Berlin, Bach & the Treasures of Dresden

Today see more of this exciting capital with a guided bus tour of Berlin, a vast, sprawling, metropolis. (Berlin is nine times as large as Paris!) It will only be possible to include some of the city’s many highlights, as it would take months to explore an area so rich in tradition, in history, in diversity of people and districts, and in its art treasures. The tour will include a blend of old and new Berlin. Among the many sites along the morning route are the Russian Memorial, the Tiergarten, the beautiful new Embassy of the Nordic Countries, the House of World Cultures, Palace Bellevue, the Victory Column and the famous Kurfurstendamm Boulevard, which is Berlin's Champs Elysées and most elegant shopping street. Stop at Potsdamer Platz (Potsdam Square) to see the latest architecture of the new urban district called Daimler City. Enjoy the beautiful square called the Gendarmenmarkt, where you will find the neoclassical Schauspielhaus (1871), one of the finest buildings designed by the famous Prussian architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel, now used as a concert hall.

After lunch take a guided walking tour from Gendarmenmarkt towards the Unter den Linden to see St. Hedwig’s Cathedral, Humboldt University, the German State Opera (Staatsoper), Zeughaus (now the Museum of German History), the New Guard House (Neue Wache), the Crown Prince's Palace and the State Library. Cross the splendid Schinkel's Bridge, with its cast-iron balustrade and glorious statues, to Museum Island*. Here, you will tour the magnificent Babylonian, Islamic, Roman, Greek & Middle Eastern artifacts of the Pergamon Museum, which was built in 1902 to house the Pergamon Altar, brought to Berlin from what is now Turkey. Either this evening or one of the other evenings you will attend a concert, opera or ballet, TBA. B/L Maritim pro Arte Hotel (4-star)

NOTE: In addition to the Pergamon Museum there are three other splendid museums currently open on Museum Island, as well as the grand ornate church called the Berliner Dom. The Altes Museum is Berlin’s first museum, designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel in 1830 and now housing Greek and Roman art and sculptures, the centerpiece being art of the Etruscan period. The Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection, moved here from Charlottenburg, features the bust of Queen Nefertiti, King Echnaton of Teell el-Amarna and other Egyptian artifacts. The restored Alte National Gallery houses German art treasures from the 19^th century as well as works by Manet, Monet, Renoir, Degas, Cézanne, Rodin and other French painters. The Bode Museum will house the sculpture collection as well as the vast numismatic collection of the Coin Cabinet.

Museum Island is located within walking distance from the hotel. The museums are usually open until 9 PM or 10 PM on Thursday. You will be given a museum pass for all for all SMPK museums (state museums listed on pass), which is good for three days. This is an opportunity for those interested to return to the museums on your own in the late afternoon or evening on Thursday. Museum Island is also a delightful place to stroll.

Travel across Berlin, passing some of the city’s new architectural masterpieces including the Ludwig Erhard Haus, which houses the Berlin Stock Market. You will arrive at the lovely Baroque Charlottenburg Palace* (named after the Electress Sophie Charlotte), one of the best examples of 18^th-century architecture in Berlin. Have a guided visit to the palace and time to see its lovely grounds and some of the other museums in the complex, such as the Museum of Pre- and Early History, famous for its collection of treasures found by Heinrich Schliemann at Troy.

NOTE: Also of interest is the Bröhan-Museum, which houses a splendid collection of Art Nouveau and Art Deco design by Berlin artists, and the Bergruen Collection, noted for its fine collection of paintings and sculptures from the classical modernist period with works by Picasso, Giacometti, Klee, Matisse, Braque, Laurens and others.

After lunch, you have the option of remaining at the Charlottenburg Palace site to spend more time in the museums or the extensive formal gardens of the palace, or joining the group for a boat trip on the River Spree from Charlottenburg to Fridrichstrasse near your hotel. The boat will take you past the splendid Band des Bundes, the new government buildings including the Chancellery of the German President. B/L Maritim pro Arte Hotel (4-star)

Today continue your exploration of Berlin, passing first through the center of the former East Berlin, where you will see the remains of the Berlin Wall, the Prussian Parliament and Checkpoint Charlie (of Cold War fame). Visit the Alexanderplatz, named after Tzar Alexander I and known as “Stalin Alley” for its characteristic socialist architectural style buildings and its landmark, a 365-meter television tower set on a futuristic triangular base. Then pass through the Nicholas Quarter (Nikolaiviertel) and the Red Town Hall, to reach Daniel Libeskind’s extraordinary Jewish Museum, built in the form of a distressed Star of David. The entire building is a walk-in sculpture, its ground floor in the shape of a bolt of lightning and its exterior of scaled sheet metal pierced with many slits, symbolic of tears. The museum is filled with exhibits illustrating the long and often tragic history of the Jewish community in Germany. 

