Czech - Germany tour June 9 - 18, 2012
10+ glorious days
Offered by
Heritage Tours Inc.
4219 Thornhill, St. Paul, MN 55127-7822
This extensive - jam packed tour starts in Prague, Czech
Republic.
I suggest you
fly into Prague - on Friday June 8th the day before the
tour officially starts, ( that means you will need to depart the USA on
June 7th
- you fly overnight, arriving to Prague on June 8th
so you can rest from your journey, and the bus will pick everyone
up from the same hotel,
in
the morning. ( this is a option )
We have reserved rooms in a hotel in the historic center for this
option. I will take anyone who is interested on a
walking tour of the
historic center, we will have a dinner someplace, and return to the
hotel for a good nights rest.
( depart the hotel about 3 PM )
Major towns and locations we visit below on the tour - are in
bold print.
This tour celebrates many unknown areas of the Czech
Republic, Germany and Poland.
Saturday June 9
Tour officially starts
at 9 AM - in the lobby of the pre-tour hotel in Central
Prague.
9 AM Depart to Milnik, free time to wander or have lunch ( at the
castle ? )
the afternoon we
will attend a local folk festival called : Mělnicky vrkoc, with
lots of music, signing, dancing, and people in kroje ( folk costumes )
depart to our hotel in Krasna Lipa, ( known as the Czech
Switzerland ) check-in dinner.
Optional stroll around the square, stop for a beer or
wine ?
Sunday June 10
Optional church service, or sleep it off ? departure
for a unique mine museum, walk in the mine. Visit of
Křizova Hora
with the stations of the cross or tour Tolstejn castle, then
lunch on your own. Back to Krasna Lipa for it's
folk festival,
which you can walk to from our hotel ! Then visit scenic
Dymnik
lookout, and have dinner in a local stylish restaurant.
Monday
June 11
Visit a local
glass works at Panska skala,
depart for Dresden, free time to wander or have lunch, walking
tour of the historic center. Depart for Bautzen, check in at our
hotel - with it's own private brewery
!
Dinner at the hotel, which has a view of the 1000 year
old city. Optional evening walk.
Tuesday
June 12
Walking tour of the historic center,
with some
free time to explore. Then we visit the Ortenburg castle and
the National Museum of the Sorbs,
( a Slavic people related to Czechs ) The museum has some
wonderful kroje !
Dinner,
optional evening performance of Sorbian national folk ensemble !
Wednesday
June 13
Drive to
Gorlitz, Germany free time to walk
around, have lunch, shop etc.
Then drive into
Poland to visit
the WW II Concentration camp of
Gross-Rosen.
Stop and walk around the square in
Strzegom.
Depart to our hotel in
Nachod, Czech Republic.
Check in at hotel, dinner, optional walk around the center.
Thursday
June 14
Special Czech breakfast
tour !
The local brewery, Primator.
Free time to wander the center, shop have lunch, etc.
Then off to tour some
bunkers and fortifications from WW II,
dinner in a restaurant in the charming countryside. Back to
the hotel in Nachod,
a optional stroll and pivo ? ( beer )
Friday
June 15
Tour a unique 1800's country
school museum,
plus tour and shop at a one of a kind ribbon factory. Stop in
Dobruska, to see the Jewish cemetery, wonder around have lunch, etc.
Then tour the chateau of Opocno,
Visit the historic
church of Slavonov, built in
1553. ( Marks ancestors attended this church ! )
Stroll the charming square in
Nove Mesto nad Metuji, and
have dinner, then return to Nachod.
Saturday
June 16
First stop is the
Baroque fortress of Josefov,
built from 1780 to 1787.
Then off to Hradec Kralove, for a walk around the historic
square, lunch, shopping, etc.
Next to
Kutna
Hora, to visit the famous Gothic Cathedral of
St. Barbora. Then off to Prague, check-in at our centrally
located hotel, dinner in a local restaurant, optional evening walk.
Sunday
June 17
Walking tour through the Prague Castle complex - the largest in the world, lunch and continued sightseeing of Karluv Most (Charles Bridge), Stare Mesto (Old Town) until about 3 PM, evening free - for concerts, etc
Monday
June 18
Today offers you many options - Visit
Vysehrad,
or Josefov (Jewish Town) or any of the many other sights. Or
explore on your own,
visit
relatives,
shop, etc.
