October 12-27, 2009

16-Day River Cruise on the Rhine, Main and Danube Rivers

Extend your trip:

Pre-trip: 3 nights in Vienna, Austria where we will visit a wonderful group of quilters.

Post-trip: 4 nights in Brussels & Bruges, Belgium  

Your Day-to-Day Itinerary

Prepared Especially for Sara King  Group #GG09983

Overview of Your River Cruise

For more than 1,200 years, explorers and adventurers dreamed of creating a canal allowing ships to sail from the North Sea to the Black Sea.  Today, this engineering masterpiece is a reality and the 106-mile-long canal is open to explorers like you.  Journey down the noble Danube, Main, and Rhine rivers, and through the three distinguished European nations they cross.  As you cruise from Austria through Germany and into the Netherlands, you’ll watch the landscape change from storybook medieval castles perched high on cliffs above you, to lush valleys surrounded by imposing hills and dense forests.
As a centerpiece of your voyage between Vienna and Amsterdam, your ship will pass through 66 stairstep locks, rising 1,332 feet above sea level.  This is the highest point on any European waterway, and it connects hundreds of inland ports.  Built originally as a commercial waterway, the canal passes through valleys and countryside whose timeless beauty has made it an enviable way to explore the countries in more depth.  

You’ll see fairy-tale towns that look as if they haven’t changed since the Middle Ages.  Pass by live-aboard working barges that act as homes for entire families, towing logs, grain, fertilizer, coal, and other products for use throughout Europe.  Stop in large cities like Cologne, join walking tours in delightful little villages, and visit splendid palaces and castles.  Cruise through the timeless landscapes of the Netherlands and end your sojourn with a stay in the Old World capital of Amsterdam.  You have all this as you enjoy the relaxing amenities of your river cruise ship.

You can begin your explorations early with our optional Pre-Trip Extension in Vienna, the cultural center of Austria, with a rich heritage of legend, romance, elegance, and music.  An included tour shows you the best of Vienna’s architecture while several optional tours offer memorable cultural, musical, and culinary experiences. You can also choose our optional Post-Trip Extension in Brussels & Bruges, with stops in Delft and Antwerp. 

What’s Included in Your Trip Cost

• International air transportation as stated in your final air itinerary (included with your final documents package), and all related private, roundtrip airport/hotel transfers (if you have purchased flights through Grand Circle)

• Accommodations for 14 nights aboard a private Grand Circle river ship in an outside cabin

• ALL meals—14 breakfasts, 14 lunches, and 14 dinners

• 10 sightseeing tours:

• Passau

• Nurnberg

• Wurzburg

• Mainz

• Cologne

• Exclusive Discovery Series Events:

• Glassblowing demonstration

• Discussions on local history and culture

• Shipboard commentary during cruising

• Captain’s Welcome and Farewell Receptions and Dinners

• 5% Frequent Traveler Credit applicable towards the next Grand Circle Travel or Overseas Adventure Travel program on which you depart in one year. After the first year, your credit is adjusted to 3%. Frequent Traveler Credits expire after two years.

Tipping Guidelines

Here are some guidelines for tipping the other people who help make your trip enjoyable, based on what past travelers have done. The choice of what to tip is entirely optional. The amounts below are given in U.S. dollars, but the tip can be paid in U.S. dollars or converted to local currency at the current exchange rate: 

• Program Director: $4-$6 per person per day 
  (Note: Tips for Program Directors can only be in the form of cash.)

• Motorcoach driver: $2 per person for each half-day tour/$3 per person for each full-day tour.

• Crew’s gratuities: (one combined tip for entire crew) - $10-$12 per traveler, per day. For your convenience, tips for the crew can be paid with a credit card.

• Local tour guide: $2 per person for each half-day tour/$3 per person for each full-day tour.

Your Program Director will tip hotel porters and waiters in restaurants. 

An Important Word about Your Vacation

 
Day 1 Depart U.S.

Depart the U.S. today on your flight to Vienna. Please refer to your individual air itinerary for exact departure and arrival times. 

Day 2 Vienna, Austria/Embark Ship

● Arrive Vienna

All Day: 

Arrive today in Vienna. A Grand Circle representative meets you at the airport and helps you transfer to the pier, where you embark your river cruise ship. 

Enjoy a light lunch onboard, and the balance of the day is free to relax after your overseas flight, or do some exploring on your own in this Austrian capital. You might take a stroll along the Ringstrasse, linger over coffee at a Viennese café, spend some time at St. Stephen’s Cathedral, or view the artwork and exquisite gardens of the Belvedere Gallery. 

In late afternoon, we gather aboard our river cruise ship. 

Before dinner, join us for a Ship Briefing. Then you have time to get better acquainted with your Program Director and traveling companions over a Welcome Drink. 

During your cruise, whenever you have leisure time at a port along your route, you’ll receive a briefing in advance about the port area and town so you can make the best use of your free time. 

Enjoy your first dinner onboard as we set sail this evening for Tulln, where we remain overnight.