After lunch on your own, spend some time in the Kulturforum, with its complex of museums, galleries and performance spaces. Visit some of the rich museum collections according to your taste and interest. The Picture Gallery, which contains important works of western art from the 13^th century to the 18^th, is especially recommended. In this collection are more than twenty works by Rembrandt and two by Vermeer. Use the rest of the afternoon to further explore, on your own, the many cultural and historical museums, districts and sites in this great city, or take some time for shopping and enjoying a coffee at one of the sidewalk cafes in nearby Potsdamer Platz.B Maritim pro Arte Hotel (4-star)

NOTE: The German Expressionist architect Hans Scharoun designed The Kulturform, which was developed beginning in the early 1960s. It is the site of Philharmonic Hall, the Museum of Musical Instruments, the State Library, whose collection includes the original manuscripts of many famous composers, and the elegant New National Gallery, a modern building in glass and steel designed by Mies van der Rohe. This collection includes French Impressionists, Austrian and German Expressionists including Kokoschka, Kirchner, Nolde and Heckel, and works of Salvador Dali, René Magritte and American abstract expressionists such as Rothko and Frank Stella. On this site is also the Museum of Applied Arts, which houses a stunning collection of design and applied art that is unrivaled in Paris or London.

Today you will tour beautiful Potsdam, the suburb of Berlin where Frederick the Great built his exquisite Sans Souci Park and Palaces.* Stroll through Sans Souci Park with its cluster of exquisite palaces, including the New Palace, garden pavilions and lovely landscaped grounds with their formal gardens. Have a guided tour of the gorgeous rococo Sans Souci Palace, which was built in the 1740s. Its name means “without a care.” The palace was designed from plans by the francophile King Frederick the Great, who created Sans Souci as a retreat where he could write, compose and play music, and dine with guests including Voltaire. There will be time to explore the many treasures here on your own.

After lunch at a nearby restaurant, take a short walking tour of the historic center of Potsdam, seeing Brandenburger Tor, a monumental arch rising above the regal Plaza of the Nations, picturesque Brandenburger Strasse, a cobblestoned street with old shops and charming restaurants, and the red brick Dutch Quarter, lined with many attractive 18^th-century gabled houses. Continue for an interesting visit to the Cecilienhof Palace, built during World War I in English mock-Tudor style. It was the site of the 1945 Potsdam Conference, where Joseph Stalin, Harry S. Truman, and Clement Attlee, Churchill’s successor as British Prime Minister, sealed the arrangement of postwar Europe. Return to Berlin and choose a restaurant for dinner on your own. B/L Maritim pro Arte Hotel (4-star)

Leaving Berlin, travel south and east to Weimar, the “German Athens,” stopping along the way in Leipzig. This city, badly damaged during World War II, is famous for its men of music and letters. Leibnitz, Lessing, Nietzsche and Goethe are among those who studied at Leipzig University. The town is noted for its many bookstores and three major annual book fairs. You will have a short sightseeing tour of the historic Old Town Square (Die Alte Marktplatz), St. Nicolas Church, the University and the famed Gewandhaus, whose orchestra Mendelssohn conducted in the last twelve years of his life. Then visit the Thomaskirche (St. Thomas Church), where Johann Sebastian Bach was organist and choirmaster from 1723 until his death in 1750. Bach’s tomb is in front of the altar of this church where he played his works and improvisations on the organ and led his choir in the glorious cantatas and oratorios.

Have time in Leipzig for lunch and for a visit to the Bach Museum or the Mendelssohn Museum on your own, or for some shopping. Later continue to Weimar and check into your newly restored, elegant historic hotel, conveniently situated for easy strolling on the pleasant cobblestone squares and picturesque, tree-shaded streets of the Old City. Enjoy a walk through the historic streets near your hotel, followed by dinner. B/D Russischer Hof (4-star)

This morning, explore the picturesque town of Weimar* with your guide. Weimar has been the home and wellspring for an amazing number of history’s most renowned intellectuals and creative geniuses, including Goethe, Schiller, Bach, Wagner, Liszt, Schumann, Brahms, Strauss, Durer, Leibniz, Klee, Kandinsky, Cranach, Gropius, Liebermann, Wieland, Albert Schweitzer, Carl Maria von Weber, and Rudolf Steiner. It was the birthplace of the Bauhaus School of Architecture, founded in 1919 by Walter Gropius. Named the “1999 Cultural Capital of Europe,” Weimar has recently undergone extensive restoration and will thus be particularly enjoyable to visit. 

