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Adventure Travel invites you
to experience this legendary event
on one of the special vacations being
offered in 2010.
from
$3179.00
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Oberammergau
2010 |
The
quaint village of Oberammergau is world famous for
its spectacular Passion Play, performed by the locals
just once a decade.
In 1634 the Black Death decimated Europe’s population.
Oberammergau remained untouched until a homesick
villager returned one night, unknowingly bringing
with him the dreaded plague. Almost 100 villagers
died as a result.
Frightened
survivors vowed
that if God saved them from the plague, once every
10 years they would reenact the agony and crucifixion
of Christ. From then on there were no further deaths
from the plague—and the villagers have fulfilled
their pledge ever since.
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Vienna
/ Salzburg / St. Moritz / Zermatt / Berne
Lucerne / Innsbruck / Munich /
Oberammergau
Itinerary:
Day 1 Board your overnight transatlantic flight.
Day 2 Arrival in Vienna, Austria. Time to rest
or to start exploring the Viennese capital. This evening meet
your Tour Director and traveling companions for a very special
welcome dinner at your hotel. (D)
Day 3 Vienna. Meet your Local Guide and start
your sightseeing with vistas of Prater Park with its giant Ferris
wheel, and the United Nations City on the banks of the Danube
River. Then, drive along Ring Boulevard, pass the State Opera
House, the Jewish quarter, and stop at the Hofburg Palace, winter
residence of the Austrian Imperial family. Marvel at the impressive
courtyards and famous Heldenplatz, and visit awesome ST. STEPHEN’S
CATHEDRAL. Afternoon at leisure. Optional excursions to Schönbrunn
Palace and the wine village of Grinzing are available. (B)
Day 4 At Leisure in Vienna. Explore Vienna independently.
Consider a visit to the imposing Hofburg Palace with the precious
Habsburg Dynasty treasures or a visit to the Museum of Fine Arts
with works by Jan Van Eyck, Rubens, Rembrandt, Raphael, and more.
Later, you may want to join an optional excursion to Bratislava,
capital of Slovakia. (B)
Day 5 Vienna-Melk-Salzburg. Drive to Krems and
enjoy a DANUBE CRUISE. Then, follow the Danube Valley to historic
Melk for pictures of the Melk Abbey. No landscape is more typically
Austrian than the Salzkammergut lakeland. Stop for a picture of
the Parish Church in Mondsee, used for the wedding scenes in The
Sound of Music, then, continue to Salzburg. (BB,D)
Day 6 Salzburg. Stroll with a Local Guide through
the historic center. Admire exquisite MIRABELL GARDENS, the Great
Festival Hall, ST. PETER’S CHURCHYARD, the monumental Domplatz,
and take pictures of Mozart’s birthplace in the charming Getreidegasse.
Afternoon at leisure with optional possibilities. (B)
Day 7 Salzburg-St. Moritz, Switzerland. Via the
Inn Valley, enter the Swiss Engadine, considered by many as the
most beautiful mountain area in the world with its deep-blue lakes,
airy larch forests that turn golden in the fall, mountain peaks
exceeding 12,000 feet, and quaint villages with massive white
stone houses in the characteristic Grisons style. The rest of
the day is at leisure in ritzy St. Moritz. (B,D)
Day 8 St. Moritz-Chur-Zermatt. Drive through
exhilarating Alpine scenery. At Chur, board the panoramic coach
of the world-renowned GLACIER EXPRESS TRAIN. Admire thundering
waterfalls, impressive peaks, glacial ice fields, and tiny villages
as you pass through the Valais, a region known for its great mountain
resorts and excellent wines. This afternoon you are in Zermatt,
a picturesque cluster of rustic chalets beneath the majestic Matterhorn.
(B,L,D)
Day 9 At Leisure in Zermatt. An entire day at
leisure. Perhaps ride Europe’s highest rack-railway to 10,272-foot
Gornergrat for a breathtaking panoramic view of the Alps. (B)
Day 10 Zermatt-Berne. Board the MOUNTAIN TRAIN
to Täsch and motor through the lower Rhone Valley to the shores
of Lake Geneva. Visit CHILLON CASTLE, the 12th-century water fortress
immortalized by the poet Lord Byron. Evening arrival in Berne.
(B,D)
Day 11 Berne-Interlaken-Lucerne. Sightseeing
with a Local Guide starts at the popular BEAR PIT and then focuses
on the monumental Federal Palace and the beautiful medieval Old
Town. Witness the hourly parade of painted figures at the Clock
Tower and take your pictures of ornate, flower-adorned fountains.
Enjoy a lunch break in Interlaken, situated beneath the towering
Jungfrau. Take Brünig Pass to picture-book Lucerne. You may wish
to sign up for a folklore party with yodeling and alphorn blowing.
(B)
Day 12 Lucerne. On your walking tour this morning,
admire Thorwaldsen’s LION MONUMENT, the ornate patrician houses
of the walled Old Town, then cross the famous covered CHAPEL BRIDGE
to the Jesuit church. Afterwards, shop for watches and choose
from our optional activities: climb a mountain by cable car or
take a cruise on the fjord-like lake. (B,D)
Day 13 Lucerne-Liechtenstein-Innsbruck, Austria.
Stop in the Principality of Liechtenstein and continue to Innsbruck
in the Austrian Tyrol. Walk through its quaint little lanes and
take pictures of Emperor’s Maximilian’s GOLDEN ROOF. (B,D)
Day 14 Innsbruck-Oberammergau. Into the Bavarian
Alps to picturesque Oberammergau for the highlight of your vacation:
the original PASSION PLAY, held every ten years, and performed
by the residents of Oberammergau. (B,L,D)
Day 15 Oberammergau-Munich. Time to explore the
town or to visit one of King Ludwig’s castles before you leave
for Munich, where an orientation drive features its main landmarks:
the Olympic Park, the 1,000-foot-high Television Tower, and the
Nymphenburg Palace. Tonight, you may wish to join an optional
outing to visit Marienplatz and to have a stein of beer in the
Hofbrauhaus. (B)
Day 16 Your homebound flight arrives the same
day. (B)
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