 
Included Meals: Lunch, Dinner

Day 3 Melk

● Optional Melk Abbey Tour

Morning: 

As you cruise this morning, your travel on the river takes you through the lovely landscape of the Wachau Valley—past terraced vineyards and lush flowering fields toward Melk. You are invited to join your Program Director for a GCT Orientation Briefing about your upcoming trip, during which you will have the opportunity to purchase optional tours.

Afternoon: 

As you approach Melk, you can see its formidable abbey as it rises up from the surrounding countryside along the Danube. After an early lunch, you can disembark to explore on your own or for an optional excursion to the dramatic 900-year-old baroque Melk Abbey. This magnificently ornate structure has a long and storied history.  Strategically situated on a steep, cliff-side perch, Melk Abbey’s earliest incarnation was as a Roman border post. Later, it served as a tenth-century Babenberg fortress. It became a Benedictine monastery in 1089 and earned a distinguished reputation for medieval scholarship.  Its library includes more than 70,000 books and 2,000 manuscripts, chiefly from the ninth through the 15th centuries. 

 
Umberto Eco, author of the well-known book The Name of the Rose, a murder mystery of monastic intrigue, was inspired by the grandeur of Melk Abbey. Eco uses Heinrich von Melk, a Benedictine brother from Melk Abbey who wrote the ironic poem “About Priestly Life,” as one of the novel’s main characters. The novel contains a great deal of scholarly information about the Middle Ages (Eco is known primarily as a scholar) and the compelling politics of medieval religion. The book’s setting is fictional, but the story climaxes with a devastating fire that mirrors the real history of Melk Abbey, which was ravaged by fires in 1297 and 1683. The stately baroque edifice that stands today, with its twin towers and 208-foot-high dome, dates from its reconstruction in 1736.

 
The abbey houses a remarkable cherub-filled library of thousands of books and manuscripts, and 365 windows—one for every day of the year. The interior of the abbey’s church is a kaleidoscope of red, orange, and gold—with a magnificent carved pulpit and shimmering ceiling frescoes. The cost of this optional tour is approximately $70 per person.  

You have some free time after your tour to explore on your own before re-boarding your cruise ship in late afternoon.  

Evening: 

Meet the ship’s crew at the Captain’s Welcome Reception and relax with your fellow travelers during the Captain’s Dinner, followed by an evening of music while you cruise the river. 

Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner 

Day 4 Passau, Germany

● Passau City Tour  
● Discovery Series Discussion: Germany Today

Morning:

This morning, you arrive at Passau, situated at the confluence of the Danube, the Ilz, and the Inn rivers.  Called the Dreifluessestadt (City on Three Rivers) because of its location, Passau is an elegant town that has served as a German cultural and intellectual hub for centuries. 
 
We disembark for a guided walking tour of the city.  You’ll see the impressive Bishop’s Residenz, the 14th-century Town Hall.  You also stop at the Dom, the twin-towered St. Stephen’s Cathedral.  This magnificent 17th-century cathedral contains one of the world’s largest pipe organs, with 17,774 pipes and 234 resounding stops. If you visit from May 2 through October, you can enjoy the public performances given daily except Sunday at noon.  The cathedral’s original Gothic plan is still evident through the 17th-century reconstruction it received in the grand baroque style.  One of its most striking features is the gorgeous octagonal dome that hovers over the intersection of the nave, where the congregation sits, and the transept, which runs perpendicular to it.

 
Afternoon: 

After lunch, you have leisure time to explore more of Passau on your own. Late this afternoon back aboard ship, you are invited to a shipboard discussion on Germany Today that relates to the great political, social, and cultural changes that have swept the country in recent years.

 
Evening: 

After you set out on the river again, relax over dinner and join in this evening’s onboard activities.  The ship cruises through the night on its way to your next port of call. 

Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 5 Regensburg

● Regensburg City Tour

Morning: 

After breakfast you arrive in Regensburg, Germany’s largest medieval city, and disembark for a walking tour.  Since the historic city center was undamaged during World War II, it remains beautifully preserved.  Your tour features the turreted Old Town Hall and the famous Stone Bridge (Germany’s oldest bridge), constructed during the twelfth century.  See soaring St. Peter’s Cathedral, a Gothic cathedral adorned with beautiful stained glass.

Afternoon: 

After lunch aboard ship, your afternoon is at leisure to relax, do some shopping, or explore the town further on your own.  Admire the relics of Regensburg’s Roman past at the ruins of the Castra Regina fort—Porta Praetoria—containing a stone inscribed in AD 179, when Marcus Aurelius was emperor.  Stroll the narrow medieval streets, or just relax at a sidewalk café. Your ship remains in Regensburg through most of the night, resuming cruising in the very early hours of tomorrow morning. 

Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner 

Day 6 Kelheim/Dietfurt

● Optional Bavaria: Baroque & Beer Tour

● Home-Hosted Visit  
● Main-Danube Canal Discussion & Watershed Party

Morning: 
 
You can enjoy leisure activities onboard ship as we cruise to Kelheim and Dietfurt.  Sara will teach a class during this and other leisure times as we cruise.

