May 9
Recent lunch with clients at the Bratwurst Kitchen built to feed the workers who were constructing the nearby stone bridge over the Donau. The kitchen has been in existence for more than 600 years. And the brats and kraut are still as good today as they were then.
One cannot leave Regensburg without having brats and kraut at the riverside
Using inspiration from a recent tour plus some reliable favorites of our clients over the years, we are happy to present this amazing opportunity to experience some of Europe’s many delights in an intimate group of no more than six persons.
Micro-Group Tour in Germany, Czech Republic and Austria
11-day trip
Small Group Tour
Offered for 2013
Highlights include:
• Berlin
• Dresden
• The Erzgebirge Mountains and Seiffen
• Prague
• Regensburg
• Rothenburg ob der Tauber
• Nierstein
Recent guests check out remains of the Berlin Wall
DAYS 1, 2 and 3:
Arrival at Berlin Intl. Airport
(3 nights)
Guide James Derheim, who would have arrived in Berlin the day before, meets you at the new international airport. You travel with James’ guidance in the Derheim’s company van (a VW seating up to six passengers plus driver) to the heart of Berlin for a stay of three nights in your own private apartment in the historic Kreuzberg section of Berlin. This apartment complex features self-catering apartments accommodating up to four in a large, comfortable atmosphere. A café across the street provides an excellent breakfast. You are living as the Berliners live!
We are just half a minute away by foot from the bus, which takes us to the many historical highlights of Berlin.
Highlights of our stay in Berlin will include:
• The Brandenburg Gate (symbol of the divided city)
• The Parliament Building including climbing to the top for the view
• The amazing train station, the most advanced in Europe
• Potsdamer Platz (a wasteland after the war, completely rebuilt)
• The famous “Unter den Linden” promenade
• Remnants of the Berlin Wall
• Kurfurstendamm, West Berlin’s glittering shopping district
• River cruise on the Spree through Berlin’s historic center
• KaDeWe, the biggest department store in Berlin and worth a look even for non-shoppers
and much more
We get around the metropolitan area using Berlin’s highly efficient, comfortable and safe metro and bus system. It’s a fun way to get around and it solves the main problem of sightseeing in any large city – lack of parking.
Stay in a spacious apartment in Berlin!
DAYS 4 and 5:
Dresden (2)
We drive to the city of Dresden, located a little less than two hours south of Berlin. We take the back roads so that you can enjoy the countryside with our lunch stop the medieval town of Torgau. This was the meeting place for the U.S. Army and the Russian Army on April 25, 1945 in the last week of World War II.
We stay two nights in the heart of Dresden within easy walking distance of all of the sights. Among them are:
• The Protestant Frauenkirche, destroyed in WWII and rebuilt stone upon stone
• The royal jewelry, on display in a museum. One has to see the workmanship in gold and silver to believe it.
• Art museum featuring German, French, Italian masters
• Beautiful architecture throughout the city center, rebuilt to exact detail after the bombing of WWII
• Cruise on the Elbe River to admire many beautiful villas, small villages and countryside plus incredible views of the city skyline
The inspiring Frauenkirche, reborn from the ashes of WWII
DAYS 6 and 7
Prague (2)
We travel south through the Erzgebirge mountains with a stop in Seiffen where nutcrackers and other holiday ornaments are made. Guests have the opportunity to purchase these handmade items at great prices, direct from the maker.
Enjoy a tour of Prague in a 1930s jalopy!
We then drive across the border into the Czech Republic for a two nights stay in the heart of Prague, the capital city of the Czech Republic and also considered one of the most beautiful cities in the world. We stay in a hotel located just a short walk from the astrological clock and market square. We are also close to the 14th century Charles Bridge, which links the “new” town with the “old” town. Jim shows you the highlights over the rest of the day of our arrival and the entire next day including:
• Great shopping opportunities for crafts that are handmade in the Czech Republic
• Architectural tour in Siroka, the old Jewish quarter
• A ride around the city by jalopy, fun!
• The castle hill and the huge cathedral there plus the famous “Golden Lane”
and much more
DAY 8:
Regensburg (1)
A small city founded by the Romans as a military camp in the 2nd century. We stay in the heart of the town next to the towering cathedral and spend the rest of the day enjoying the narrow lanes, towers and most importantly, some of the best bratwurst and sauerkraut in Germany!
Enjoy brats down by the river and the 13th century bridge in Regensburg
DAYS 9 and 10:
Rothenburg ob der Tauber (2)
We drive west with a stop in the historic city of Nurnberg for a look at the sights including the former parade grounds of the Nazis, used for huge rallies in the 1930s plus the historic city center, castle district, river district and more.
We then use the back roads to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, one of the best-preserved medieval towns in all of Europe. Guests stay two nights in an inn located in the heart of the town within easy stroll of all of the major sights.
