Travel Planners International - Northern Germany II

DISCOVER NORTHERN GERMANY II

Berlin - Saxony

9 Days 8 Nights

ITINERARY: Highlights include: Overnight flight to Berlin via Frankfurt arriving the next day. Hotel Berlin (3); city tour - experience the extraordinary cultural and night life of Berlin; visit nearby Sansoucci Palace and Potsdam; Leipzig: Hotel Park (2); city tour, visit of Bach Museum in the Archives; Highlight ; Meissen - tour of porcelain museum; Saxonian Wine Road to Dresden: Hotel Taschenbergpalais (2); city sight-seeing and visit of the Castle Moritzburg; Experience surprising and rustic Saxonian Switzerland; Final gala dinner at Taschenbergpalais.

Day 1
Departure U.S.A., arriving Berlin next day via Frankfurt.

Day 2
Transfer to Maritim Hotel Berlin (3 nights), welcome by tour guide to the bustling German capital. Day, evening at leisure. Berlin is a great metropolis blessed with lakes, woodlands, and parks covering a third of the city's area. You can dine to midnight chimes, breakfast outdoors to a jazz band beat, or join the strolling crowd along the Kurfurstendamm. Evening at leisure - perhaps the fabulous show at the Friedrichsstadt Palast or a little "Nachtmusik" at the Europa Center.

Day 3
Half-day city sightseeing or optional coach trip to nearby Potsdam and Frederick the Great's Sansoucci Palace. Discover the boroughs of Berlin - Charlottenburg, Tiergarten, Spandau, and Kreuzberg among others. Must visits: the Ka-de-We-, the biggest department store in continental Europe, the Brandenburg Gate, Unter den Linden, site of Checkpoint Charlie, trendy shopping on the Friedrichstrasse, and the Charlottenburg Palace. Dinner? Consider the Alt-Berliner Schneckenhaus near the Ku-damm (old Prussian style dining).

Day 4
A visit to the Museum Island, see the National Gallery and the Pergamon which houses priceless Greek artifacts and the famous church. A lunch suggestion: the sparkling Radisson Plaza Hotel nearby. Adjacent Alexanderplatz is also a must. Berlin offers something for everyone twenty-four hours a day - the Brandenburg Gate the Memorial Church - Unter den Linden. Evenings offer incredible diversity: concerts, legendary provocative cabarets or leisurely dining high-lighted by "Berliner Beer".

	*Day 5* Motorcoach to Leipzig, historic city of music and commercial trade fairs. Two nights at Hotel Park. Welcome cocktail.
Guided city tour on central theme "Musical History in Leipzig"; visit to the Bach Museum in the Archives, including guide. Evening at the opera or ticket to the Gewandhaus. For Dinner we suggest: Auerbach's Keller, where legend has it that Faust sold his soul to Mephisto.
*Day 6* Shopping Tour or visit to Museum of Books and Literature at Museum of Fine Arts or the Museum of Craft Arts. Visit the famed St. Nikolai Church. Coffee break at Café Concerto. Music buffs will wish to visit the Musical Instrument Museum (University) where - from silver trumpets to electric guitars - rare pieces give a summary of music history. Major orchestral and symphony programs are given throughout the year. *Day 7* Motorcoach to Dresden via Meissen on the Elbe River, tour the famous porcelain museum, then on to the former "Florence on the Elbe". Restoration has achieved a satisfying blend of old and new - Baroque, neo-classical, and modern buildings coexist harmoniously. The Zwinger Palace astonishes one; the Semper, Royal Palace, and Landhaus are as impressive as ever. Galleries and museums house art treasures of international repute. The river along the Elbe waterfront is almost Venetian in its splendor. Visit the gloriously restored baroque Frauenkirche, visit the Zwinger complex: a large quadrangle of pavilions and galleries, a series of beautiful Baroque buildings. Recommended are the galleries of old and new masters. The Dresden Stadtmuseum houses a rich display of the city's history. Visitors are fascinated by the powerful photograph collection of Dresden following the Allied bombings of February, 1945, which details effectively the near total destruction of this great city. After arrival at the Hotel Taschenbergpalais (or Steigenberger Hotel de Saxe) for 2 nights, take a get-acquainted city tour. Afternoon at leisure, explore the rebirth of a great city. Dinner: for a truly memorable meal, take the funicular railway up to the Luisenhof, locally called "the balcony of Dresden" high above the city. One views the re-emerging baroque skyline of the historic, carefully restored buildings and bridges.


*Day 8* Visit the nearby Moritzburg Hunting Lodge, the most grandiose Saxon moated palace with stunning decor or take a motorcoach tour of Schwarsbachtal Inn. Gala farewell evening at the Hotel Taschenbergpalais or Steigenberger Hotel de Saxe. Day 9 Bid a fond farewell to Saxony and transfer to Frankfurt for the return flight home to the USA later in the day.