 
Later this morning, you can delve deeper into the Danube’s scenic splendor this morning during an optional excursion. Begin with the Weltenburg Monastery, a baroque confection of stucco, polished marble, gilt, and painted ceilings. There, you’ll have the opportunity to reflect in the cool stillness of the abbey—Germany’s oldest, founded at the beginning of the seventh century by the Abbot Eustasius.

 
Surprisingly, the compound also houses the oldest monastery brewery in the world.  Here, visitors have enjoyed its famous dark brew for nearly 1,000 years while sitting in the courtyard beer garden beneath ancient chestnut trees. You’ll sample some yourself while relaxing after your tour. 
 
Later, you’ll board a ferry for a ride through the beautiful Danube Gorge, Donaudurchbruch, the river’s narrowest and deepest stretch.  From your ship’s outdoor deck, you’ll enjoy close-up views of towering Jurassic-era limestone cliffs as you wend your way along this scenic passage.  

Your ferry ride takes you back to Kelheim, where you’ll discover the town’s impressive Befreiungshalle, or Liberation Hall. Built by Bavarian King Ludwig I in the mid-18^th century, the tower-like structure honors the German tribes who banded together to defeat the French during the Napoleonic wars of 1813-1815. You’ll then transfer by motorcoach to Dietfurt, where the ship has cruised to meet you. The cost of this optional trip is approximately $75 per person.

 
 
Afternoon: 

After lunch onboard, travel by bus to the village of Beilngries. Here you have a special opportunity to visit a local home for a traditional Kaffeeklatsch, where you enjoy coffee and cake with your host and get a glimpse of life in this Bavarian community. 
 

Evening: 

Later tonight we start the transit of the Main-Danube Canal, Europe’s highest canal. 

Before dinner join us for a Discovery Series talk outlining the amazing history of the great Main-Danube Canal. The technological workings of this canal are an engineering marvel. During the night you cross the European watershed (at 1,332 feet, the highest point of the canal). This ridge of higher land divides the areas drained by the two different rivers, the Main and Danube. Here, rain north of the watershed flows to the North Sea, and rain to the south flows to the Black Sea. 
 
After dinner join us for a champagne toast to celebrate your overnight passing of the Watershed Monument—the highpoint of Europe’s highest canal. 
 

Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 7 Danube Canal/Nurnberg, Bavaria

● Optional Documentation Center Tour

● Discovery Series Discussion: German Life Since 1933 
● Nurnberg City Tour

Morning: 

The morning brings an opportunity to attend a Discovery Series discussion on German Life Since 1933.

 
You then disembark for an included tour of Nurnberg, Bavaria’s second largest city and the most important city in Franconia.  Once the unofficial capital of the Holy Roman Empire, Nurnberg evokes its exalted past with its imposing medieval Kaiserburg (Imperial Castle).  However, its more recent history is intricately linked to its role in World War II. 

 
Nurnberg was devastated by bombs in World War II.  After the war, much of the city was rebuilt and its Old World charm was painstakingly restored. Today, the city thrives as a bustling industrial and commercial center. Nurnberg’s many celebrated craftspeople specialize in fine metalwork and toy making, and every year the city draws hundreds of thousands of visitors to its month-long Christkindlesmarkt (Christmas Market).  
 
During your included tour here, you explore this walled 13th-century city and stroll streets lined with half-timbered houses.  You visit many of its fascinating historical sites, including the massive stadium where Hitler held his notorious rallies and, if possible, the buildings where the infamous trials of Nazi war criminals played out. 

 
During your included tour here, you’ll see remnants of the old medieval city walls and you’ll pass sections of the Old Town.  You’ll also browse the cobbled main market square and admire the intricately carved, 62-foot-high Schoner Brunnen fountain towering there.  Before you leave, make sure you turn the fountain’s brass ring for good luck!

Later, you might join us for an optional tour or the new Documentation Centre on the former Nazi Party Rally Grounds in  Nurnberg. In 1998, the city of Nurnberg held an architectural competition for the Centre’s design for which designers had to fit the proposed Centre in the Congress Hall, and deal with the site’s intimidating architecture and ominous premise. Today’s optional tour features the winning center and surrounding grounds. The cost of this optional tour is approximately $40 per person. 

OR 

Spend the remainder of your morning on your own or with Sara searching for fabric shops.

Afternoon:

We return to the ship for lunch, and begin cruising in the evening.

Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner 

Day 8 Bamberg, Germany

● Bamberg City Tour

Morning: 

This morning you go ashore at Bamberg to enjoy a walking tour showcasing one of Germany’s most beautiful cities.  Bamberg dates to the year AD 902, and today is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Bamberg began to prosper in the twelfth century, and was the center of southern Germany’s Enlightenment in the late 18th century.  The great German philosopher Hegel lived here, and Bamberg was the second city (after Mainz) to introduce book printing.   
 
Today, Bamberg boasts 2,000 buildings listed as historical monuments, and its old city center is Europe’s largest existing group of historic buildings.  The city was awarded the title of “World Cultural and Natural Heritage of Mankind” by UNESCO in 1993. 

