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LFMSS Europe Tour 2018

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14 - DEPART VANCOUVER


WEATHER 10:00 AM Chartered Coach to YVR
2:25 PM LH 493 to Frankfurt

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LFMSS Europe Tour 2018

THURSDAY, MARCH 15 - BUDAPEST


WEATHER 8:15 AM Arrival in Frankfurt
12:20 PM LH 1338 to Budapest
1:50 PM Arrival in Budapest
2:50 PM Coach pickup at airport
3:30 PM Memento Park
5:00 PM Gellert Hill
6:00 PM Check in to Marco Polo
7:00 PM Dinner
Marco Polo Top Ho(s)tel
Address: Budapest, Nyár u. 6,
1072 Hungary
Phone: +36 1 413 2555

BUDAPEST’S MEMENTO PARK


After the collapse of communism in Hungary, the citizens of Budapest were left with an
interesting dilemma - what to do with all of the Soviet era statues that had been erected
all over the city? They definitely had to go... but where? The scrap heap? The bottom of
the Danube? Eventually some capitalist entrepreneurs (the communists would have hated
them!) came up with the idea of creating a large outdoor museum displaying some of the
“socialist-realist” art that once dominated the town squares of Budapest.

2 “The Grand Tour”


LFMSS Europe Tour 2018

FRIDAY, MARCH 16 - BUDAPEST


WEATHER 9:00 AM Visit Great Synagogue
10:45 AM St. Matthias Church
12:00 PM Great Market Hall
1:30 PM Heroes Square
2:30 PM Szechenyi Baths
6:00 PM Coach to Hostel
7:00 PM Dinner
Marco Polo Top Ho(s)tel
Address: Budapest, Nyár u. 6,
1072 Hungary
Phone: +36 1 413 2555

HUNGARIAN HOT WATER


As the Romans marauded across Europe, conquering everyone in sight, they often found
themselves in need of a bath... a nice, soothing, hot bath. Conquering is hard work. In
some places they built their own baths, heated with furnaces fed by local slaves (fed
wood, not slaves), but in Budapest, they found the water was bubbling out of the ground,
miraculously pre-heated by Vulcan, the god of fire, so they stopped and built a town here.
Vulcan is still hard at work heating the water, and taking a bath with a few hundred strangers
and maybe a few friends is a favourite activity for the locals.

3 “The Grand Tour”


LFMSS Europe Tour 2018

SATURDAY, MARCH 17 - BUDAPEST


WEATHER 9:30 AM St. Stephen’s Basilica
11:45 AM Hungarian Parliament
1:00 PM Lunch
4:00 PM House of Terror
6:00 PM Dinner

Marco Polo Top Ho(s)tel


Address: Budapest, Nyár u. 6,
1072 Hungary
Phone: +36 1 413 2555

TERROR
The intended effect of most terrorism in the modern world is to inflict damage and/or casualties
on a perceived enemy in the most public way possible so as to create an irrational level of fear
and disrupt the way of life of the targeted society. Imagine, instead, that the terrorists are not
outside agents, but your own government, and instead of committing public atrocities, they just
make people disappear. You said something negative about the leader? Maybe the wrong
person overheard you, and in the middle of the night a bunch of men in ski masks pull you out
of your bed and take you...here. The House of Terror is not a cheesy haunted house - it’s a
place where real terror was practiced, by two different regimes who controlled Hungary for much
of the 20th century.

4 “The Grand Tour”


LFMSS Europe Tour 2018

SUNDAY, MARCH 18 - VIENNA


WEATHER 8:45 AM Transfer to Vienna
12:30 PM Schonbrunn Palace 33 people
12:45 PM Schonbrunn Palace 30 people
2:00 PM Tiergarten
5:30 PM Transfer to Hostel
7:00 PM Dinner

JUGENDHERBERGE WIEN - MYRTHENGASSE


1070 Wien, Myrthengasse 7
Tel. +43 1 523 63 16, Fax +43 1 523 58 49

THE HAPSBURGS
When your family rules a big empire for 600 years, it can probably afford a pretty decent
house (or maybe just a 2 bedroom condo in Vancouver). The Hapsburgs saw Louis XIV’s big
house in Versailles and decided to make their own - Schonbrunn Palace.

5 “The Grand Tour”


LFMSS Europe Tour 2018

MONDAY, MARCH 19 - VIENNA


WEATHER 9:00 AM State Opera Tour
11:00 AM Natural History Museum
1:00 PM Lunch in groups
3:00 PM St. Stephen’s Church
5:30 PM Dinner at hostel
7:00 PM Opera

JUGENDHERBERGE WIEN - MYRTHENGASSE


1070 Wien, Myrthengasse 7
Tel. +43 1 523 63 16, Fax +43 1 523 58 49

WIENER STAATSOPER
Vienna, this city of music, has a fittingly grand opera house - one of the busiest in the world
with a different production pretty much every night during their long opera season. We’ll get
a behind the scenes look at this architectural masterpiece, and some of us will return in the
evening for Puccini’s Madama Butterfly - one of the most performed operas in the history of
this very European multimedia art form.