Medieval Rothenburg ob der Tauber
Among the highlights:
• The Kathe Wohlfahrt Christmas Store – Christmas all year long!
• The Medieval Crime Museum
• The Imperial City Museum
• 14th century town church
• Eating in a typical country inn, best schnitzel around!
• The Nightwatchman tour
DAY 11: Near Frankfurt Airport, Nierstein on the Rhein
We travel to a charming small town on the Rhein River not far from the Frankfurt Airport. We stop for lunch in Miltenberg am Main along the way.
Your Micro-Group Tour in Europe
Includes:
• Breakfast and lunch. Lunch will be soup or salad or a sandwich or something else light to your taste. Dinners, usually in locations offering authentic food which have been pre-vetted by your guide. Dinners are not included in the cost of your tour.
• Comfortable rooms or in the case of Berlin, an apartment, in unique, exceptionally comfortable and carefully selected hotels.
• Transportation by our company’s full-sized van.
• Incidentals, tolls, fuel, sightseeing, entry fees, tips or payments to local guides, etc.
Not included: Dinners and airfare. Airfare quotes are provided on request.
Total cost in Euro for each person: 3,550 Euro based on five persons minimum
Calculate in dollars
using www.x-rates.com
Visa or MasterCard accepted
Families invited!
Insurance to protect you
Trip cancellation and interruption insurance is mandatory and should be purchased within 15 days of signing your contract and booking your travel dates.
You can book through European Focus, Inc or through your own travel agent.
Trip insurance usually costs about 5% of the total cost of the trip and is determined by the age of the clients.
For more details contact:
European Focus Private Tours
1469 Main Street
Sarasota, FL 34236
800.401.7802
941.706.4508
www.europeanfocus.com
info@europeanfocus.com
Statues on the west front of the Cathedral
March 22
A day spent in the lovely small city of Regensburg is a day well spent. There is so much to see and do in this town on the banks of the Donau River (later, the Danube as it flows into eastern Europe) that it’s almost unfair to try and do it all in one day. Some of our guests stay a night here, and those are always the best times.
On this particular visit I was making my way from Landshut, where a tour had just ended with clients taking a pre-dawn flight out of Munich to head back to Iowa. I had some time to spend as I made my way home to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, and so a stop in one of our favorite cities seemed right. Plus, it was a gorgeous early spring day with a warm sun shining in a flawless sky.
It turned out that I was not the only person that day who thought about going to sample some of Regensburg’s delights. The city was packed and if I had a quarter for every person I saw holding an ice cream cone, well, I’d have a lot of quarters!
Starting with the massive cathedral of St. Peter, I wandered around its flanks, admiring the work of stone mason’s who worked on this church since the enlargement process began in the 1400s. Gargoyles, statues of saints and bishops and apostles fill the expanse of the church. Scaffolding on the church never seems to go away. They have to constantly clean it because of the pollution caused by automobiles.
(Continued)
A shocking image to any Jew who would have passed the cathedral while going about their daily business
The Jewish prohibition of pork comes from Torah, in the book Leviticus, Chapter 11, verses 2 through 8. The arrangement of Jews surrounding, suckling, and having intercourse with the animal (sometimes regarded as the devil), is a mockery of Judaism and example of antisemitic propaganda.
The image appears in the Middle Ages, mostly in carvings on church or cathedral walls, often outside where it could be seen from the street (for example at Wittenberg and Regensburg), but also in other forms. The earliest appearance seems to be on the underside of a wooden choir-stall seat in Cologne Cathedral, dating to about 1210. The earliest example in stone dates to ca. 1230 and is located in the cloister of the cathedral at Brandenburg. In about 1470 the image appeared in woodcut form, and thereafter was often copied in popular prints, often with antisemitic commentary. A wall painting on the bridge tower of Frankfurt am Main, constructed between 1475 and 1507 near the gateway to the Jewish ghetto and demolished in 1801, was an especially notorious example and included a scene of the ritual murder of Simon of Trent.
As an unrelated development, during the Nazi period, Judensau was used as an insulting appellation in German. Although this word is identical in form to the name of the image, it is historically separate and morphologically opposite, and translates as “Jewish sow” rather than “Jews’ sow”.
The stone carving of the Jewish Pig is on the south side of the Regensburg Cathedral, facing the former Jewish ghetto. That ghetto was cleared inn 1519 in order to build a church. More than 500 Jews were expelled.
St. Lorenz in Nurnberg. Not easy to find, not even the locals seem to know where it is.
We tried them both. Overall favorite prize from our informal contest went to Regensburg for flavor and originality.
Susan and George Then at the Wurstkueche alongside the Donau River in Regensburg
The sausage kitchen
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