 
Bamberg's architecture reflects more than 1,000 years of building, with styles ranging from Romanesque to Gothic, Renaissance to baroque, up to the eclecticism of the 19th century. There are narrow cobblestone streets, ornate mansions and palaces, and impressive churches.  Bamberg has a beautiful medieval inner city that was renovated and restructured in baroque times, so you experience a charming tension between the irregular Gothic and the more precise baroque architecture.

 
On your tour, you’ll see two grand former residences of the prince bishops—the imposing 16th-century Old Court and the New Residence—and many of the city’s impressive churches.  You have some time on your own here to explore as you wish. 

Afternoon: 

After a shipboard lunch, you can settle in for a leisurely afternoon cruise toward Wurzburg. 

Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 9 Wurzburg

● Wurzburg City Tour  
● Optional Rothenburg Tour

Morning: 

This morning, disembark for a tour of Wurzburg.  Once prosperous and elegant, Wurzburg suffered tremendous damage during World War II. You’ll witness a remarkable example of the city’s successful restoration during your visit to the massive Residenz, the last and finest in a line of baroque palaces built in Bavaria. It’s graced by a remarkable grand staircase covered by a soaring, unsupported vault that withstood the 1945 Allied bombing.  You’ll also see the Romanesque cathedral and basilica (the most important in Germany) built between the 12th and 14th centuries.  It’s filled with elaborate 17th-century baroque stucco and ornamentation, and contains 35 tombs of the prince bishops.  

Afternoon: 

The ship docks here overnight, so you have the full afternoon to discover this delightful city on your own.  Maybe you’ll want to climb the steep hill of the fortress for sweeping views of the city and river below. 

Or 
 
Join us for an optional afternoon tour of Rothenburg, a charming town on the Tauber River with undamaged 14th-century city walls and beautifully preserved fortifications.  Get a leisurely first look at the town from the vantage of a horse-drawn carriage, then join us on a guided walk. The cost of this optional tour is approximately $105 per person. 

Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner 

Day 10 Wertheim

● Glassblowing Demonstration  
● Wertheim City Tour

● Optional Classical Wertheim Musical Performance

Morning: 

Stroll the deck of your river cruise ship this morning as you resume your voyage on the river.  Watch the river scenery pass by and observe the life along the banks of the Main.

 
Over the centuries, Germany has developed a rich tradition of glassmaking. That’s largely because the region is blessed with an abundance of the raw materials needed for glass production: silicon and wood. And in the 17th century, Bohemian artisans invented crystal.  This incandescent glass, often decorated with gold or tin, eventually overtook Venetian glass in popularity on the world markets. 

 
Today, glasswork from the Franconia region is admired worldwide, and craftspeople create glass products ranging from glittering mirror glass and lenses to intricately decorated goblets and vases. A strenuous skill, glassblowing also requires an artistic hand.  On today’s exclusive Discovery Series Event, you’ll learn much more about this unique craft from a local artisan.  During a personal glassblowing demonstration aboard ship, you’ll get the chance to observe the creation of a piece of colorful glasswork from scratch.  You can also join in a discussion about what life is like in Wertheim for its residents.  You will leave this presentation with a more detailed knowledge of the region, and also with an assignment to pursue during your free time in the charming market town of Wertheim this afternoon.

Afternoon:

 
After an early lunch, enjoy a walking tour of the charming market town of Wertheim, located at the meeting of the Main and Tauber rivers. Admire the imposing ruins of its castle set on a hill overlooking the town. The ship remains here overnight, so you have ample time to explore on your own. If you like, you may want to climb the stairs to the castle and follow the trail around the castle walls.   

Evening:

After dinner join us on an optional Classical Werthiem tour, an evening excursion to a baroque palace for a piano concert of classical music. The cost of this optional tour is approximately $70 per person. 

Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner 

Day 11 Miltenberg/Frankfurt

● Optional Heidelberg Tour

All Day: 

After a few hours of very early cruising, the ship stops for a short time in Miltenberg this morning (this port stop is to allow those who are joining the optional Heidelberg Tour to disembark and begin their excursion).  If you are not going on the optional tour, you remain onboard to continue your daylight sailing, spending a peaceful day cruising the river.  Find a favorite deck chair and take in the scenes of life on the river, or spend some time with Sara in a quilting bee.

Or 

Go ashore in Miltenberg and join us for an optional full-day tour of Heidelberg.

 
You begin by touring the impressive ruins of the city’s 15th-century Gothic castle (setting for the opera The Student Prince) where you’ll have an impressive view of the surrounding area.  We then ride into town and enjoy lunch in a traditional Gasthaus that has been part of Heidleberg’s Old Town for centuries. 

 
Your tour continues with a guided walk in the city, and a visit to the turreted 600-year-old University, Germany’s oldest. You’ll also visit the Student Prison where you can still view the graffiti left on its walls by generations of students. It was to this “prison” that rambunctious university students were once sent for dueling, brawling, practical jokes, and drunkenness.

 
After some free time to make discoveries on your own, you’ll return to your ship, which has cruised to Frankfurt to meet you. The cost of this optional tour is approximately $115 per person. 

Evening: 

You will cruise to Frankfurt, where the ship remains overnight. 

Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 12 Mainz

● Mainz City Tour  
● Optional Rudesheim Dinner Outing

Morning: 

Today’s early cruising brings you to Mainz.  After breakfast, you go ashore for a walking tour of the town. On your tour, you’ll see the town’s great eleventh-century Romanesque Cathedral. The Gutenberg printing press and Bible are housed here in the new Gutenberg Museum—which recently re-opened in 2000. 

 
The inventor Johannes Gutenberg was born here, probably in 1397. He began his career selling Bibles and sometimes supplemented his income by creating and selling indulgences—papers that could be purchased and used as “coupons” by the faithful to absolve them of some of the time they had earned in Purgatory. It was probably in an effort to absolve himself of some of his own monetary debts, that he began looking for ways to produce more indulgences.  
 
That’s when he created uniform sized metal molds for letters that allowed him to create error-free repeatable text. This was the beginning of the creation of moveable type that transformed the world.   You have some free time in town before we return to the ship for lunch. 

Afternoon: 

You have the afternoon to spend as you wish. Visit a gallery, browse some shops, or just walk the lanes of Mainz and make your own discoveries. 

Evening: 

You are free to relax over dinner onboard. 
 
Or 
 
This evening join us on an optional excursion to the cobbled Drosselgasse wine alley in Rudesheim, the center of Germany’s Rhine Valley wine production.  You make a short transfer by land to Rudesheim and enjoy a festive dinner with wine, song, and dance.  At evening’s end you ride back to our ship in Mainz and re-board.  The cost of this optional tour is approximately $80 per person. 

Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner 

Day 13 Koblenz

● Koblenz City Tour

● Optional Marksburg Castle & Brewery Tour

Morning: 

This morning you cruise along some of the most beautiful and inspiring parts of the Rhine.  Pass Lorelei, the large rock rising 440 feet above the river.  Since ancient Greek mythology, there have been legends of sirens, women-creatures who lure sailors to their death with sweet songs.  Ancient Germanic legend places one such siren (Lorelei) here, and it is said she enticed sailors to destruction on the reef below the rock.

 
You arrive in mid-morning at Koblenz, set at the confluence of the Rhine and Mosel rivers, an important locale in the Rhenish wine industry.

 
You disembark for a walking tour of the town.

 
Originally established as an outpost of the Roman Empire and named Castellum apud Confluentes, Koblenz became a city in the 13th century and served as the home of French refugees during the French Revolution. During your tour, you’ll see the highlights of the Old Town. 
 
 

Afternoon: 

You have the balance of the day to relax or explore on your own. Spend some time sipping local vintages and watching life pass by at one of the town’s many sidewalk cafés, or just stroll the streets and browse the markets. 

Or 
 
Join us on this optional excursion to one of the most beautiful castles standing on the hills that line the Rhine River, the Marksburg Castle.  The only 13th-century castle unchanged by war or reconstruction, it offers an unprecedented glimpse into the daily life of the time. 

 
Walking through the three towers and the connecting rooms, you can get a real sense of what it was like to live in a castle.  You climb a stone staircase leading to the romantic bed chamber (the only room heated with a stove), see the great hall with its enormous fireplace (large enough to grill a steer whole), and take in a commanding vista from the east bank of the Rhine as you stand atop the towers.

 
Then make a discovery of a different nature, as we stop in at a family-owned micro-brewery. Here you can try a Bratwurst mit Kraut along with a home-brewed beer as we mingle with the locals at the beer garden.  The cost of this optional tour is approximately $85 per person. 

Please note: When the Brewery is unavailable, we will go instead to the Koblenz Wine Village that was built for the 1925 German Wine Exhibition. Beautifully situated on the banks of the Rhine, the complex includes a genuine vineyard and a number of half-timbered houses collected from some of Germany’s most famous wine-making areas. 

Late Afternoon & Evening: 

Onboard in the late afternoon or early evening, a local silversmith joins us and demonstrates his craft.

 
After dinner back on the ship, you set sail for Cologne, where the ship remains for the night. 

Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 14 Cologne

● Cologne City Tour  

Morning: 

This morning you can view an onboard slide show that will familiarize you with some of the aspects of the Cologne Cathedral. Then disembark in Cologne for a walking tour of the city that will take you past the renowned Cathedral.

 
A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Cologne Cathedral largely escaped the World War II damage that ravaged the city and the rest of Germany.  There’s evidence that Allied forces had orders to avoid damaging this beautiful structure.  It is the largest Gothic cathedral in northern Europe, boasting beautiful stained-glass windows, an ornate gold shrine on its elaborate altar, and the intricate detail common to 14th-century Gothic churches. 

 
Cologne was a Roman settlement called Colonia Agrippina after AD 50 and came under Frankish control in the fifth century.  You can still see the ruins of Roman temples scattered through the city, and the Roman Gate near the cathedral was once part of the medieval town walls. During the 15^th century, the city flourished as a member of the Hanseatic League.                                                                                                         

Afternoon: 

You have some free time in Cologne to do as you wish. Sara is working on getting a meeting with a quilting group here. You may want to explore the inside of the Cathedral, or perhaps go to the Roman-German museum where you can see a magnificent mosaic floor discovered in the ruins of a Roman villa. You resume river cruising in the late afternoon.   
 
