BERLIN AND BEYOND , DRESDEN & LEIPZIG

MAY 2-15, 2019 TOUR LEADER: CHRISTOPHER MENZ

BERLIN AND BEYOND Overview BERLIN, DRESDEN & LEIPZIG Berlin is one of the most interesting and diverse of all the great capitals of Europe, and is currently enjoying a major cultural renaissance. First Tour dates: May 2-15, 2019 documented in the 13th century, the city has been the capital of the Prussian Empire, the German Empire, the Weimar Republic and the Third Tour leader: Christopher Menz Reich. Since 1989 the city has relished its role as the capital of a unified and re-energised Germany. Tour Price: $7,250 per person, twin share Berlin is home to some internationally renowned cultural institutions – Single Supplement: $1,750 for sole use of such as museums of antiquities and fine arts – and has ongoing double room significance as a centre of contemporary art and design. Berlin is also famous for its musical heritage, with outstanding ensembles such as the Booking deposit: $500 per person Berlin Philharmonic and three major opera houses adding great lustre to the city’s cultural landscape. Recommended airline: Qatar Airways or Singapore Airlines/Lufthansa This 14-day tour allows you to take an in-depth look at Berlin, and the nearby cities of Potsdam, Leipzig and Dresden. Daily walking tours, Maximum places: 20 background talks and guided visits trace the history and development of Berlin from its earliest days through the glory days of the Prussian and Itinerary: Berlin (5 nights), Leipzig (2 nights), German Empires to the darker days of the early 20th century and its Dresden (2 nights), Berlin (4 nights) rebirth after 1989.

Accommodation throughout is at centrally located five-star hotels. We stay Date published: April 23, 2018 at The Westin Grand Hotel on historic Friedrichstrasse in the Mitte

neighbourhood, for both of our Berlin stays. Our hotels in Dresden and Leipzig are each beautifully renovated historic buildings, well positioned in the old cities.

Your tour leader

Christopher Menz is a former art museum director and curator and has been leading cultural tours in Europe, the United States and Australia since 2013. He has expertise and interest in the visual arts and music.

Christopher has a BA (Hons) from Flinders University. He is a former director of the Art Gallery of South Australia. Before that he was a curator, specialising in decorative arts, and worked at the of Australia, Art Gallery of South Australia, and National Gallery Enquiries and of Victoria. He has published and lectured extensively on Australian and bookings European decorative arts, notably on the design work of William Morris, and curated numerous exhibitions. Christopher is based in Melbourne For further information and to where he is an art consultant and valuer, and Development Consultant secure a place on this tour for Australian Book Review. Christopher has led cultural tours to please contact Jamal Germany, England, the United States, as well as in Australia. Fairbrother at Academy Travel on 9235 0023 or 1800 639 699 “Our tour leader Christopher Menz was excellent, his expertise in art (outside Sydney) or email galleries was invaluable, he went out of his way to show us galleries in [email protected] free time.” Feedback from Christopher’s Alps to the Rhine tour, April 2017.

Tour Highlights

ART IN BERLIN Berlin has a reputation for being the ‘New York of Europe’, offering a wide range of museums and galleries that hold treasures both ancient and contemporary. Some of the highlights include masterpieces by Botticelli, Raphael, Caravaggio, Titian, Rubens, Rembrandt and Vermeer at the Gemäldegalerie. We spend two days leisurely admiring the remarkable and vast collections at Museum Island.

EAST AND WEST BERLIN In the quarter-century-plus since the Wall came down, Berlin has re-established itself as Germany’s capital and gone through an urban and social transformation that has made it, once again, one of the most exciting cities in Europe. We explore this fascinating city with walks through the historic neighbourhoods of both East and West Berlin, including the Brandenburg Gate, where east met west during the Cold War.

POTSDAM Spend a full day in Potsdam, known for its 18th-century baroque architecture, especially Frederick the Great’s Sanssouci Park, the former residence of the Prussian royals. The town centre offers historical landmarks, charming boutiques, and café-lined cobblestone streets. Although it was severely damaged by bombing during World War II, much of the city has been restored to its former glory.

LEIPZIG AND DRESDEN Travel through the scenic countryside to the charming old town of Renaissance Leipzig, which Göethe describes in Faust, as “a little ”. We spend time too in the elegantly restored city of Dresden, that has risen from the ashes, after devastating World War II bombing, regaining its reputation as “the Florence on the Elbe”. Each city offers impressive art collections at the Grassi Museum and the Zwinger Palace.

