For The Love of Art and Music

Basic Inclusions

Detailed Itinerary

Days 1-2: Arrival

Arrival Vienna
A dream comes true as your wide-bodied jet thunders off the airstrip, Europe-bound. Time for a meal, a movie and a nap. It gets light again, first off the left-hand side of the airplane, then everywhere. It's morning, and Europe!
Arrival transfer
Take a stroll in the Old Town. Hearken to the music, which floats everywhere in the air. Why not treat yourself to a slice of Sachertorte at Café Demel, which is renowned for its fine pastry chefs?

Day 3: Vienna City Sightseeing, House of Music, Heuriger Dinner in the Vienna Woods

Half-day city sightseeing in Vienna
A wealth of sights is yours to discover today. See the Opera House, the Houses of Parliament and Emperor Franz Joseph's Hofburg Palace. A city within a city with more than 2,600 rooms, the Hofburg also houses the Imperial Treasury and the Burgkapelle, which features the world-renowned Vienna Boys Choir. See the Heldenplatz, where Hitler announced the Anschluss (Annexation) of Austria to the German Reich in 1938. A half-day local guide, well-educated and specially-trained on the history and culture of Vienna, will accompany your group.
Visit to St. Stephen's Cathedral
Enter Domkirche St. Stephan, one of Vienna's most famous landmarks, distinguished by its steep tile-covered roof and tall Gothic steeple known as Old Steffel. Consecrated in 1147, but rebuilt in the 15th century, St. Stephen's Cathedral is filled with ornate altars, chapels, artwork and tombs, in particular the imposing sarcophagus of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III.

Visit to the House of Music interactive museum
Enter the Haus der Musik, a unique museum housed in the former palace of Archduke Charles. Exhibits too numerous to list use audiovisual techniques to offer hands-on encounters with music making. You will notably hear, see, and feel all sorts of sounds at the Sonosphere, or get surprised by "hyper instruments" such as the Mind Forest. Test your singing skills. Meet great composers. Compose music at the Brain Opera, a high-tech system engineered at MIT. At the Virtual Conductor, step on the podium to lead the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, whose virtual members feel free to point out your mistakes!

Heuriger dinner in the Vienna Woods
Tonight's dinner at a typical Heuriger restaurant in the forested hills of the Wienerwald will be a fitting tribute to a joyful capital city of palaces and music.

Day 4: Kunsthistorisches Museum

Kunsthistorisches Museum
Visit the outstanding Museum of Art History (Kunsthistorisches Museum), where generations of Hapsburgs have assembled one of the finest collections of Old Masters. See works by Flemish and Venetian artists as well as the best collection of Bruegels displayed anywhere in the world.

Day 5: Flight to Rome

Flight Vienna - Rome
You're flying to the "Eternal City." More treasures await your discovery. Proceed to your centrally-located hotel, settle in and get ready to explore your surroundings.

Day 6: Vatican Museums

Visit to the Vatican
Discover outstanding masterpieces collected for the Vatican Museums since the early 1500s. See exceptional statues from antiquity, such as Laocoön and His Son and the Apollo Belvedere, as well as stunning Renaissance paintings, notably the The School of Athens fresco in the Raphael Rooms. A half-day local guide, well-educated and specially-trained on the history and culture of Vatican City, will accompany your group.
Local guide
A half-day local guide, well-educated and specially-trained on the history and culture of Vatican City, will accompany your group.
Visit to the Sistine Chapel
Marvel at Michelangelo's Last Judgment and brightly-colored ceiling frescoes in the Cappella Sistina.
Visit to St. Peter's Basilica
Enter the sanctuary recognized as the world's largest church. The Basilica di
San Pietro also houses priceless works of art, in particular Michelangelo's Pietà and Bernini's Dove of the Holy Spirit.

Day 7: Excursion to Florence by High-Speed Train

Excursion to Florence by High-Speed Train
Never in the history of mankind has so much genius, in all its forms, been concentrated in one place as it was in Florence during the fifteenth century. Discover it all today, during a full-day excursion by high-speed train to the true Renaissance city. A local guide, well-educated and specially-trained on the history and culture of Florence, will accompany your group.
Visit to the Accademia
View a wealth of artwork from the 15th and 16th centuries at the Galleria dell'Accademia, including the best known of all Florentine treasures, Michelangelo's monumental David.
Accademia Guide
A guide will accompany you during your visit to the Accademia.
Visit to the nave of Florence's Duomo (time permitting)
In the nave of the Cattedrale Santa Maria del Fiore, better known as the Duomo, visitors marvel at a cathedral begun in 1296 and consecrated in 1436 that remains one of the largest in Christendom. It houses precious masterpieces, notably Domenico di Michelino's 1320 painting titled Dante holding the Divine Comedy. You may want to check out Florence's leather and jewelry shops, or the boutiques where you can acquire beautiful reproductions of Florentine artwork at reasonable prices.

Day 8: Colosseum and Roman Forum, Dinner with Music

Visits to the Colosseum and Roman Forum
Walk through the best known monuments of Ancient Rome, the Colosseo and the Foro Romano. Once the heart of a vast empire, the Forum was filled with extravagant buildings and crowded with people from all over the known world. Your combination ticket to the Colosseum and Roman Forum also allows entrance to the Palatine Hill archaeological site and its museum: should time permits, you may want to make your way up the hill to visit the oldest and most prestigious residential area of Ancient Rome. A local guide, specially-trained on the history and culture of Rome and its surroundings, will accompany your group.

Dinner with Music
Tonight, enjoy dinner while local singers and musicians entertain you with O Sole Mio, Volare and other favorite Italian songs.

Day 10: Departure

Ciao, Europa! Statistics show that visitors do in fact return to Rome, although it may not have anything to do with coins in a fountain. Race the sun and arrive home later today, eager to share your discoveries with family and friends.

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