Evening: 

Later in the evening you cruise into Dutch waters on the Rhine River, heading toward Amsterdam.

 
Bring your memories and join your traveling companions for a drink toasting the end of your cruising days with this group. Then, the crew bids you goodbye at the Captain’s Farewell Dinner. There will be entertainment onboard as the ship cruises through the night toward Amsterdam. 

Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner 

Day 15 Amsterdam

● Canal Boat Tour  
● Diamond Workshop 

Morning: 

You’ll have an early breakfast and then disembark in Amsterdam for a canal boat tour introducing you to Amsterdam’s famed canals, providing a matchless perspective on the city’s remarkable architecture and relaxed pace. Along the way, you’ll see the Mint Tower, which has retained its name even though gold and silver coins were minted here for only a few years.  

Then, we’ll tour a diamond factory, one of many in the city.  Amsterdam has been an important center for the world’s diamond trade since the 16th century.  In this city, the world’s largest (the Cullinan) and the world’s smallest (0.00012 carats with 57 facets) diamonds were cut.  

Return to the ship for lunch. 

Afternoon:

After lunch onboard, you’ll have free time to explore Amsterdam on your own or visit one of its many museums or fabric shops.

Back onboard in the late afternoon, and settle in for your final night aboard on this cruise. 

Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner 
 

Day 16 Return to U.S. or Begin Post-Trip Extension in Brussels, Belgium

After breakfast, you disembark ship and are transferred to the airport for your flight home. Or begin your optional Brussels Post-Trip Extension. 

Included Meals: Breakfast 
 

Optional Post-Trip Extension:  
Brussels, Belgium

Join us on an optional Post-Trip Extension to explore one of Europe’s great and bustling cities. Brussels is a thriving and charming city with seemingly endless cultural and social events.  Brussels is a city full of fine museums and outstanding classic architecture, as well as a compact and carefully preserved 17th-century city center. Scores of fine restaurants and a lively nightlife will help welcome you to one of Europe’s most cosmopolitan cities—modern-day Brussels. You’ll also enjoy an included excursion to nearby Bruges, which remains an outstanding example of a beautifully preserved medieval city. 

What’s Included in Your Post-Trip Cost

• Accommodations—for 3 nights in Brussels as specified on your final hotel list (included with your final documents package)

• 3 meals—Daily buffet breakfast

• Sightseeing— Brussels and Bruges city tours, plus stops in Delft, the Netherlands, and Antwerp, Belgium

• Exclusive services of an experienced Grand Circle Program Director

• All transfers

• Plus, consider this optional tour— Oudernaarde (Approximately $115 per person) 

Your Itinerary

Day 1 Amsterdam, the Netherlands/Brussels, Belgium

● Overland to Brussels

● Visit Delft, the Netherlands & Antwerp, Belgium, en route

All Day: 

Disembark after breakfast and begin your motorcoach transfer to Belgium’s capital of Brussels.  En route, you visit a porcelain factory in Delft, the Netherlands, known for its distinctive blue pottery called delftware. 

 
You ride on to Antwerp, for our first visit in Belgium.  After lunch on your own, you take a short walking tour of Antwerp’s Old Town.

 
You then continue on to Brussels. Once a sleepy village that grew up around a chapel on an island in the Senne River, Brussels is now a thriving small capital city and the headquarters of NATO and the new European Union (formerly the Common Market).  It is second only to Geneva, Switzerland, in the number of headquarters of international organizations.

 
You arrive in Brussels just before dinnertime.  After checking into your hotel, you are free to have dinner on your own.

 
  Day 2 Brussels, Belgium

● Brussels City Tour

● Chocolate Factory Excursion

• Optional Oudernaarde Tour

Morning: 

Begin your introduction to Brussels with a motorcoach tour of this lovely old city.  Everywhere, you’ll see the beautiful architecture of the city and the special influence of the Art Nouveau style represented by the famous architect, Victor Horta.  You’ll see the buildings of the European Union and the Atomium, an enormous steel construction representing an iron atom with nine spheres connected by walkways and escalators.  You pass the impressive Cinquantenaire Arch, view the Chinese Pavilion and Japanese Pagoda, and also see the Royal Park.

 Along the way, you stop at a famous local Chocolaterie, where custom-made, personalized chocolate confections of the highest quality are a specialty.  You see how molds are made, how chocolate is prepared and poured, and how the artistic hand decorates.

 Your tour’s last stop is at Brussels’s Grand Place.  Here, you walk through the famed market square and heart of medieval Brussels.  The square is dominated by the magnificent 15th-century Town Hall, with its hundreds of little statues.  Admire the square’s 17th-century buildings and guild houses with their golden inlays.  You can remain here for lunch on your own, or return to the hotel with the motorcoach.

Afternoon:

This afternoon, you might join Sara for an optional excursion to the 1000-year-old textile town of Oudenaarde, Belgium, where you’ll admire it monumental architecture and decorative tapestries. The cost of this optional tour is approximately $115 per person. 

