First Class 12 Day Package Danube River Cruise & Germany Day 1: Depart USA Day 3: Munich, Neuschwanstein Overnight flight to Europe. We have some free time this morning to explore Munich on our own. Late this morning transfer from the hotel to the fairy-tale Day 2: Arrival Munich castle, Neuschwanstein Castle. We take a guided tour of Ludwig Arrival into the Munich airport. Enjoy a tour of the city. Our sight - II's most luxurious former residence where the interior styles seeing begins with a driving tour of Munich including outside range from Byzantine to Romanesque to Gothic. This castle, built views of the Olympic Stadium, Pinakotheken art museums, Royal between 1869 and 1886, has a most impressive view with the Palace (Residenz), National Theater, and the world famous Hof - Alpsee Lake below and the Alps towering above. We continue to bräuhaus. Take a walking tour of the Marienplatz which lies at the the Pilgrimage Church of Wies to visit this oval Rococo style heart of the Alstadt in the city center. This lively, attractive square church which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. From here we houses the Gothic New Town hall (Neue Rathaus) with its famous continue to Oberammergau or surrounding area for dinner and Glockenspiel and the Old Town Hall. We transfer to the Munich overnight stay. hotel for check in and a welcome dinner. 1 | www.pilgrimtours.com y a l P n o i s s a P Day 4: Passion Play Performance berg above the city of Kelheim. It is an impressive marble building This morning we will have some free time to enjoy the delightful fashioned after the Parthenon in Athens. It towers high above the village of Oberammergau with outstanding opportunities for pho - Danube and can be seen from far across the plains. Afterwards tos and shopping. This afternoon and evening we enjoy the Pas - you board an excursion boat, which takes you past the former city sion Play production. The play depicts the story of Christ's of the Wittelsbacher through the nature reserve ”Weltenburger Passion, beginning with the entry into Jerusalem and ending with Enge” to the Benedictine abbey of Weltenburg. The monastery, the resurrection and transfiguration, a moving and spectacular ex - founded by Irish or Scottish monks in about 620 AD, is the oldest perience. Each performance starts at 2:30 PM (1:30 PM start time monastery in Bavaria. After a short tour of the abbey church you after August 17th) and ends approximately 10:30 PM (9:30 PM can taste the famous dark beer of Weltenburg, which is brewed after August 17th), with a three-hour included dinner break/inter - here in the oldest monastery brewery in the world. We enjoy a mission from 5:00 to 8:00 PM (4:00 to 7:00 PM after August Bavarian themed evening on board. 17th). We stay overnight in Oberammergau or surrounding area. Day 7: Passau and Salzburg Day 5: Arrive in Passau and Begin Cruising Today you’ll need to decide if you take part in an optional half day We transfer from Oberammergau to Passau. We board the river walking tour of Passau or an optional full day tour of Salzburg. cruise ship which will be our home for the next 7 nights. This river During this walk round the old quarter of Passau your knowledge - cruiser is nothing other than a floating luxury hotel, impressing its able guide will point out many buildings that bear witness to its passengers from the moment they step on board. We will meet our historical importance in the so called three river city. You can ad - cruise director, enjoy a welcome cocktail and then get settled into mire picturesque lanes, promenades and squares and find out our cabins. This evening we have a special welcome dinner and some interesting facts about the Bishopric city. Above all, you will folklore program. be especially impressed by the Baroque St. Stephen's cathedral, with the world's largest organ (17,974 pipes and 233 registers), the Day 6: Regensburg new Bishop's residence and the town hall. We return to the ship This morning enjoy an optional city walk of Regensburg. Regens - around noon and enjoy the remainder of our day at rest on the burg is one of the best-preserved medieval cities in Germany, and ship. its historic buildings (about 1,400) are most impressive. The cas - tle-like residences of the wealthy, patrician families with their For those that take the full day Salzburg excursion, a two-hour high towers dominated the townscape of the Middle Ages and still coach ride will bring you to Salzburg, the city of music. The old testify the same status today. Among these architectural treasures town with its world famous baroque architecture is one of the best are