ITINERARY AT-A-GLANCE (tentative)

Day 1, Tuesday, June 19 - Departure from Los Angeles
This afternoon you depart from Los Angeles for Europe on regularly scheduled airlines such as Lufthansa.

Day 2, Wednesday, June 20 – Vienna, Austria
Change planes at the airline’s hub and continue on a short flight for your final destination. Two of the three flights travel to Frankfurt, the third one to Munich; from Frankfurt or Munich proceed to Vienna where you arrive between 2:00pm and 5:15pm depending on the applicable transatlantic flight. Welcome to Vienna, the “World Capital of Music.” Meet our local representative upon arrival at the airport, and transfer by private motorcoach to your centrally located hotel. Program procedures will be further explained during the initial get-together and welcome meeting, which is followed by dinner.

Day 3, Thursday, June 21 - Vienna
The grandiose capital city will be introduced on this morning’s city tour. Elaborate imperial palaces, art nouveau masterpieces, coffee houses crammed with rich cakes and baroque mirrors; the historic heritage is alive virtually everywhere. Add the all-pervasive music tradition, the nightlife and some of Europe’s best museums; the result is a city well-worth spending a week to study and to explore. Visit St. Stephen’s cathedral, view the classical monuments lining the Ringstrasse boulevard and take in the view from Belvedere Palace, followed by lunch in a typical Viennese restaurant. Instruction has been scheduled in a lecture hall of the University of Vienna.

Day 4, Friday, June 22 - Vienna
After breakfast take a field trip to visit Schoenbrunn Palace and Gardens, the elegant baroque residence of the Habsburg dynasty until 1918. The suitably majestic interior, the beautifully tended formal gardens and the graceful Gloriette provide an educational view on the life of European aristocracy over centuries. Instruction at the University of Vienna is scheduled for this afternoon.

Day 5, Saturday, June 23 - Vienna
The morning is dedicated to instruction at the University. The afternoon remains without scheduled activity and is a perfect time to explore some of Vienna’s world-class museums.

Day 6, Sunday, June 24 - Vienna
Morning and afternoon remain without scheduled events. A kaleidoscope of activities and events wait to be explored, from visiting antique shops and curiosity museums to bicycling on Danube Island. Enjoy dinner at a traditional Vienna Heurigen restaurant in outdoor setting.

Day 7, Monday, June 25 - Vienna
For this morning, instruction has been scheduled. The afternoon is free in Vienna to explore more of this marvelous city with your friends. Tonight’s performance at the Vienna State Opera: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart classic opera ”The Magic Flute” (Please note that program and day of opera visit is subject to change.)

Day 8, Tuesday, June 26 – Vienna
Instruction this morning. The rest of the day remains without scheduled activities.

Day 9, Wednesday, June 27 - Vienna from Mauthausen to Salzburg
Travel west on the Autobahn this morning, past Vienna Woods and Alpine foothills. Cross the Danube River and pay a somber visit to the former Nazi concentration camp of Mauthausen. Turn south and enter the Alps and the Salzkammergut Lake District. Admire the beautiful scenery along Lake Mondsee and stop at the picture-book old world village of St. Gilgen. There is an opportunity for a summer toboggan ride down Alpine meadows (an optional activity) or for walking along the lakeshore. Continue for Salzburg, where you arrive in the early evening.

Day 10, Thursday, June 28 - Salzburg
An educational city exploration has been developed as this morning’s activity. Discover, among other sites, Mirabell Palace, Old Town, Residence Palace and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s birth house, now a museum (inside visit). Also, ascend by cable car to the majestic Festung Hohensalzburg castle for dinner followed by a classical concert.

Day 11, Friday, June 29 - Salzburg, Berchtesgaden, Lake Königsee, Germany
A field trip to nearby Germany is on today’s agenda. Travel to Berchtesgaden and up the Alpine road visit Hitler’s former mountain hideaway Berghof; the Eagles Nest as it was called. Then enjoy a tranquil boat ride on Lake Königsee, offering spectacular views of the Alpine peaks such as the Hochkönig and its glacier, before returning to Salzburg, where dinner will be served at the popular Stiegl Braeu beer hall restaurant.

Day 12, Saturday, June 30 - Salzburg
The day is kept without scheduled events so that you can absorb at your own pace its breathtaking setting and magnificent architectural treasures.

