1st day, Sunday May 6th, 2012 - Arrival Berlin
Arrive at Berlin airport in the morning. Meet your coach and tour manager. Drive to
your accommodation and check-in.
Welcome to Berlin the capital of Germany
Have an orientation tour with your tour manager to see the 3 centers of Berlin. The west around Kurfuerstendamm Bulevard and Memorial Church, The new center around Potsdamer Square and the east around Unter den Linden, Brandenburg Gate, Alexanderplatz and Berliner Dom.
1st Highlight
TOCCATA in D-MINOR - BERLINER DOME EXCLUSIVE
Nightly singing in the cathedral - exclusive lecture and organ concert by
Peter Michael Seifried & Team
The exclusive nightly event at Berlin Cathedral, Peter Michael Seifried, honorary organist at Berliner Dome since 1992 leads you through 2000 years of church history, 500 years of Refomration. The Berliner Dome ist THE Church of reformation and it´s history in Germany. Built by the last German Emperor in 1905 it depicts the time of reformation in many pieces of art - meet the scultpures of Martin Lugher,, Melanchthon, Calvin, Zwingli, Frederic the Wise… experience Luther at the Reichtstag in Worms and many other locations of the reformation.
Inclusions: Lecture by Michael Seifried, view from the top of the cathedral, visit of the second larges ccrypt in Europe, a special short concert on the Organ, a guided tour of the organ, nightly singing in the closed cathedral - a remarkable experience for choir.
Dinner and overnight in Berlin.
2nd Day: Monday, May 7th, 2012 - Berlin - Cloister Lehnin - Burg Ziesar - Magdeburg - Berlin
Breakfast. Morning city tour in Berlin with english speaking licens.
Ziesar Castle: The medieval residence of the Brandburgian Bishops. The museum leads you through the history of the Christian belief and reformation in Brandenburg. Continue on to Magdeburg - the former residence, hanseatic city and Prussian stronghold with 1200 years of history. In 1567 Martin Luther preached in the St. John church. The Magdeburg Dom, a protestand church since 1567 contains many art treasures and is one of the most important church buildings of Germany. See the holy lance, the emperors crypt and enjoy one of the finest organs in Cathedrals.
2nd Highlight
concert in Cloister Lehnin, Castle Ziesar or Magdeburg
Dinner and return to Berlin.
3rd day, Tuesday May 8th, 2012 Berlin-Wittenberg - Jüterborg /Cloisterr Zinna
Early breakfast and check out. Meet your coach and tour manager and continue to
Lutherstadt Wittenberg.
Wittenberg-Luther town
Wittenberg is the town of the Reformation. It has sites of UNESCO World Heritage and an impressive array of buildings. See the door of the Schlosskirche where reformation began in 1517 with the application of the 95 thesis on the portal. The "mother church" of reformation "St. Mary´s" where in 1517 Justus Jonas and Andreas Bodenstein held the first Protestand service. See the famous Luther-House and all the informativ museums of Lucas Cranach, Melanchthon and others.
Early afternoon drive to Jüteborg Kloster Zinna where we stay for overnight. Here you will have your first concert and dinner.
3rd & 4th Highlight
Lecture on Roots of reformation
This will be a lecture on the historic roots of rformation. St. Nicolas, built
between 1307 and the middle of the 16. century offrs the complete background to
reformation. One of the main acting persons of reformation time: the ominican monk
Tetzel, selling the letters of indulgence in Jüterbog (reason for Martin Luther to
write some of the 95 Thesis) - see the original chest of Tetzel, Jüterbog, the town
of the first mentioning of the tzerm "LUTHERANS" in the Franciscan cloister, the
meaning of "community of Saints", the gothic altar, the romantic Rühlmann Organ
(1908) and many highlights will bring you in the mediaeval feeling of reformation
time. The program includes lecture, guided tour, climb twin towers of St.
Nicolas.
4rd. Highlight
Concert in Jüterborg
Kloster Zinna or St. Nicolas or St. Mary (depending on the repertory).
The cistercian cloister with many historic buildings, the perfect medieval
acoustics for choir singing, see the historic organ from 1851, feel the spirit of
the middleages before reformation.
4th day, Wednesday May 9th, 2012 Jütebog Cloister Zinna - Leipzig
Breakfast and check out. Transfer to Leipzig.
Visit with your licensed guide.
Welcome to Leipzig
Leipzig: the Leipzig fair, a defining element of the city for centuries, has
clearly left its mark on the architecture of the town center. Around the turn of
the 19th to 20th century there was a huge wave of construction which swept away
many of the open courtyards typical of the area and replaced them with breathtaking
exhibition palaces - the current arcades for which Leipzig is so well known.
Leipzig, the city of music, conjures up names like Johann Sebastian Bach, Felix
Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann…….
5th Highlight
Informal a-capella concert at St. Thomas Church or
St. Nicolai Church (1723-1750 Bach church)
Overnight in dinner Leipzig.
5th day, Thursday May 10th, 2012 Leipzig / Eisleben-Quedlinburg/Leipzig
Breakfast. Meet your tour manager for a full day excursion to Eisleben and Quedlinburg.
Visit in Eisleben the World Heritage site, the town where he was born and died. In the church os St. Peter and Paul you can see where he was baptized, in the museum you get a survey of his life and importance.
Have time for lunch on your own before you continue to Quedlinburg. Visit the church St. Servatius and the crypt
Drive back to Leipzig for dinner and overnight
6th day, Friday May 11th, 2012 Erfurt - Eisenach
Breakfast and check-out. Leave Leipzig and drive to Erfurt.
Welcome to Erfurt
Erfurt is the capital of the state of Thuringia, located in the green heart of Germany. Erfurt was first recognized in 742 AD and has grown in the middle ages from being an important intersection of the old trading routes to become a powerful center of the trading industries and an important university. Erfurt's cultural, intellectual and economic strengths brought great personalities such as Luther, Goethe, Schiller, Bach etc…
After an orientation tour with your tour manager you have time for lunch in the city center of Erfurt. Meet again with your tour manger and walk to Augustiner Monastery for a guided tour through the exhibition at the Monastery.
Continue on to Eisenach. Visit the Wartburg. Martin Luther, Johannes Sebastian Bach
and St. Elisabeth contributed to the rich history of Eisenach, where Martin Luther
attended Latin School.
6th Highlight
Sing an informal concert at the Wartburg Castle innercourt
Overnight in Eisenach.
7th day, Saturday May 12th, 2012 Eisenach-Rothenburg
Breakfast. Departure to Rothenburg. Informal concert in Rothenburg.
Welcome to Rothenburg ob der Tauber
Rothenburg is a fantastic old town - with a lot of sightseeing, nice restaurants with typical German traditional meals, coffee houses….
Continue on to Munich. Enjoy a free afternoon. Dinner at local restaurant.
8th day, Sunay May 13th, 2012 Munich- Neuschwanstein Castle - Munich
Breakfast. Today you´ll visit the fairy tale Castle Neuschwanstein.
Afterwards, you'll drive to Neuschwanstein for a tour of the famous Neuschwanstein Castle with English speaking guides.
Neuschwanstein, lying in a truly idyllic setting, is one of the most popular castles or palaces in Europe. It was opened to the public only seven weeks after the death of King Ludwig II in 1886, and now the castle that the shy king built as a refuge from public life is viewed by vast numbers of people every year.
9th day, Sunday May 14th, 2012 departure
Breakfast and departure to the airport.