churches, monasteries, the town hall, and one of Europe’s old - preserved city centers north of the Alps and was adopted by UN - est bridges that has spanned the Danube since the 12th century. ESCO in 1997 in the list of World Cultural Heritages. Salzburg is During this walk you will recognize the former power and wealth also the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. During the of this city, which once controlled the trade route to the Orient. guided tour through the old town you will see the birth house of During a short visit of the Regensburg Cathedral, dedicated to St. the musician as well as other well-known attractions, such as the Peter, you can admire the emblem of Gothic architecture in south - Getreidegasse. This long yet narrow shopping-street runs parallel ern Germany (depends on the opening hours of the Cathedral and to the river in the center of town. The street is famous for its old / or if a mass is celebrated etc.). This afternoon is free or you can (or old-style) signs of profession outside each store. You continue take an optional excursion to Weltenburg Abbey. A coach brings to the Mirabell Palace, a beautiful castle with gardens, built by an you towards Weltenburg, with a brief detour to the “Hall of Liber - archbishop for his beloved courtesan. Watch out for the "Garden ation”. It is a historical classical monument upon Mount Michels - of Dwarfs" and the Garden of Roses. After the included lunch, you 2 head to the picturesque village Mondsee which was a film location tween 1702 and 1736. Particularly noteworthy is the abbey’s of the well known movie “The Sound of Music”. Enjoy the beauti - church and the impressive library with countless medieval manu - ful scenery as we head back to the ship! scripts and frescos. A guided tour takes you through the abbot’s chambers, along the imperator’s walk, through the marble hall, For those that did not take the Salzburg excursion you can choose the balconies and the library. Then, depending on the time of day, to take the optional afternoon walking tour of Linz. Linz was there might be an opportunity to hear an organ recital in the founded by the Romans, who called it "Lentia", but there was al - abbey church. Travel to Vienna where the cruise ship will dock ready a Celtic settlement called "Lentos"; probably their word for overnight. the winding of a river. It was a provincial and local government city of the Holy Roman Empire, and an important trading point Day 9: Vienna connecting several routes. Being the city where the Habsburg Em - Our entire day is filled with sites of Vienna. Enjoy a morning op - peror Friedrich III spent his last years, it was, for a short period of tional city of Vienna with a guided tour of one of the world's time, the most important city in the empire. It lost its status to Vi - busiest opera houses, the Vienna State Opera, where over 200 enna and Prague after the death of the Emperor in 1493. There are performances are staged every year. Originally constructed in many things to see in Linz. Take a stroll down the main street 1869, the structure was completely remodeled following its de - which leads to the main square. In addition to the medieval town struction during the Second World War. Today, this premier square in the historic old town and the Mozarthaus see the Ren - opera house is home to the world's best opera orchestra, from aissance villas, the old cathedral with the Bruckner organ or the which the esteemed Vienna Philharmonic recruits its members. new cathedral. Visits depend on opening hours of the cathedral See the grand entrance foyer and main staircase, the elegant tea and/or if a mass is celebrated etc. If time allows, you can taste a salon and Marble Room, and the Gustav Mahler Room. Then, see piece of the famous Linzer Torte (Linzer Cake) in one of the local the highlight of the tour, the magnificent Auditorium, with a view bakeries. of the stage where notable personalities such as Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss, Felix Weingartner, Clemens Krauss, Karl Böhm, Day 8: Durnstein and Melk Abbey and Claudio Abbado have helped forge the opera's prestigious rep - We continue our cruising this morning. Take part in an optional utation. This afternoon take part in an optional tour of Schoen - walking tour of Durnstein, one of the best-known wine villages in brunn Castle. One of Vienna’s most beautiful buildings, the Wachau. Situated in the heart of the magnificent valley, on the Schoenbrunn Castle was built on the template of Versailles, the banks of the mighty river Danube, the charming town offers the residence of the Sun King Louis XIV.