6 “The Grand Tour”


LFMSS Europe Tour 2018

TUESDAY, MARCH 20 - BLED


WEATHER 8:00 AM Transfer to Bled
11:30 AM Lunch stop
2:00 PM Pletnas to Island
4:00 PM Bled Castle
6:00 PM Check in to hotel
7:30 PM Dinner

Hotel Park
Cankarjeva cesta 15,
4260 Bled, Slovenia
+386 4 579 18 00

BLED
Bled was the favourite vacation spot of many a Yugoslavian back when Tito’s League of
Communists ruled much of the Balkan Peninsula. Since the war of independence in 1991,
Slovenia has developed closer ties to the Western European community, eventually joining
the EU in 2007. With our friendly local expert Robert as our guide, we will delve into the
medieval and more recent history of this gem of the Julian Alps today.

7 “The Grand Tour”


LFMSS Europe Tour 2018

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21 - VENICE


WEATHER 8:00 AM Transfer to Caves
10:00 AM Tour of Caves
12:30 PM Picnic Lunch at Caves
1:30 PM Transfer to Aquileia
3:00 PM Basilica of Aquileia
4:30 PM Transfer to Venice
6:30 PM Walk into Venice
7:15 PM Check into Hotel
8:00 PM Dinner at La Corte
Foresteria Valdese di Venezia
Castello 5170
Calle Lunga Santa Maria Formosa,
Venice 30123, Italy
tel. 041-5286797
fax 041-2416238
VENICE
La Serenissima, the most Serene Republic, Venice. An independent nation for a thousand
years, Venice retains its medieval and Renaissance charm with a layer of elegant decay.

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LFMSS Europe Tour 2018

THURSDAY, MARCH 22 - VENICE


WEATHER 9:00 AM Walk to Doges Palace
9:30 AM Tour of Doges Palace
11:30 AM Tour of St. Mark’s Basilica
12:00 PM Walking Tour of Venice
1:00 PM Lunch / Gondola Rides
3:00 PM Tour of the Correr Museum
5:00 PM Return to Hotel
7:00 PM Dinner at La Corte
Foresteria Valdese di Venezia
Castello 5170
Calle Lunga Santa Maria Formosa,
Venice 30123, Italy
tel. 041-5286797
fax 041-2416238
VENICE
I love Venice. It’s a cliché, but it’s true - Venice is another world. It’s the only place I tell tour
groups to “get lost”. With all the “Per Marco” and “Per Rialto” signs, you’ll always eventually
find your way back somewhere, unless you take a wrong turn and end up in a canal. Enjoy
a romantic gondola ride (not too romantic) with your group, some gelato, and some Venetian
cuisine.

9 “The Grand Tour”


LFMSS Europe Tour 2018

FRIDAY, MARCH 23 - VENICE


WEATHER 9:00 AM Distribution of Vaporetto Passes
10:00 AM Visits to outer islands all day

Foresteria Valdese di Venezia


Castello 5170
Calle Lunga Santa Maria Formosa,
Venice 30123, Italy
tel. 041-5286797
fax 041-2416238

THE LAGOON
With an all day water bus pass in hand, your group will be spending the day island hopping.
From the cemeteries of San Michelle, to the glass blowers of Murano, to the pastel village of
Burano, to the oldest church in Venice on Torcello - this will be a day to remember!

10 “The Grand Tour”


LFMSS Europe Tour 2018

SATURDAY, MARCH 24 - FLORENCE


WEATHER 9:00 AM Walk out of Venice
10:00 AM Transfer to Florence
1:00 PM Lunch at the Autogrill
4:00 PM Duomo
4:30 PM Reservation to enter the Dome
6:00 PM Check into Hotel Panorama
7:30 PM Dinner at restaurant
Hotel Panorama Firenze
Via Cavour, 60
50129 Firenze
T: 39 055 2382043
F: 39 055 264404

FLORENCE
The birthplace of the Renaissance, and therefore the modern world, Florence was the one
time capital of a financial empire controlled by the original Italian “family”, the Medicis.

11 “The Grand Tour”


LFMSS Europe Tour 2018

SUNDAY, MARCH 25 - FLORENCE


WEATHER 9:00 AM Walk to Accademia
9:15 AM Tour of Accademia Museum
11:00 AM Walking Tour of Florence
1:30 PM Lunch and Mercato time in groups

Hotel Panorama Firenze


Via Cavour, 60
50129 Firenze
T: 39 055 2382043
F: 39 055 264404

FLORENCE
Enjoy a walking tour of the Renaissance today, with a featured visit to the Accademia to
see Michelangelo’s masterpiece - the David. In the afternoon, try out your bartering skills
at the leather market!