OR 

Spend the afternoon on your own, exploring Brussels. 

Evening:

Your evening is free to explore on your own.  You may want to visit the Royal Museum of Ancient and Modern Art, which houses a special section on the well-known Belgian surrealist, Magritte. 

Included Meals: Breakfast

Day 3 Bruges, Belgium

● Bruges City Tour  
● Canal Boat Tour & Lace Shop Visit

All Day: 

This morning, we embark on an included, full-day excursion to medieval Bruges, referred to as “the Venice of the north.” After breakfast, transfer to Bruges by motorcoach and then set off on a walking tour of the canal-filled former capital of West Flanders and Europe’s best-preserved medieval city.  From the 13th to the 15th century (until the Zwyn River silted over), Bruges was northern Europe’s leading trade center, based largely on its thriving wool and textile industries. You can see signs of this mercantile history in the beautiful houses built by the wealthy textile merchants. 

 
Your walking tour takes you to the Church of Our Lady and to Market Square, with its distinctive belfry tower and carillon of 47 bells.  You also see the Holy Blood Chapel, containing relics from the Crusades. 

 
You then have a chance to see Bruges from another perspective—from onboard a boat navigating the city’s winding canals. 

 
Your morning tour concludes with a stop at a lace shop, fine lace being one of Belgium’s two most famous specialties (the other being the creation of delectable chocolate). Lace making has a long history but came into its own in the 15th century, intended as a replacement for embroidery.  Unlike embroidered clothing, lace pieces could be changed as fashion changed and attached decoratively to different articles of clothing.  Belgium soon gained a peerless reputation for fine lacework, its creation becoming a significant “cottage industry” here.

 
After lunch on your own, you can make more discoveries in Bruges as you explore independently.  You rejoin the group in mid afternoon and return to your hotel in Brussels before dinnertime.

Evening: 

Gather this evening to hear the details of your departure in the morning, and to toast your memories with your traveling companions over a Farewell Drink.  You are then free to choose a spot to dine on your own. 

Included Meals: Breakfast 
 

Day 4 Return to U.S. 

 
After breakfast, you are transferred to the airport for your flight home with fond memories of this wonderful cruise and your new friends.

 
Included Meals: Breakfast

Optional Pre-Trip Extension:  
Vienna, Austria

Join us on an optional Pre-Trip Extension as we explore Vienna, a magnificent Old World city that has lost nothing of the grace and charm that has for centuries helped it stand out even in the dazzling company of other great European cities. This is a city of museums and music, art and architecture, and famous people from a storied past. Walk the streets where Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, and Freud strolled about on their daily business. Once the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Vienna came to symbolize the splendor of an age. Today the visitor to Vienna can recapture some of that feeling while wandering among the city’s baroque palaces and stunning architecture. Vienna is a feast for the senses that you will not soon forget.

What’s Included in Your Pre-Trip Cost

• Accommodations—for 3 nights in Austria as specified on your final hotel list (included with your final documents package)

• 3 meals—Daily buffet breakfast 
  
• Sightseeing—Vienna City Tour

• Exclusive services of an experienced Grand Circle Program Director

• All transfers

• Plus, consider these optional tours— Fling in Grinzing (Approximately $100 per person); Musical Vienna (Approximately $85 per person); Best of Vienna (Approximately $85 per person)

Days 1-2 Depart U.S./Arrive Vienna, Austria

Depart today on your flight to Vienna.  Please refer to your individual air itinerary for exact departure and arrival times. 
 
Arrive the flowing day in Vienna.  A GCT representative meets you at the airport and helps you transfer to your hotel.  Depending on your arrival time and hotel check-in policy, you may not be able to check into your hotel room immediately upon arrival at your hotel.  Your Program Director will advise you of our check-in status and activity schedule for the day when you arrive.

 
Enjoy a brief walk with your Program Director to get acquainted with the area around your hotel.  The rest of the day is at leisure to relax after your overseas flight, or venture out on your own explorations. 
 
Join your Program Director and fellow travelers for a Welcome Drink before enjoying dinner on your own this evening.  Your Program Director will have many suggestions for you as you select a restaurant in this extraordinary city. 
 
Day 3 Vienna

● Vienna City Tour  
● Optional Fling in Grinzing

Morning:

 
After breakfast and an Orientation Briefing, you’ll enjoy a bus and walking tour of Vienna, including the Ringstrasse, probably the greatest achievement of the Emperor Franz Joseph.  In 1857, the Emperor ordered the demolition of the ancient city walls, which were no longer needed as fortifications, and which were impeding the growth of the city.  In their place, was constructed an elegant, 2.5-mile-long boulevard, encircling the Innere Stadt.  The neoclassic buildings along the Ringstrasse bring together the greatest architectural styles in an exuberant celebration of all that seemed possible during the Industrial Revolution.

 
You then walk to a typical Viennese coffeehouse and stop in for coffee and cake.  Our stroll continues along the city sidewalks, passing by the well-known Hofburg Spanish riding school.

