ESSENTIAL EUROPE
Day 1 - (Sat.) Board your overnight transatlantic flight. Day 2 - Arrival in Rome, Italy. (Sun.) Time to rest or start exploring the Eternal City. At 6 p.m. meet your Tour Director and traveling companions and leave the hotel for a special welcome dinner with wine in one of Rome's lively restaurants. (D) Day 3 - Rome. (Mon.) Sightseeing with your Local Guide starts with a visit to the VATICAN MUSEUMS and SISTINE CHAPEL, world famous for Michelangelo's ceiling paintings and The Last Judgement. Continue to monumental ST. PETER'S SQUARE and BASILICA. Cross the Tiber and visit the COLOSSEUM and the ROMAN FORUM, where Roman Legions marched in triumph. Then time for independent activities and exciting optional excursion possibilities. (BB) Day 4 - Rome - Florence. (Tue.) An easy morning drive north to Florence, cradle of the Renaissance. Follow your Local Guide to visit the ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS with Michelangelo's celebrated David, the magnificent CATHEDRAL, Giotto's Bell Tower, the Baptistry's heavy bronze "Gate of Paradise," and sculpture-studded SIGNORIA SQUARE. Later take a moment to check out the enticing shops with Florentine leather goods and gold jewelry. (BB,D) Day 5 - Florence - Venice. (Wed.) Drive across the wooded Apennine Mountain range and through the lush plains of the mighty River Po to Venice. Enter the city in style by PRIVATE BOAT to ST. MARK'S SQUARE. Admire the Byzantine Basilica, the Clock Tower, lavish Doges" Palace, and the Bridge of Sighs. Watch skilled GLASSBLOWERS fashion their delicate objects, then time to wander at whim or join an optional gondola serenade. (BB,D) Day 6 - Venice - Lugano, Switzerland - Lucerne. (Thu.) Through the lush Lombardian plains, past the commercial capital of Milan, into Italian-speaking southern Switzerland. Free time for lunch and to check out the chic boutiques in lakeside Lugano. Then admire the towering majesty of the Swiss Alps on the way to Lucerne via the 10-mile St. Gotthard Tunnel and William Tell country. (BB) Day 7 - Lucerne. (Fri.) Admire Thorwaldsen's LION MONUMENT and the ornate patrician houses lining the cobbled streets of the walled Old Town, then cross the famous covered CHAPEL BRIDGE to the Jesuit Church. Afterwards shop for Swiss watches and you may want to join an optional excursion to the top of a mountain! (BB,D) Day 8 - Lucerne - Paris, France. (Sat.) Today cross the border into France and enjoy a fast ride on the modern highway skirting the vineyards of Burgundy and Fontainebleau Forest. Tonight you are in Paris, the traditional climax of a European tour. (BB) Day 9 - Paris. (Sun.) Discover the world capital of chic and style with a Local Guide and admire its most famous sights: the Opéra, Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Elysées, Notre Dame Cathedral, and more. For a bird's-eye view take the elevator to the second floor of Paris" most famous landmark, the EIFFEL TOWER. An optional excursion to the lavish baroque Palace of Versailles is available. Tonight, a lively cabaret show might just be the ticket. (BB) Day 10 - Paris - London, England. (Mon.) Board the EUROSTAR TRAIN to London, arriving in the afternoon. (BB) Day 11 - London. (Tue.) Sightseeing with a Local Guide includes all the famous landmarks: Knightsbridge with Harrods, the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben beside the River Thames, Westminster Abbey, Whitehall's mounted horseguards and the Prime Minister's Downing Street, and Buckingham Palace. Highlights are a visit to ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL and the ceremonial pageantry of the Changing of the Guard, if held. Afternoon at leisure. (FB) Day 12 - (Wed.) Your homebound flight arrives the same day. (FB) |