Day 13, Sunday, July 1 - Salzburg to Venice, Italy
This morning you cross the high Alps on your most scenic Autobahn ride from Salzburg to Carinthia. Later, you pass through Italy’s Dolomite region experiencing a remarkable change of landscape, architecture and climate. You have left Central Europe and arrived in the Mediterranean. Spend your first three Italian nights in Venice. This evening take vaporetto (water bus) transportation to the historic center for dining in a traditional Italian restaurant, followed by the quintessential romantic Venetian experience; a gondola ride.

Day 14, Monday, July 2 - Venice
Explore today the exceptional setting of Venice on a walking tour. Learn about the vanished greatness, the myths of a voluptuous and tragic city, and a scene of intrigue, as well as the charm of her canals, the pellucid light, the coolness of the sea breeze and the overwhelming wealth of its masterpieces of art.

Days 15, Tuesday, July 3 - Venice
A day without scheduled activity. You may explore the sites at the many small canals, the quaint back yards or the life at Lido beach.

Day 16, Wednesday, July 4 – Venice to Florence
Travel today from Venice to Florence. Traverse the fertile Northern Italian plains where River Po provides the resource for Italy’s agricultural heartland. Travel by Padua, Ferrara and Bologna, three centers of learning. Cross the Apennine Mountain range and enter the Tuscany region, where perfectly preserved hilltop citadels dot the countryside and fields of sunflowers bow in the perpetual sunlight. Tonight’s dinner will be served in a traditional trattoria.

Day 17, Thursday, July 5 - Florence
This morning take a walking tour of the town of the Medici, Macchiavelli and Michelangelo. During several hundred years Florence was the cradle of exceptional artistic and intellectual activity. While staying in Florence, become witness to this unparalleled concentration of art and architecture. Visit the Academy Museum, repository of Michelangelo status such as David. Visit the Duomo, see Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise at the side of the Baptistery, marvel at the Signoria Palace, the Ponte Vecchio and continue to the Basilica of Santa Croce with its tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo and other legendary individuals.

Day 18, Friday, July 6 - Florence
The morning remains without scheduled activity so you may pursue your own interests, such as visiting museums or to get some shopping done. In the afternoon there will be an excursion into the Tuscan rolling hills. Learn the art of making pasta, take a lesson in cooking slow-food the Italian way. For details, please look at www.accidentaltourist.com.

Day 19, Saturday, July 7 - Florence to Siena to Rome
Visit mystical, gentle and passionate Siena, the beloved art center south of Florence, on your way to Rome. Siena is smaller than Florence and has preserved its walkable character. Explore its cobblestone piazzas, winding streets and gothic city walls, before continuing through Tuscan and Umbrian countryside on your way to Rome. Tonight’s dinner will be served at a Typical Roman trattoria. Following dinner there will be the opportunity to stroll around old Rome at night, visiting landmark sites such as Piazza Navona.

Day 20, Sunday, July 8 - Rome
The first part of the city tour is scheduled for this morning. Focusing on antique Rome as the center of Western civilization. Experience the Roman Forum, the Pantheon, the Colosseum, and an array of temples, arches and statues. In the afternoon continue to the Galleria Borghese Museum, containing Bernini, Caravaggio, Rubens and Titian masterpieces.

Day 21, Monday, July 9 - Rome
More exploration of Rome follows this morning, concentrating on the Vatican. Visit the Vatican Museums with its priceless pieces of art in the Greek-Roman section of the Pio Clementino Museum, the Etruscan Museum, the Raphael Rooms and last but not least Sistine Chapel, illustrated by Michelangelo, including the Creation and the Last Judgment. Continue to St. Peter’s Basilica, the world’s largest, with its numerous masterpieces including Michelangelo’s Pieta and where the pontiff gives his benediction Urbi et Orbi, to the City and to the World. The balance of the day is free to continue your exploration on your own or to relax in a sidewalk café or to toss three coins into the Trevi Fountain.

Day 22, Tuesday, July 10 - Rome
A field trip to Ostia Antica is scheduled for today, the military port from where Rome embarked on her conquest of the Mediterranean. In modern days, Rome serves as the beach of Rome. It’s just the appropriate place for a grand finale of this study abroad program with a beach party. Return to the Eternal City for an “arrivederci Roma” and tonight’s farewell dinner.

Day 23, Wednesday, July 11 - Departure Day
Transfer to the airport to board your flight to Los Angeles.

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