Tour members meet for our flight to Berlin. After dinner is served, it’s time to sit back, relax, and enjoy the on-board entertainment to prepare for this exciting adventure of a lifetime.

After arriving in Berlin, we will explore the capital of the reunified Germany, on a guided tour that includes all the important highlights like the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag (Parliament) and its cupola, the Nikolai Quarter, the impressive boulevard “Unter den Linden”, the Museum Island, the Gendarmen-Market, the Alexanderplatz and Check- Point Charlie. Drive to Lutherstadt Wittenberg. Dinner and overnight is in Wittenberg.

We begin our tour in Wittenberg with a visit to the temporary exhibition “Luther” located in the Augusteum that was built in the mid-1580s. As Luther House is currently closed for renovation, selected pieces will be exhibited here. Luther hall was once an Augustinian monastery where Luther lived as a monk and again later in 1525 as owner with his wife and family. Luther Hall is the largest museum of Reformation history in the world. Next we continue our guided walking tour through Wittenberg, we will also have the chance to see St Mary’s Church. We take a break for lunch and then continue with a visit to All Saints’ Church of the Castle Church, the famous site where Luther posted his 95 Theses on the Castle Church door, sparking the beginning of the Reformation. It is here that Luther is buried alongside his fellow reformer, Philipp Melanchthon. We depart Wittenberg on our way to Erfurt on the way we will stop and visit the Buchenwald concentration camp and the memorial before continuing to our Hotel for dinner and overnight in Erfurt.

After breakfast we will have a guided visit of the Augustinian Monastery, with a permanent exhibit depicting Luther’s life as a monk. If time permits, we will visit St. Mary’s Cathedral, where Luther was ordained as a priest, and St. Severus Church. afterwards, we have a short drive to Wartburg Castle for a self-guided tour of the Palais (Great Hall), the Elisabeth Hallway, and the Luther Room where Luther, under his disguise as “Junker Jörg,” translated the New Testament into German. We depart for Eisenach. Today, we will visit all the “must see” of Eisenach city, including the Luther- House, and the St. George’s Church, where J.S. Bach was baptized, and St. Elisabeth was married. We also will enjoy a brief concert at the Bach house. We drive to Bad Homburg for Dinner and overnight.

After breakfast, we continue to Worms, one of the oldest towns in Germany. We visit St. Peter’s Cathedral, an exquisite example of Romanesque architecture. In 1521, Martin Luther was summoned here by Emperor Charles V to recant his teachings before the Diet of Worms. We also see where Luther made his famous “Here I Stand” declaration. We will visit the world’s largest memorial to the Reformation along with Europe’s oldest Jewish cemetery, the Holy Sands. Another Reformer named William Tyndale, finished his printing of the English Bible in Worms, escaping persecution in England. After Lunch, we visit Heidelberg, a gorgeous town on the Neckar River where romanticism is both past and present. Our walking tour includes the Old Town, the famous Stone Bridge over the Neckar River, the Heidelberg Castle (where the Heidelberg Confession was written in 1653), the Castle Church, German Apothecary Museum, and the Church of the Holy Ghost. We stop for lunch, then After an amazing day of touring, we end the day by making our way to Strasbourg France for dinner and overnight.

After breakfast we begin our walking tour of Strasbourg. The ideas of the Reform Movement spread in Strasbourg as early as the beginning of the 16th century. These ideas helped to lay down a structure for theological education. In 1532 Martin Bucer started courses on the exegesis of biblical books in German and in Latin, and along with others like Capiton that followed the reformed ideas, they began teaching ancient languages and many other courses that were added to the exegesis course. Our first stop once we arrive will be the Statue of the Reformers at the University and also we will visit the Historic quarter known as La Petite- France. After our walking tour, we take a short ride to a beautiful town trapped in time, Riquewhir. Here we will have a special lunch and wine tasting. After an amazing culinary experience in Riquewhir, we drive through some of the most beautiful areas in Europe as we make our way to Lucerne. Dinner and overnight in Lucerne.

This morning, we enjoy a city tour of Lucerne. We visit the town’s landmark, the Chapel Bridge, along with the water tower. The tower was built in 1300 as part of the city wall and used as an archive, treasury, prison and torture chamber. We see the Dying Lion of Lucerne monument, which was carved out of natural rock in memory of the deaths of Swiss mercenaries at the Tuileries in 1792. Those not doing the extension will drive to Zurich for lunch and flight home.

This morning, we enjoy a city tour of Lucerne. We visit the town’s landmark, the Chapel Bridge along with the water tower. The tower was built in 1300 as part of the city wall and used as an archive, treasury, prison and torture chamber. We see the Dying Lion of Lucerne-monument, which was carved out of natural rock in memory of the deaths of Swiss mercenaries at the Tuileries in 1792. We continue our tour and make our way to Innsbruck, Austria. Dinner and overnight are in Innsbruck.

Innsbruck, the rococo capital of the Austrian Tyrol which has a history of 800 years. The sightseeing tour by foot and bus features the Emperor Maximillian’s “Golden Roof”, famed Maria Theresiastrasse, the Court Church, and the Olympic ski-jump. Next we drive through the Bavarian alps and make our way to see Neuschwanstein Castle, the famous fairytale castle of King Ludwig, then we will tour the inside. This fantastic castle was the inspiration for Walt Disney’s castles. We end the day with a drive into Munich.

This morning we visit the fun-filled capital of Bavaria. We have a stop at the Olympic Park. Then we drive into the city center, passing the Old Pinakothek Museum, the Deutsches Museum and Nymphenburg Palace. We continue the tour by foot to see the Old City, the Town Hall and its famous Glockenspiel, the Marienplatz, the Frauenkirche and the Viktualienmarkt. In the late afternoon, we have free time to stroll through the city for some shopping, or to visit one of the museums. This evening we gather for our Farewell Dinner and our final overnight, sharing in all that we have seen and done.

This morning we transfer to the airport for our return flight to the U.S.A.