Stroll across the charming public squares past the many beautiful Renaissance houses, stopping for a tour of the 18^th-century Goethe House, now a museum. Have lunch on your own and enjoy the rest of the afternoon exploring this delightful town. You may wish to visit the 16^th -century Church of Saints Peter and Paul, known as the Herderkirche in honor of its great preacher, Johann Gottfried Herder. The splendid triptych altarpiece in this church was painted by Lucas Cranach the Elder. Also of interest are the Bauhaus Museum, the Schiller House, Liszt’s House/Museum, and the Schloss Museum (Castle Museum), which now houses a superb art collection including masterpieces of Cranach and Dürer. Alternatively you may travel to nearby Buchenwald, the former concentration camp, now a museum and memorial to the thousands who died there. B Russischer Hof (4-star)

This morning make the short trip to nearby Eisenach, birthplace of Johann Sebastian Bach and site of the excellent Bach Museum. Begin the day with a visit the Bach Museum, located in a charming old house thought to be the site of his birth in 1685. Your visit will conclude with a short concert on various instruments of Bach’s time. Stroll through the picturesque Old Town, crossing the cobblestone market square to arrive at the 800-year-old Georgenkirche (St. George's Church) where Luther preached, where J.S. Bach was baptized and where four generations of Bachs, as well as Johann Pachelbel and Georg Philip Telemann, were organists. In the afternoon tour the magnificent medieval Castle of Wartburg*, whose beautiful Knights’ Hall inspired Wagner’s opera Tannhäuser, and where Bach, Pachelbel, Telemann and Goethe worked as well. See the study of Martin Luther, where he hid after his excommunication by the Pope and where he translated the New Testament from Greek into German. Enjoy the splendid castle interior, part of which houses the excellent Castle Museum with exhibits on the life and work of Martin Luther. You will also find superb paintings by Lucas Cranach the Elder as well as medieval furniture, sculptures and other art works. Return to Weimar for dinner.  B/D Russischer Hof (4-star)

Leave Weimar this morning for Dresden, your base for the remainder of the trip. Stop on the way in the charming Old City of Meissen to see its picturesque market square and surrounding medieval houses before touring the famous Meissen Porcelain Factory and Museum. In 1708 Johann Friedrich Böttger, chemist to the Elector of Saxony, discovered the secret—previously known only to the Chinese—of using kaolin (china clay) for porcelain production. Meissen porcelain became the most highly prized in Europe, although its secret gradually spread to Vienna, Venice and other cities. See the world-renowned Meissen porcelain made, watch skilled artists paint its characteristic blue designs by hand, and visit its excellent Museum of Porcelain. 

Continue on to “Florence on the Elbe,” the beautiful riverside city of Dresden, made famous by Frederick Augustus II, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland in the 18^th century. Damaged severely by bombing in World War II, Dresden is now restored to much of its former glory. Check into your lovely hotel for the final two nights of your stay; then have some time to relax or explore the city on your own before and after dinner. B/L/D Hotel Am Terrassenufer (4-star)

Join your guide for a morning walking tour of the glorious Old Town to see many of the city’s architectural treasures. Stroll along “The Balcony of Europe,” the elevated Brühlsche Terrasse* that stretches along the Elbe, lined with palaces and gardens. Visit the Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady), once Germany's most splendid Protestant Church. After the bombing of this architectural treasure near the end of World War II, the German people felt it should be left in ruins as a reminder of the evils of war. However, in recent years there was a collective change of heart, and the church was slowly rebuilt in order to be completed by 2006, the 800^th anniversary of the city’s founding. You will also see the magnificent Procession of Kings, a pictorial representation in tiles that traces the history of Saxon rulers, and the Renaissance Royal Palace with its magnificent portals and gabled buildings. Visit the Romanesque-Baroque Cathedral (Hofkirche), with an organ built by the 18^th-century master craftsman Gottfried Silberman, and the splendid Baroque Zwinger Palace Museum, built to display built the art collection of one of Dresden’s rulers, Augustus the Strong. Other landmarks are the lovely Theaterplatz with its huge equestrian statue of the Saxon King John, and the Italian Renaissance-style Semper Opera House, where Schütz, Bach, Mendelssohn, Wagner and many other great musicians performed. 

You will be given a museum pass for the collections in the splendid Baroque Zwinger Palace Museum. The Old Masters Gallery (Gemaldegalerie) holds the finest collection of Old Masters in Germany, with rooms full of works by Rembrandt, Canaletto, van Eyck, Titian, Vermeer, Dürer, Cranach and many others. The collection also includes Raphael’s Sistine Madonna.

Enjoy some time on your own to tour the famous Grüne Gewolbe (Green Vault), a dazzling collection of late Renaissance and Rococo-era coins and gem-studded treasures, and to explore one of the world’s finest hand-crafted armor collections, a magnificent collection of porcelain, or the Neue Master Collection, with superb paintings by French and German Impressionists post-Impressionists. Visit the Zwinger Gardens and Terraces, which form Europe’s finest outdoor ballroom, and take time to listen to the porcelain bells as they ring at the Bell Gate. In the evening, join your group for the Farewell Dinner. B/D Hotel Am Terrassenufer (4-star)

After breakfast depart for the Dresden Airport for your flights back to the United States. B