I am looking forward to hosting the KUHF fall arts tour to Germany and spending two glorious weeks in the fall with Public Radio listeners as we travel through some of the most breathtaking landscapes and sophisticated cities Europe has to offer.
My only previous travels in Germany were in the mid 1980s when I was living in northeast France and used to cross the German border to visit Karlsruhe and Heidelberg. This fall, I'll get a chance to revisit Heidelberg as we travel the ancient "Romantic Road" from Würzburg in the north to Füssen high in the Alps of southern Germany, taking in sights both old and new along the way.
The tour is built around some very wonderful productions: Mozart's The Magic Flute in Würzburg; Weill's Threepenny Opera at the Baden-Baden Fall Festival; Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor at the Stuttgart State Opera and his Lucrezia Borgia at the Bavarian State Opera; plus the Stuttgart Ballet's Giselle, and Carmen in Munich. As your host, I'll share some thoughts about all the performances, to enhance your enjoyment.
This tour has been created exclusively for us by Jose Pratt and Dean Dalton of Arte Travel. Dean has been managing KUHF's tour programs for 15 years and will accompany us to ensure a first class German sojourn.
I hope you'll join me for KUHF's tour to Germany at the end of September. Until then…
25 September – Departure – Our German cultural adventure begins as soon as we board our Lufthansa flight, non-stop to Frankfurt. Excellent German beer and wine are complimentary and your dinner on board is the creation of one of the country's outstanding chefs.
26 September – Arrival and Aschaffenburg visit Dean Dalton meets us at the Frankfurt airport where we board our private luxury coach and get on our way to Würzburg. Aschaffenburg, the former summer residence of the electors of Mainz, is right along our way, so we make a stop to discover the 12th-century abbey church of Saints Peter and Alexander which houses The Lamentation of Christ by Mathias Grünewald.
We also visit Ludwig I's Pompejanum, a 19th-century replica of the Castor and Pollux house at Pompeii. After a little free time for a snack, we continue the short distance to Würzburg and settle into the Maritim, a fully modern hotel with views of the medieval fortress and old bridge. There's time to freshen up before our welcome toast and get-acquainted dinner.
27 September – Würzburg tour - Following a full buffet breakfast, our morning sightseeing takes us to the Romanesque St. Kilian Cathedral with its astonishing Schönborn Chapel by Balthasar Neumann, the Neumunster Kirche and its Riemenschneider sculptures, and Burgerspital, a 14th-century wine tavern. Lunch, however, is at the relatively new Weinhaus Zum Stachel – only 500 years old!.
Afternoon sightseeing includes the Baroque Residenz (palace) with its impressive Tiepolo frescoes and a further look at the work of Tilmann Riemenschneider at the Marienberg Citadel. The evening brings the first of our musical offerings: Mozart'sThe Magic Flute.
The Magic Flute
28 September – Free in Würzburg or optional day-trip to Nuremberg - Today you can either enjoy Würzburg on your own or take an optional excursion to Nuremberg ($125), only about an hour's drive away. We see the Frauentor (the main gate of the old city fortifications), the Renaissance entrance portal of the Mauthalle, carved by Adam Kraft, one of Germany's greatest sculptors, the Albrecht Dürer House, the extraordinary masterpieces by Stoss at the St. Lorenzkirche, and the 14th-century Hospital of the Holy Spirit.
After lunch we visit the Palace of Justice, where the Nuremberg Trials took place, and end on a lighter note at a local bakery where we learn the secret of the famous German gingerbread . . . and taste the results.
29 September – Rothenburg – Heidelberg Today we travel toBaden-Baden, stopping en route to visit two of the most picturesque, romantic cities in Germany. We come first to Rothenburg, Germany's best-preserved walled town and the most popular tourist spot on the Romantic Road.
Although it was damaged by air raids, the generals on both sides honored the town's historic importance and avoided destroying it with artillery; afterwards, donations came in from around the world and Rothenburg was quickly rebuilt. Heidelberg, on the other hand, is one of the few medieval towns that were not damaged by air raids in World War II, retaining many original buildings from the later Middle Ages and early Renaissance.
We enjoy one of the gourmet highlights of the tour, lunch at Schwarz Das Restaurant, which commands magnificent views over the city and presents some of the best cuisine in Germany. You will have time to stroll Heidelberg's pedestrian zone for shopping or photos before we continue to Baden-Baden. There we spend three nights at the Badischer Hof, one of the most elegant of the famous spa's grand hotels.
30 September –Baden-Baden - After a leisurely breakfast, we wander among elegant villas, manicured English gardens, and spa buildings before reaching the house where Brahms lived periodically between 1865 and 1874, now the Brahms Museum.
1 October – Baden-Baden - Your day is free to take advantage of Baden-Baden's myriad opportunities for rest, relaxation, and rejuvenation. Our hotel has a pool and complete spa facilities. Tonight we all get together for a performance of Kurt Weill's iconic Threepenny Opera, one of the highlights of the Baden-Baden Fall Festival.
The Threepenny Opera
2 October – The Black Forest - Today, we enjoy Germany's Black Forest, passing through a succession of charming little resorts, each in its unique, picturesque setting.
We stop along the way for photo-ops, including at the mystic Lake Mummelsee, the setting for numerous tales about mermaids and dwarfs. Following a pause for coffee, we continue to Triberg to see the famous waterfalls, considered to be the most beautiful in Germany. We have lunch at Triberg's oldest restaurant and strongly recommend their special dessert: Black Forest cherry cake.
Arriving in Stuttgart late this afternoon, we make ourselves at home at the Graf Zeppelin, another elegant Steigenberger hotel. You can see the world-famous Stuttgart Ballet dance Giselle* this evening.