 
Vienna has served as home and inspiration to some of the world’s greatest artists, thinkers, and musicians.  You’ll see statues of Strauss, Mozart, Beethoven, and Mahler throughout the city, and see how music is an integral part of Viennese life.  The numerous performances of the Vienna State Opera House are the constant talk of the town, and its performers are treated like celebrities.  The strains of waltz music emanate from the many cafés, and the entertainment moves outdoors to the sidewalks in good weather.

Afternoon: 

You return to the hotel in time for lunch on your own.  The balance of the day is free to relax or do some more exploring on your own.  You might want to join Sara in a visit with her fun loving quilting friends who she first met in 1996.  Hanna Kersch and her quilting guild are hospitable so Sara hopes you will look forward to sharing and having show and tell with them.

Evening: 

You have the evening free to spend as you wish and to seek out an interesting spot for dinner on your own.

 
Or 
 
Join us this evening on an optional outing for dinner with local vintages in the Grinzing wine district at an authentic Heurigen restaurant.  Along the way, you’ll enjoy a short train ride through some of the area vineyards. 

 
The Empress Marie Therese passed a law stating that small local wine makers were allowed to serve their vintages and food to members of the public so long as they sold only wine of their own making.  Many people then opened the gardens of their homes and small estates, and visiting one of these establishments became a traditional outing for the city dwellers.  It’s a rich tradition that is maintained today.  After dinner, the return trip back to your hotel is by bus. The cost of this optional dinner outing is approximately $100 per person. 

Please note: Due to cold weather late in the travel season, this optional tour will not include a ride on the train on all departures.  

Included Meals: Breakfast

 
Day 4 Vienna

● Optional Musical Vienna Performance

Morning/Afternoon: 

You have the day at leisure to relax or explore more of this unique city on your own. 

 
You can visit the gardens of Maria Theresia’s Schoenbrunn Palace, or you may want to browse through one of the city’s many museums. Perhaps you’ll enjoy a visit to the famous Spanish Riding School, known as much for its architecture as for the renowned Lippizanner horses.

 
In addition, you might also want to visit the Imperial Apartments at the Hofburg Palace. Formerly the residence of the Habsburg rulers, the Hofburg contains the 19-room state and residential apartments of Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elisabeth, which are open to the public. In an impressively staged exhibition, the Sissi Museum seeks to give the visitor an understanding of the myths and reality surrounding the figure of Empress Elisabeth. The Imperial Silver Collection is a fascinating museum containing the porcelain, glass, and silverware once used at the imperial table.

Evening: 

Relax in the hotel after dinner on your own. 

Or 

Vienna without music wouldn’t be Vienna.  So, subject to availability of tickets, you may want to enjoy an unforgettable optional evening in one of Vienna’s beautiful palaces, the Kursalon. 

 
You’ll hear enchanting performances of some of the most wonderful melodies of classical Austrian music by professional singers.  The cost of this evening performance is approximately $85 per person. 

Included Meals: Breakfast

 
 
Day 5 Vienna

● Optional Best of Vienna Tour

Morning: 

You have a morning of leisure to further sample the delights of Vienna.  You can visit the gardens of Maria Theresia’s Schoenbrunn Palace, or you may want to browse through one of the city’s many museums.  Perhaps you’ll visit the famous Spanish Riding School, known as much for its architecture as for the renowned Lippizanner horses.

Or 

Get to know three completely different faces of Vienna with our Best of Vienna optional tour this morning.

 
Begin by visiting the world-famous Wiener Staatsoper (Vienna State Opera), built by the Emperor Franz Joseph and inaugurated in 1869 with a performance of Mozart’s Don Giovanni.  The building was almost completely destroyed in the 1945 bombings but was rebuilt and presented its second opening in 1955 with Beethoven’s Fidelio.  The new, ornate Opera House follows the traditional neoclassicism of the original structure, and has been the showplace of choice for world-renowned performers such as Maria Callas, Jose Carreras, Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, and Jessie Norman.

 
Then see another side of Vienna with a stop at the Naschmarkt, a spectacular multicultural marketplace that dates back to the 16th century. Located along and above the Wien River, which flows under the Naschmarkt, this is part marketplace and part bazaar with stalls and vendors offering everything from exotic fruits and vegetables to sidewalk art. There are also galleries, coffee houses, and restaurants poking out of narrow alleyways. You’ll see and hear vendors from almost every corner of the world here in the Naschmarkt.

 
Your tour ends with a traditional stop at famous Prater Park.  This old-fashioned amusement park was given to the Austrian people by the Emperor Franz-Joseph as a place to have fun.  You’ll enjoy a thrilling ride on the Riesenrad, the park’s giant Ferris wheel.  Built in 1897, it is one of the oldest and largest in the world, and became internationally recognized after the famous ride of Orson Welles and Joseph Cotton in the film, The Third Man. The cost of this optional tour is approximately $85 per person. 

Please Note: When the Vienna State Opera is not available, a visit to another musical venue will be included.  

Afternoon: 

Before lunch, you are transferred to the pier to embark your waiting cruise ship.  You now join the travelers on the main trip, following the activities as described on Day 2 of the main itinerary.

 
Included Meals: Breakfast