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IMPERIAL CAPITALS of EUROPE
BUDAPEST, VIENNA, PRAGUE & BERLIN..
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Discounts to $400.
See details below.
Maximum of 4 participants.
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Your host and guide is MIKE ROSS, your local guide to the world since 1982!
An exciting RAIL TOUR of Eastern Europe awaits you. BUDAPEST with its magnificent Parliament, Chain Bridge and the Vaci Utca, VIENNA, with the grand structures of its 19th century empire, Strauss music and Blue Danube; PRAGUE, where each building looks like a pastel wedding cake, vibrant with its Holy Roman Empire past; and BERLIN, with its long history of conquest, ruin and rebirth.
The tour includes air from Detroit, breakfast and dinner daily, first class hotels, rail transportation between the capitals, airport and station transfers, and full time guiding and translation services.
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Itinerary
Day 1: Transatlantic flight to Europe.
Day 2:BUDAPEST! A visit to St. Stephen´s Basilica with its 315 foot high dome begins the day. Later, during a stroll along the Vaci Utca, the city´s 5th Avenue, you´ll see the glittering shops and great coffee houses that have sprung up since the end of communism.
Day 3:BUDAPEST A visit to the Hungarian Parliament, the iconic structure along the Danube River starts the day. Next is the Hungarian National Museum, a treasure of exhibits from every era of Hungary´s long history.
Day 4:BUDAPEST This morning we visit the Hungarian National Gallery, housed in Budapest´s Royal Palace. This afternoon choose to visit a typical Hungarian thermal bath or take a stroll on the lovely Margaret Island. Dinner tonight is at a classic Hungarian restaurant with Gypsy Music.
Day 5:VIENNA From a FIRST CLASS rail car you will see the Danube Valley and the plains of Eastern Europe. Later we arrive in VIENNA. Capital of Austria and former imperial capital of the AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN EMPIRE, the city is redolent of past splendors. We will visit St. Stephan's Cathedral, Kärtner Street, the Fifth Avenue of Vienna, the mighty Danube, the Opera House, the Burg Theater and the elegant, tree-lined Ring Avenue.
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Day 6:VIENNA A visit to the summer residence of the Hapsburgs and Queen Maria Theresia, the Schönbrunn Palace, begins the day. This afternoon tour one of the top five painting collections in the world, the Kunsthistorisches Museum.
Day 7: VIENNA. The morning begins with a visit to the Hapsburg Royal Palace, home to the most powerful ruling family in European history. We will hear its grandiose and sad story, see the statues of its most famous residents and walk through its grandest rooms. This afternoon we will stroll the Kärtner Street and perhaps enjoy a cappuccino at Landtmann´s, a famous and opulent Vienna coffee house from the 19th century.
Day 8: PRAGUE. An early morning train takes us to Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic and Medieval capital of the HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE. The city today looks like a confectioner's dream, each building a giant, pastel wedding cake. We will walk this afternoon to Staromeska Square in the Old Town, site of the incredible Tyn Cathedral and the ancient Medieval astronomical clock. Later we will visit the Charles Bridge, filled with artisans and craftsmen.
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Day 9: PRAGUE This morning we will tour the former Royal Palace, the Hradcany. Crowned with its own Gothic cathedral, St. Vitus, this was the site of the beginning of the Thirty Years War, 1618-1648. This afternoon we will explore the medieval Jewish Ghetto.
Day 10:PRAGUE The Sternberg Palace, a fine Baroque structure, is the finest art collection in the nation. Rodin, Brueghel, El Greco, Kokoschka,Cranach, Picasso and Rousseau are all represented here. Later we stroll Wenceslas Square, site of much recent history. Today it is ringed with lovely hotels and smart shops, crowned with a statue of St. Wenceslas.
Day 11: BERLIN Our early train takes us through the valley of the Elbe River and is one of the most scenic train rides in Europe. The cliffs, valleys, villages and shimmering river are unforgettable. In Berlin we will walk through history down the Unter den Linden Street. At the end of the street we visit the Brandenburg Gate and then the capital building of a new, united Germany, the Reichstag, with its dark past and hopeful future. Later we will find the path of the old Berlin Wall where it divided the city into two parts during the Cold War.
Day 12:BERLIN A visit to the Pergamon Museum with its incredible Pergamon Altar, largest intact Greek altar in the world, starts the day. We will also see the Great Gate of Ishtar, the processional entrance to the ancient city of Babylon, both evidence of Berlin´s imperial past. This afternoon we will visit West Berlin, the famous Kurfürstendamm Street and the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.
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Day 13:BERLIN Long divided by the dreaded Berlin Wall, the Potsdamer Platz, former Times Square of the city, has been re-built into one of the most vibrant quarters of Europe. This afternoon we will find a section of that former wall and stroll along the Spree River
Day 14: Transfer to the Berlin airport to board our transatlantic flight back to the USA.
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$7975 per person in a double. $695 single supplement. FROM ONLY $7575 with early deposit. Price varies with air/currency fluctuations.
Reservation Form
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