Giselle
3 October – Stuttgart This morning, we discover Stuttgart, one of the most prosperous industrial centers in Germany and the home of both Mercedes Benz and Porsche.
Virtually destroyed in the war, Stuttgart, unlike many of Germany's resurrected cities, is not a sea of concrete; two-thirds of the land inside the city limits is devoted to parks, gardens, and woodland. We start at the beautiful Schlossplatz (Castle Square), which is surrounded by impressive Renaissance and Neo-Classical palaces, fountains, statues and sculptures.
Then we are off to the Weissenhofsiedlung, thelandmark 1927 neighborhood built by Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, Peter Behrens and others. By special appointment we enter private residences to get a sense of their groundbreaking interior design.
We continue to the Porsche Museum (opened in December 2008), studying its intriguing structure by Delugan Meissl and touring inside to admire the collection and learn about the history of these fascinating cars.
Late lunch is at Jörg Minks' Gasthaus zur Linde, serving the best Swabian cuisine in the region. The Stuttgart State Opera's production of Donizetti'sLucia di Lammermoor* is this evening's performance choice.
Lucia
4October – Romantic Road and Garmisch We travel the Romantic Road (the ancient Roman Via Claudia) through themajestic Bavarian Alps, pausing at the village of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, where Richard Strauss spent his later years. We spend some time at the Strauss Institute, a veritable treasure house of memorabilia. In Füssen, our hotel is right on the main square and we arrive in time for you to relax before our dinner of local specialties.
5 October – The fairy-tale castles of King Ludwig II - We spend all morning visiting two romantic castles associated with King Ludwig II: First, Hohenschwangau, where he spent most of his childhood. Typically not included in travel programs, this castle, complete with its original furniture and a room designed by young Ludwig himself, was the ancestral home of the Wittelsbach family, and we consider it a must. Next we go up to Neuschwanstein, model for the castle at Disneyland. Lunch is in the valley below, at the Hotel Müller, which offers stunning views of the surrounding mountains.
6 October – Munich - The grand finale of our tour begins with a short drive to Munich, where we spend the next three days discovering the art, architecture, and treasures this southern German capital has to offer. We stay at the Meridien, very close to the Altstadt (old city) and featuring spacious, modern rooms with all the amenities.
After checking in, we depart for a tour of the Lembach House with its extraordinary examples of art by the Blaue Reiter School. Lunch is at the famous Kaeffer Restaurant, one of the best in town. Donizetti'sLucrezia Borgia* is tonight's presentation at the Bavarian State Opera, widely considered one of the best opera companies on the Continent.
Lucrezia Borgia is a real bel canto tour-de-force and hence rarely performed. In the title role we hear Edita Gruberova, who follows in the footsteps of Caballé and Southerland as the great "duchess of Ferrara" of her generation. Critics have hailed her performance in the Christoph Loys production as a "triumph."
Lucrezia Borgia
7 October – Munich - Experience more than 800 years of history and culture as we stroll through the heart of the Altstadt. Munich has been home to some of the most colorful characters in German history, from the notorious and charismatic Lola Montez, who seduced a king and helped provoke a revolution, to the legendary "mad" King Ludwig II –only one of a famous line of ruling "Ludwigs," such as Ludwig der Bayer, who became Holy Roman Emperor, and Ludwig I, the king responsible for much of the architectural glory of today's city.
See the world-famous glockenspiel on the tower of the stunning Neo-Gothic Rathaus, the imposing 15th-century Frauenkirche cathedral, the splendor of the beautifully restored St. Peter's church, the bustle and variety of the legendary Viktualienmarkt, the celebrated Hofbräuhaus beer hall, and the grandeur of the plazas and gardens of Royal Munich. For lunch, we feast on roasted duck and dumplings at the Rathaus. Bizet'sCarmen* at the State Opera is the final musical offering of our tour.
8 October – Munich - We have kept your final day in Munich free for you to visit some of the city's fabulous museums or the Nymphenburg Palace, or just to enjoy the street life and shopping.
If you would like to see yet another of Ludwig's palace, this one in the middle of a lake, you can take an optional day trip by train to Herrenchiemsee ($65). Tonight, we all get together to celebrate our German adventure with a farewell dinner.
9 October – Return - A single, convenient change of planes in Frankfurt gets you back to Houston by early afternoon; again, good German food, wine, and beer help make your journey pleasant.
Join St. John Flynn, host of KUHF's "The Front Row," and Arte Travel's Dean Dalton for 15 glorious fall days in Germany.
Travel the Romantic Road, discover the lush Rhine River valley, experience the Black Forest, and attend as many as six stellar performances on our value-packed, two-week tour.
Visit three charming medieval towns: Würzburg, Heidelberg, and Rothenburg; "take the waters" in the elegant 19th-century spa Baden-Baden; wonder at the fairy-tale castles of King Ludwig II, high in the Bavarian Alps; see one of Germany's great industrial cities, Stuttgart; and enjoy four days surrounded by the historical and artistic riches of Munich.
Explore the cultural riches of the most romantic and charming cities of the Romantic Road
Attend performances in historic, grand opera houses
Visit palaces, castles and cathedrals
See great museums and intimate galleries
Feast on traditional and gourmet meals
Relax in intimate sidewalk cafes and luxurious hotels
Learn from pre-performance lectures by St. John Flynn
Benefit from Dean Dalton's long experience managing European tours
I am looking forward to hosting the KUHF fall arts tour to Germany and spending two glorious weeks in the fall with Public Radio listeners as we travel through some of the most breathtaking landscapes and sophisticated cities Europe has to offer.