Wonderful farewell
evening dinner cruise on the Vltava
river.
Tuesday
June
19
*Tour ends*
with breakfast this morning at
the hotel, and a lifetime of good memories!
You are free to keep traveling, visit relatives, or return home.
The final itinerary
will have more stops, and more detail.
I do not put lots of detail on the Internet because we don't want
our out-of-the-way places to be swamped with tourists.
Our secret places are for you -
our valued guests.
PRICE FOR THIS FULL 10+ DAY & 8
NIGHT TOUR IS ONLY :
$ 3195.00*
Per-person double occupancy.
Single supplement is $550 for a
single room during the tour.
Reserve your space ! Tour space
is held by a deposit only, of $ 300 per-person.
Mail in a check for
your tour deposit to : Heritage Tours
4219 Thornhill
St.
Paul, MN 55127-7822
Please feel free to
contact Mark, as he is on almost every tour, with any tour questions you
may have by email at : 4cstours AT gmail.com
or
Cstour AT visi.com,
( just replace the AT with a @ = to put these complete email
address on the Internet will get me thousands of spam or junk emails )
or by phone at ( 651) 426-1222
Tour price is based
on double room occupancy. ( most times it's two beds in a room )
Single supplement price is for a single room, with a single bed.
Triple rooms are available too.
Tour price includes : Hotel rooms with private bath, in small
select superior class hotels ( 3 stars or above ).
Almost all meals, every breakfast, and most all evening meals, (
which are large ).
Professional driver, in a nice new 48 passenger modern air-conditioned
motor coach -
( with
LOTS of room to relax and spread out on all those empty seats, this is a
real luxury - as most tours will cram you in, every seat is full )
Or a smaller vehicle in case of a smaller group.
This is a fully guided tour, with a full time licensed local
Czech guide.
You will not
be left on your own - with no clue. ( unless you want to ) Your
admission to places and events, on the itinerary.
Plus lots of entertainment, ( due to our extensive expertise,
almost all entertainment we have is exclusive to Heritage Tours ) This
is a
Land only tour.
Program is subject to change, tour price based on currency
exchange rates as of
Oct. 1st,
2011.
No two tours
have ever been the same, each is unique and custom designed around the
local calendar of events. No one else will offer a tour like ours,
period We can easily book you additional nights at the hotels - no
problem.
Tour size is
limited to around 10 - 20 people - again this is a real luxury, as many
of my competitors have 35 to 50 people on one tour.
Tour space is held by deposit only.
*Listed tour price is by personal or bank check, final payment
can be made by credit card, and
5 % will be added to your total for credit card fees. Make your
tour deposit by personal or bank check sent by postal mail.
We add many things
to our tour program in Europe and are only satisfied when most people
say I am too tired to go on!
We don't believe in playing games with tour prices, there will be
very few extras while you are on our tour.
Those very few extras are:
a. One meal a day, mostly lunches ( with two BIG meals a day, its
not missed by most people) Beverages other than breakfast.
b. Car, drivers, translators, for family visits and personal
reasons, and additional services done by the genealogical service.
c. An occasional evening cultural program, or extra stops at
places or events we come across. d. Gratuities during the tour.
e. Transportation to / from Europe, and in Prague transfers to
meet the start of the tour.
For references please feel free
to contact :
Lisa
Messman
from MO
email :
Lmessman@hotmail.com
Karen
Helwig ( 262 ) 473-2187 in Wisc. email,
helwigr@cni-usa.com
Kathryn
Muckler
in WA state
- email :
tedwed61@q.com
Gary Zabokrtsky
( 402 ) 729-2875 in Nebraska. email :
garyzabo@gmail.com
Barb Bening ( 507 ) 964-2739 in
MN
email :
barbb@frontiernet.net
Lisa Conrath
email;
ewm1573@yahoo.com
in SC.
Betsey McCalley ( 319 ) 363-9163
in Iowa
Doreen McKenny
952-941-0426 in MN
Doreenlouise@aol.com
Stefanie Vocasek
email :
stefanievocasek@hotmail.com
( Miss Czech-Slovak US
2010-2011 ) from NE
Kathy Sigdestad in KY email :
kathysig@insightbb.com.
Marge Duffy
in MN
email,
Mduffy38@aol.com
Midge Robbeloth
920-426-8890 in Wisc.
