Historic Treasures & Modern Marvels May 16 - 23, 2012 Featuring Dietrich Neumann, Professor of the History of Art and Architecture at Brown Dear Graduates, Parents and Friends of Brown, Join Brown University’s Dietrich Neumann, Professor of the History of Art and Architecture, on a week-long tour to the avant-garde city of Berlin, and discover the city’s heady blend of grand museums, contemporary architecture and cutting-edge culture. Deemed one of the "hottest destinations on the planet" by The New York Times, explore Berlin's impressive new buildings, art galleries and embassies juxtaposed with the city's historic core. Learn how Hitler rose to power and how the shadow of the Third Reich’s enormous crimes influences post-war Germany, and experience the city’s amazing transformation since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Led by a professional tour manager as well as a guide who is an expert Berlin scholar, this week-long itinerary offers a wonderful variety of perspectives and experiences on one of the world’s most fascinating cities. Visit Berlin's most impressive museums and cultural attractions. Celebrate new architectural works by Norman Foster, Renzo Piano, Frank Gehry and others. A full-day excursion to Potsdam, once the stomping grounds for Prussian nobility with countless palaces and formal gardens, will enlighten you to the area’s rich history, and a walk across the famous Bridge of Spies will shed light on Cold War hostilities. One of the many tour highlights is a visit to a remarkable private art collection that is included in ARTnews’ list of top art collections of the world. Throughout the itinerary, experts in culture, art and architecture will enhance your understanding of this complex city. Join us on this Brown- exclusive journey for an unparalleled view of Berlin. Space is limited, so sign up early! Beth Goldman Galer '88 Director of the Alumni Travel Program Tour Highlights ! Enjoy five-star accommodations at ! Explore Sanssouci Palace, the Swissotel. Frederick the Great's summer ! Learn from a guide who is a retreat, considered Germany's most remarkable Berlin scholar. outstanding palace complex, with ! See a private art collection that is almost 300 acres of intricately listed in ARTnews’ top 200 art landscaped gardens, glorious collections of the world. fountains and heroic statues. ! Discuss East Berlin’s transformation ! Examine Berlin’s cutting-edge since the falling of the Berlin Wall architecture, including the remarkable during visits to Check Point Charlie Norman Foster glass dome adjacent and the former site of Hitler’s bunker. to the Reichstag; the Jewish Museum; ! See Berlin’s finest ancient treasures, the recently opened Neues Museum; including the world-renowned Mies van der Rohe’s “New” National Egyptian bust of Nefertiti; the Ishtar Gallery; I. M. Pei’s stunning addition Gate; and the Pergamon temple. to the German History Museum; and Gehry’s surprising DZ Bank. Program Itinerary USADeparture dome. Walk through Peter Eisenman’s Wednesday,May16 ! Depart on soul-searching Memorial to the overnight flights to Berlin. Aloft Murdered Jews of Europe and continue on foot to the site of Hitler’s bunker. BerlinArrival Drive to the German History Museum Thursday, May 17 ! Transfer and see I. M. Pei’s stunning addition to independently to the luxury five-star the original Baroque palace followed by Swissotel, offering a perfect location on an overview of German History as you the Kurfürstendamm, one of the most walk through the museum’s collection. fashionable areas of West Berlin and the Enjoy lunch at Berlin’s most beautifully city’s premiere shopping area. located biergarten, set on the lake of Additionally the hotel is just two blocks Tiergarten. See other highlights, from Berlin’s city park, the Tiergarten. including the Nikolai Quarter, Berlin’s Enjoy free time to relax and settle into oldest district; the Gendarmenmarkt, your room. In the afternoon meet your Berlin’s most elegant French-inspired guide and set forth on an orientation square; Unter den Linden; walking tour of the area near the Kurfürstendamm; Check Point Charlie; Swissotel. See historic sites, including and the East Side Gallery, a section of Kaiser Wilhelm Church and the the Berlin Wall where provocative Kaufhaus des Westens, aka “KaDeWe,” graffiti from after the Wall’s collapse is a historical and deluxe department preserved. This evening enjoy an store. Stroll through KaDeWe’s optional Dutch-treat dinner at a remarkable food court and see firsthand popular, local restaurant. (B, L) why this huge store was such an important symbol of the West during Potsdam&SanssouciPalace the Cold War, when people on the other Saturday,May19 ! Drive to nearby side of the wall would be forced to line Potsdam, and before arriving, walk across up for hours to purchase bare Glienicke Bridge, the famous Bridge of necessities. Return to the hotel with Spies that lies at an isolated joint time to freshen up for a welcome dinner where US-occupied West Berlin met in a nearby restaurant. Swissotel (D) Soviet-occupied