REICHSTAG The symbol of Berlin’s mash-up of old and new, the Reichstag building anchors central Berlin with a Sir Noman Foster designed glass dome atop of the 116-year old structure. Our tour ends with a farewell meal at the Reichstag at Restaurant Kafer. Afterwards, walk the gently rising ramp inside the glass dome, taking in the views of Berlin and the parliamentary chamber below.

Detailed itinerary

Included meals are shown with the letters B, L and D.

Tour start & finish time The tour starts on Thursday May 2 at 6.00pm, at the bar at The Westin Grand Hotel, Berlin.

The tour ends on Wednesday May 15 at 9.00am, with a group transfer to Berlin Tegel airport.

Thursday may 2 Arrival If you have booked your air travel through Academy Travel we will organise a transfer from Berlin airport to our hotel. Please note that hotel rooms may not be available until early afternoon. In the evening meet tour leader at the hotel bar for welcome drinks and a light dinner. Overnight Berlin (D)

Friday May 3 Above: the gardens and palace at , commissioned in Medieval to Prussian the 17th century by Sophie Charlotte, wife of Friedrich III Today we investigate Berlin’s early history with a walking tour of the Nikolaiviertel, the historic medieval heart of Berlin bordering Below: the famous bust of Nefertiti, now found in the Neues Museum the Spree River. We travel by ferry along the Spree to the – the new home of the Egyptian Museum Palace of Charlottenburg, where we enjoy lunch before taking a guided tour of the richly decorated interior of the palace, constructed between 1695 and 1713 as a summer home for Sophie Charlotte, wife of Elector Friedrich III of Prussia. We also visit the nearby Berggruen Museum with its exceptional collection of including works by Matisse, Klee and Giacometti. Overnight Berlin (B, L)

Saturday may 4 The Prussian City This morning we begin with a visit to the German History Museum, a magnificent baroque structure extensively refurbished by I.M. Pei. Our next stop is the Brandenburg Gate, completed in 1795. In the afternoon we visit the stunning Gemäldegalerie. Assembled in the early 19th century, the gallery’s collection represents all the major schools of European painting and includes masterpieces by Botticelli, Raphael, Caravaggio, Breughel, Vermeer and Rembrandt. This evening we enjoy dinner at a local restaurant. Overnight Berlin (B, D)

Sunday may 5 Frederick the Great’s city Today we spend the day in Potsdam, just a short distance from Berlin. The city is closely associated with Frederick the Great (ruled 1740-1786) the monarch of the newly created Kingdom of Prussia. Most of the day is spent exploring Park Sanssouci a complex of palaces, gardens and pavilions covering 287 hectares. We will also visit Cecilienhof Palace, the last Hohenzollern Palace and the site of the 1945 Potsdam Conference. After an early dinner in Potsdam we return to Berlin. Overnight Berlin (B, D)

Monday may 6 Museum Island & concert On the site of one of Berlin's two original settlements, this unique complex of five state museums is a UNESCO World Heritage site and a must-visit in Berlin. Today we visit the Altes Museum, which houses an impressive collection of Greek and Roman antiquities, and the Neues Museum, the new home of the Egyptian Museum to see the famous bust of Nefertiti. This evening we attend a concert at Berlin’s famous concert hall, the Philharmonie. Overnight Berlin (B) Performance details Venue: Philharmonie Berlin Program: to be announced Performers: to be announced

Tuesday may 7 Museum Island II Returning to Museum Island today we visit what is perhaps Berlin’s most renowned institution, the Pergamon Museum. The museum houses Near Eastern antiquities and Islamic art, much Above: Kirchner’s Potsdamer Platz (1914) hangs in the Neue of which was collected by the German Kaisers from their close Nationalgalerie, Berlin contact with countries such as Turkey, Iraq and Iran in the early 20th century. After a break for lunch we take a walking tour of the Hackesche Höfe, a series of interconnected courtyards Below: the Frauenkirche in Dresden stands as a great symbol of bustling with restaurants, boutiques and galleries. In the late resurrection for the city afternoon we travel to Leipzig. Dinner in a local restaurant and overnight Leipzig (B, D)