LFACHE@aol.com
Carol & George Bisek
in MN
email;
cebisek@msn.com
Pat & Dick Kutilek 402-393-7469
in Neb. email, dpkutilek@cox.net
Barbara Douvier in MN
651-738-0268
barbdouvier@comcast.net
Elaine Jones in Neb
email :
ekathryn@cox.net
Our exclusive family history
assistance:
While on a
Heritage Tour if you are interested in locating your family's roots, we
can make it happen.
We take
this mission VERY SERIOUSLY.
Unlike others we contact and search for your living relatives
LONG before you depart for Europe.
We check in advance to make sure people know you are coming, that
the church will be open, that people will be home etc.
All these matters dealing with family history are handled by a
professionally licensed genealogical service, run by a Slovak-American
married to a Czech based in Prague.
They work extensively in Central Europe.
They will contact your relatives, and you and they will decide
how long your visit will be; a evening, afternoon, a day ?
As not everyone will speak English, drive, or even have a car, we
can help out with a car, van, driver or translator if you request it, no
problem ! ( at a additional fee )
We will basically fill in with whatever you need to make your
family visit a roaring success !
Detailed information regarding this service and much more, will
be sent out to you - after you have signed up for a tour.
This is a GREAT GENERAL TOUR,
each day is plum full of activities, your personal family history and
visit is for you, the group is not invited along.
We will be very interested to hear about your wonderful visit,
but it's your day to be spent with your family.
The tour group will continue seeing great sites, if your gone.
Don't let the large paragraph
above worry you if your not of Czech or Slovak background. If your
interest is just seeing a wonderful part of Europe - enjoying a more
in-depth experience, or extensive travelers looking for a better travel
experience - all have found our tours a wonderful off the beaten path
travel experience !
In the last few years we have
had many people of non-Czech or Slovak background join us, as more of
the world learns what a wonderful place Central Europe really is.
Including American Teachers and librarians doing school projects, and
American's living in Europe full time.
On a 2006 tour, we had
6 Australian's and a lady from England - two of the Australians
were returning for their 2nd tour with us !
( none of whom are of Czech or Slovak background, they had all
heard wonderful things about our tours - all the way down under ! )
You will meet many friends as we
have over the last 20 years, it's less like a tour and more like a
family outing visiting friends.
Don't miss your chance....... Join us for the trip of a lifetime in
2012 !
For more
genealogical information please contact the National Genealogical
Society I founded:
CzechoSlovak
Genealogical Society Int.
PO Box 16225
St. Paul MN 55116
or visit their web
site at: www.cgsi.org
or
facebook page ( a not-for-profit, volunteer run society )
Additional information about Bautzen, Germany and
the Sorb people.
Not only Germans live in Bautzen - The city is also
home to the smallest Slavic nation - the Sorbs.
Over 1000 years ago, Slavic people settled in parts
of middle and northern Germany, and their descendent's, the Sorbs,
continue to inhabit the region called Lusatia to this day.
Today,
there are only about 60.000 Sorbs left in Lusatia. Their motherland is
Germany, but their language is Sorbian. The Sorbian language belongs to
the west Slavic language group. In fact, the High-Sorbian spoken around
Bautzen is very similar to the Czech language and the Lower-Sorbian
spoken around the city of Cottbus is similar to Polish.
Budissin - the Sorbian name for the town better
known as Bautzen, was founded in the year 1002 as the main fort of the
Milzener ( an earlier Slavic people). For thousands of years the Sorbian
people and the German people have lived here together. Bautzen was and
is the center of the political and spiritual culture of the Sorbian
people. Here one finds the most important Sorbian cultural and political
institutions, such as schools and a museum, where one can learn and
speak Sorbian. Approximately 5 - 10% of the town's inhabitants are of
Sorbian nationality. This town reflects its German-Sorbian cultures and
history, and this can be seen by the bilingual sign posting of all the
streets and all public places.
The founding father of CzechoSlovakia, Tomas G.
Masaryk tried to include the Lusatia area, and the Sorb people into the New country of CzechoSlovakia in
1918. ( the historic map collection in Milwaukee shows
his attempt to do this ) but the powers at be at
that time would not allow this.
As time continues Sorbian culture and the Sorb language is
disappearing.
Images of the National Museum of the Sorbs
Copyright © 2001 Heritage Tours. All rights reserved. November 2011