Potsdam, formerly in East Germany. During the Cold War, this bridge BerlinOrientation was one of the few places in the world Friday,May18 ! Set out on a city where the Soviet Union and the United orientation coach tour of Berlin. Begin States stood directly opposite each other, at the Pariser Platz and admire the brokered deals and exchanged captured classic architecture lining the renowned spies. Explore Sanssouci Palace, Frederick Unter den Linden Boulevard, including the Great's summer retreat. Sanssouci is the Brandenburg Gate. Also see the considered Germany's most outstanding American Embassy and Frank Gehry’s palace complex due to the remarkable intriguing DZ Bank building: its sedate marriage between landscape and façade belies its interior and fishlike architecture, with almost 300 acres of Left to right: Brandenburg Gate; Berlin Cathedral by Max Greene; Sanssouci by Steffen Heilfort. Far Program Itinerary right: Reichstag Dome Interior by Cezary. Front Cover: Sony Center Interior by Andreas Tille. intricately landscaped gardens, numerous showpiece, where several of the greatest pavilions, fountains, orangeries and heroic contemporary architects have representative statues. Following free time for lunch in the works. Continue to one of Berlin’s most historic center of Potsdam, finish your day outstanding private contemporary art at Cecilienhof, the location of the historic collections, listed on ARTnews’ top 200 Potsdam Conference following WWII. private collections. Conclude with an Return to Berlin and enjoy an evening at architectural tour of the remarkable Jewish leisure. (B) Museum, designed by Daniel Libeskind. The afternoon and evening are at leisure. (B) MuseumIsland Sunday,May20 ! Walk to Museum Kulturforum&theReichstag Island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Tuesday, May 22 ! Drive to the Stop first in front of the Altes Museum, one Kulturforum, a Berlin quarter with of the finest neoclassical buildings in many cultural institutions. Visit the Germany, and learn about Karl Friedrich Gemäldegalerie, housing a remarkable Schinkel, one of the most prominent collection of paintings by the old German architects who reshaped the still masters, including Dürer, Cranach, Titian, relatively unspectacular city of Berlin into a Botticelli, Van der Weyden, Bruegel and representative capital for Prussia. Visit the one of the largest collections of Pergamon Museum to view ancient Rembrandts in the world. Examine the Babylon’s astonishing and colossal Ishtar architecture of Mies van der Rohe’s “New” Gate, the Roman Market Gate from Miletus National Gallery. Conclude at the and the dramatic Pergamon Altar. Reichstag building, and gain immediate Following lunch, visit the Neues Museum access to a special elevator that will take by renowned architect David Chipperfield, you straight up to the sensational dome reopened in October 2009 to rave reviews, designed by Norman Foster. Enjoy a and see highlights from the Egyptian farewell lunch in the renowned rooftop Museum, including the remarkable bust of restaurant of the Reichstag, adjacent to the Nefertiti. Then enjoy free time for dome. Then take in panoramic views of independent explorations, such as the Altes Berlin and learn about the energy Nationalgalerie, home to masterpieces by conservation implemented in the design of French Impressionist painters, Caspar the dome, which tops one of the “greenest” David Friedrich and the German buildings in the world. Return to the hotel Romantics; or the Bodes Museum, a in the mid-afternoon and enjoy the balance spectacular building that houses an of the day at leisure for last-minute outstanding sculpture collection. (B, L) shopping or to prepare for your return journey to the United States. (B, L) OverviewofGermanHistory Monday,May21 ! Drive to Potsdamer Berlin /USA Platz and learn about the area’s Wednesday, May 23 ! Transfer transformation from the Cold War’s independently to the Berlin airport. (B) “no-man’s land” to an architectural TourCost Berlin! May16-23,2012 Land Only Package....$3,295 Single Supplement.........$695 Tour price is per person based on double occupancy and 20 paying participants. Land prices are based on August 2011 quotes. Final payment is due by January 17, 2012 and must be paid by check to ISDI. Registrations will be accepted beyond this date on a space-available basis. IncludedintheTourCost ! Six nights at the five-star Swissotel ! Services of an experienced ISDI tour manager ! Breakfast daily, three lunches and one dinner ! Entrance fees and transportation as outlined ! Participation of Brown faculty lecturer ! Gratuities to local guides and drivers ! Leadership of an expert Berlin guide ! Taxes, services and porterage fees NOT INCLUDED: International airfare; visa fees; passport fees; airline taxes and fuel surcharges; personal items such as wines, liquors and mineral water except where noted in the itinerary; personal services; airport taxes; travel extensions; personal insurance for health, baggage and tour cancellation; any other items not specifically included in the itinerary.