Wednesday may 8 Leipzig This morning we take a guided walking tour of Leipzig, followed by a visit to the Museum of Fine Arts. The original museum building was destroyed in an air raid in 1943, though many of the paintings had been saved. A new home for the collection, a contemporary building, opened in 2004, 61 years to the day after the original museum was destroyed. The afternoon is free, but we recommend you stop in at the Grassi Museum, an excellent decorative arts museum, founded in the late 19th century and with an impressive collection charting over 2,500 years of the decorative arts. Overnight Leipzig (B)

Thursday may 9 Dresden via Meissen This morning we visit the enormous ‘Monument to the Battle of the Nations’ – Europe’s largest memorial, on the outskirts of Leipzig. The monument marks the site of the 1813 defeat of Napoleon by a coalition of German forces. We then travel to Meissen, on the banks of the Elbe not far from Dresden, for a stroll and lunch at a local restaurant. We arrive in Dresden in the early afternoon and take a walking tour of the centre of this city known as ‘Florence on the Elbe’. We visit the Frauenkirche, a massive baroque church destroyed in World War II, lovingly restored and reopened in 2005. Overnight Dresden (B, L)

Friday may 10 Dresden This morning we visit the Zwinger Palace, built 1710-28 for August the Strong, elector of Saxony and King of Poland, following his visit to Versailles. The palace contains Dresden’s Old Masters Picture Gallery, with works by Raphael, Rubens Above: a detail of Canaletto’s Dresden From the Right Bank of the and Canaletto. The rest of the day is free to relax, take an Elbe Below the Augustus Bridge, 1748, in the Old Masters Picture afternoon cruise on the Elbe or perhaps visit some of the city’s Gallery, Zwinger Palace, Dresden museums. Music lovers in particular may wish to explore Below: the Upper Palace of Pillnitz Palace looks over the Baroque Dresden’s association with composers such as Schumann and garden and fountain; and Menashe Kadishman's Shalekhet (Fallen Wagner. Overnight Dresden. (B) Leaves) in the Memory Void of the Jewish Museum, Berlin. These voids extend vertically through the entire museum and represent the Saturday may 11 absence of Jews from German society Pillnitz palace Today we visit the extraordinary ensemble of architecture and landscape gardening that makes up Pillnitz Palace on the outskirts of the city. Built by August the Strong as a ‘Water Palace’, Pillnitz has extensive gardens, water features and many Chinese architectural features in its buildings. After lunch we make our way to Berlin. Evening at leisure. Overnight Berlin. (B, L)

Sunday may 12 Bauhaus and Wilhelmstrasse This morning we visit the Bauhaus Archive Museum of Design, built to an earlier plan by Walter Gropius and housing an excellent collection of items relating to the famous design school. We also visit the New National Gallery, a “temple of light and glass” designed by Mies van der Rohe and housing the city’s collection of 20th-century painting and . The once divided Potsdamer Platz is our next destination, where we can stroll around what is now the modern heart of unified Berlin. This afternoon we visit Wilhelmstrasse, hub of the Nazi administration, viewing the Luftwaffe Ministry building, site of Gestapo Bunkers, the Topography of Terror memorial, and the site of the new Reichs Chancellery and Hitler’s Bunker. Overnight Berlin (B)

Monday Mat 13 The synagogue and Berlin in the Cold War This morning we visit the Jewish Museum of Berlin, designed by Daniel Libeskind and opened in 2001. We then stroll through the old Jewish district in the north of the city, and visit the ‘New Synagogue’. Significantly damaged on Kristallnacht in 1938, the restored building reopened in 1995. After a break for lunch we investigate Berlin in the late 1940s and 1950s – the height of the Cold War. Our tour includes sections of the Berlin Wall, the former Stasi headquarters and Karl-Marx-Allee, a broad boulevard lined with Socialist Realist buildings and decorations. Overnight Berlin (B) Tuesday May 14 Contemporary Berlin & Opera

On our final day in Berlin we take a walking tour of the modern city, focussing on its recent architecture. Capping our walking tour is a visit to the Hamburger Bahnhof Museum for Contemporary Art. Our time in Berlin culminates with a farewell lunch atop the Reichstag, seat of the German parliament. This building symbolises the struggles and eventual triumph of the city. First opened in 1894, destroyed by fire in 1933, the Reichstag became the first meeting place of a reunified Germany. The reconstruction of the building was completed in 1999 to a plan by British architect Sir Norman Foster. His plan included an extraordinary glass dome at the top of the building, offering 360° views of the surrounding city. Tonight, we attend the opera at the recently reopened Staatsoper unter den Linden. Overnight Berlin (B, L) Performance details Venue: Staatsoper unter den Linden Program: to be announced Performers: to be announced

Wednesday May 15 Departure The tour ends after breakfast. Departing group members transfer to Berlin Tegel airport for outgoing flights. (B)

Hotels These five-star hotels have been selected principally for their central location.

