnight stays (10 with extension) in hotels with private bathrooms
- Full European breakfast daily
- Dinner daily
- Full-time services of a professional tour director
- Guided sightseeing tours and city walks as per itinerary
- Visits to select attractions as per itinerary
- Tour Diary™
- Local Guide and Local Bus Driver tips; see note regarding other important tips
- Note: On arrival day only dinner is provided; on departure day, only breakfast is provided
- Note: Tour cost does not include airline-imposed baggage fees, or fees for any required passport or visa. Optional excursions, optional pre-paid Tour Director and multi-day bus driver tipping, among other individual and group customizations will be listed as separate line items in the total trip cost, if included.
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