12 “The Grand Tour”


LFMSS Europe Tour 2018

MONDAY, MARCH 26 - SIENA


WEATHER 9:00 AM Transfer to Siena
11:00 AM St. Catherine’s Relics
12:00 PM Tore del Mangia Tower
1:30 PM Lunch and Gelato
4:00 PM Siena Cathedral
5:30 PM Check into Hotel
7:30 PM Dinner
Hotel Italia
Address: Viale Camillo Benso di
Cavour, 67, 53100 Siena SI, Italy
Phone: +39 0577 44248

SIENA
The ultimate Tuscan hill-town - Siena was once a city state in its own right, until those
bullies from Florence took it over and destroyed the economy. Lucky us though - the
Sienese had to leave their big Renaissance building projects unfinished, and we get to
explore a very authentically medieval Italian town, and climb the very medieval, structurally
unsound tower that was tacked onto city hall in 1338.

13 “The Grand Tour”


LFMSS Europe Tour 2018

TUESDAY, MARCH 27 - LEVANTO


WEATHER 8:30 AM Transfer to Pisa
11:30 AM Leaning Tower of Pisa
2:30 PM Transfer to Levanto
4:30 PM Check in to Hostel
5:00 PM Optional hike
8:00 PM Dinner at Moresco (I hope you’re hungry!)

Ospitalia del Mare


Via S. Nicolò
19015 Levanto (SP)
tel. (+39) 0187 802562
Fax: 39-187-803696

PISA
Climb the tower before it falls! Hopefully.

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LFMSS Europe Tour 2018

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28 - LEVANTO


WEATHER 9:30 AM Hike the Cinque Terre
8:00 PM Dinner at Moresco (well deserved today)

Ospitalia del Mare


Via S. Nicolò
19015 Levanto (SP)
tel. (+39) 0187 802562
Fax: 39-187-803696

CINQUE TERRE
Rain or shine, the paths linking these five (cinque) lands (terre) along the Mediterranean coast
offer a different perspective on hiking. Italian biology students often visit this region to study
the unique plant life. And for us, passing through olive groves and lemon orchards, we know
we’re not in BC anymore. The Cinque Terre is in Liguria, the birthplace of pesto. Mmmm...
pesto. The five towns that make up the stopping points along the route are all ancient
Roman fishing villages, and many of the residents can trace their ancestry in the region back
centuries. Devastating floods in October 2011 brought life in Vernazza and Monterosso to a
standstill - months of hard work digging out and rebuilding have made them accessible to
visitors again.

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LFMSS Europe Tour 2018

THURSDAY, MARCH 29 - MILAN


WEATHER 9:00 AM Transfer to Parma
11:30 AM Teatro Farnese
12:30 PM Lunch in Parma
2:00 PM Cathedral and Baptistry
4:00 PM Transfer to Milan
6:30 PM Check into Hotel
8:00 PM Dinner

Hotel Milano Sant’Ambrogio


Address: Via degli Olivetani, 4,
20123 Milano MI, Italy
Phone: +39 02 4810 1089

PARMA
Off the tourist map for many visitors to Italy, Parma is a real working city more famous for
its agricultural exports (Parma ham, Parmesan cheese, balsamic vinegar) then its art and
architecture. But don’t be fooled - the rugged exterior of the Parma cathedral belies its
grand interior - painted from floor to ceiling with wondrous biblical scenes. And its baptistry
is perhaps the most beautiful in all of Italy.

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LFMSS Europe Tour 2018

GOOD FRIDAY, MARCH 30 - MILAN


WEATHER 9:30 AM Basilica di Sant’Ambrogio
11:30 AM Milan Terrace
12:30 PM Milan Duomo
1:00 PM Lunch
2:00 PM Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II
(World’s first shopping mall - opened 1877)
4:30 PM Sforza Castle
Hotel Milano Sant’Ambrogio
Address: Via degli Olivetani, 4,
20123 Milano MI, Italy
Phone: +39 02 4810 1089

MILAN
It’s the start of the Easter long weekend... the busiest travel time in Europe, especially
in Italy. There will be a lot of people out today! We’re going to church - specifically
the 5th largest church in the world - the Milano Duomo. This architectural wonder,
done in the style “flamboyant” (means “flame-like”) Gothic, only took 600 years to
build. With 3500 statues and a roof you can walk around on, it’s a definite highlight of
Northern Italy. We’ll be exploring the whole thing, top to bottom!

17 “The Grand Tour”

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