 Berlin, The Westin Grand Hotel (9 nights) www.westingrandberlin.com

 Leipzig, Steigenberger Handelshof (2 nights) www.steigenberger.com/en/Leipzig

 Dresden, Steigenberger Hotel de Saxe (2 nights) www.de.steigenberger.com/dresden/

Images right: the contemporary Sony Centre in Potsdamerplatz; inside the Hamburger Bahnhof Museum for Contemporary Art; and Berlin’s Reichstag building, topped by Sir Norman Foster’s modern dome

Zwinger pavilion, Dresden

Tour Price Fitness Requirements

The tour price is $7,250 per person, twin share (land content of THIS tour only). The supplement for a single room is $1,750 per person. A non-refundable deposit of $500 per person is GRADE TWO required to secure a place on the tour. It is important both for you and for your fellow travellers that you are fit enough to be able to enjoy all the activities on this Tour Inclusions tour. To give you an indication of the level of physical fitness required to participate on our tours, we have given them a Included in the tour price star grading. Academy Travel’s tours tend to feature  14 nights’ accommodation in carefully selected five-star extended walking tours and site visits, which require greater hotels fitness than coach touring. We ask you to carefully consider  All breakfasts and selected lunches/dinners in hotels your ability to meet the physical demands of the tour. and local restaurants as noted in the itinerary  All ground transport via private air-conditioned coach Participation criteria for this tour  All entrance fees to sites mentioned on the itinerary This Grade Two tour is designed for people who lead active  Porterage of one piece of luggage into and out of hotels lives and can comfortably participate in up to five hours of only physical activity per day on most days, including longer  Background talks and extensive tour notes walking tours, challenging archaeological sites, climbing  Tips for local guides and drivers and at included meals stairs, embarking and disembarking trains and/or boats, and Not included a more demanding tour schedule with one night stops or  International air fares, taxes and surcharges (see below) several internal flights.  Travel insurance You should be able to:  Meals not mentioned in itinerary  keep up with the group at all times  Expenses of a personal nature  walk for 4-5 kilometres at a moderate pace with only short breaks Air travel OPTIONS  stand for a reasonable length of time in galleries and museums The tour price quoted is for land content only. For this tour  tolerate uncomfortable climatic conditions such as cold, we recommend Qatar Airways or Singapore humidity and heat Airlines/Lufthansa which have the best connections into  walk up and down slopes Berlin. Please contact us for further information on  negotiate steps and slopes on archaeological sites, competitive Economy, Business and First Class airfares. which are often uneven and unstable Transfers between airport and hotel are included for all  get on and off a large coach with steep stairs, train or passengers booking their flights through Academy Travel. boat unassisted, possibly with luggage These may be group or individual transfers.  move your luggage a short distance if required Enquiries & bookings A note for older travellers If you are more than 80 years old, or have restricted mobility, For further information and to secure a place on this tour it is highly likely that you will find this itinerary challenging. please contact Jamal Fairbrother at Academy Travel on You will have to miss several activities and will not get the 9235 0023 or 1800 639 699 (outside Sydney) or email full value of the tour. Your booking will not be accepted until [email protected] after you have contacted Academy Travel to discuss your situation and the exact physical requirements of this tour. Weather on Tour While we will do our best to reasonably accommodate the physical needs of all group members, we reserve the right to May is a pleasant time to travel in Germany with spring refuse bookings if we feel that the requirements of the tour temperatures ranging on average from the low 20s, dropping are too demanding for you and/or if local conditions mean to 10 -12°C at night. However, you should pack for a few we cannot reasonably accommodate your condition. days which are cooler than this, as well as a few warmer ones. Rainfall is fairly evenly spread across the year, and it is reasonable to expect rain on at least a few days, though not enough to disrupt our program.