Tour Price: $5,349 per person based on double occupancy
Single Room Supplement: $493

This tour price reflects special group rates. Deposits received after August 7, 2009, will likely incur additional charges due to supplier contract terms.

TOUR PRICE INCLUDES:

• Round-trip airfare from Philadelphia Airport
• Current airline taxes and fuel surcharges ($350 subject to change)
• Accommodations in hotels listed in itinerary, or similar
• Meals as indicated by B=Breakfast, L=Lunch, D=Dinner
• Driver and transportation in deluxe, air-conditioned motor coaches
• Sightseeing and entrance fees
• English-speaking guides throughout
• Hotel service charges and local taxes
• Tips to guides, drivers and hotel staff

Leave Philadelphia International Airport for an overnight flight to Frankfurt, Germany. Dinner and breakfast provided in flight.

Day 2 (Sunday, August 8)   Rothenburg

Arrive early morning at Frankfurt International Airport. In the afternoon we drive to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, for an overnight stay in this famed walled medieval village—a popular tourist attraction. Explore this beautiful town by foot on a night tour. Dinner and breakfast included.

Day 3 (Monday, August 9)   Bavaria

After breakfast, spend the early morning hours in Rothenburg, an old Franconian city, with well preserved walls and towers. Founded in 5 B.C., this town has kept a typical 16th century look through strict preservation laws enforced since mid-1800. Explore the town on your own before traveling south on the Romantic Road through the beautiful Bavarian countryside. Visit the Neuschwanstein Castle, built by King Ludwig II on a rugged hill against a backdrop of picturesque mountain scenery. The construction of the castle began with the idea of rebuilding an existing ruin “in the authentic style of the old German knights’ castles,” Ludwig explained in a letter to Richard Wagner. While the building itself imitates the 13th-century Romanesque style, the paintings inside predominantly depict scenes from Wagner’s operas such as “Tannhäuser” and “Lohengrin.” The church-like Throne Hall was modeled on Byzantine domed architecture and the Allerheiligenhofkirche (All-Saints Church) in the Munich Residence and symbolizes Ludwig II’s idea of a monarchy by God’s grace. Neuschwanstein is not a copy of a medieval castle but a typical Historicist creation. Continue to the Oberammergau area for dinner and overnight in nearby village.

Day 4 (Tuesday, August 10)   Oberammergau

Attend the Passion Play in Oberammergau today. The history of the Passion Play goes back to 1634, when the quaint Alpine village of Oberammergau was threatened by the deadly and contagious disease known as the Black Plague that scourged Europe, killing two-thirds of the population of Germany. The people of Oberammergau pledged to perform the Passion Play as a sign of their repentance and remorse over the suffering and death of Jesus Christ. The chronicles relate that from the day the people gathered around the cross to swear their sacred vow, no further person died of the plague. Since that date, the play has been performed every ten years. You will spend the morning at leisure in Oberammergau. After lunch, take your seats in the theater to attend the performance of the world-famous Passion Play. This drama is performed by local villagers with roles often handed down from generation to generation within families. Dinner is included during a 3-hour break in the late afternoon. The performance lasts until 10:30 pm. Overnight in our hotel near Oberammergau. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are included in the day’s tour package.

Day 5 (Wednesday, August 11)   Schaffhausen, Switzerland

Say farewell to Oberammergau and travel to Schaffhausen, Switzerland with a brief stop at Wieskirche near Oberammergau. North of Schaffhausen is a village well-known to Mennonite historians as Scheitheim. It was here that a document named the Scheitheim Confession of Faith was first written in 1727 by early Anabaptist leaders to provide guidance for members of their faith. The local museum has a second floor devoted entirely to this Anabaptist history. If time permits, take a short hike to the site of the recently dedicated stone known as the Täufersteg Memorial located along a path where Anabaptists escaped from Switzerland to the German Kraichgau region. We will also enjoy a visit to the Rheinfalls. Return for overnight in Schaffhausen. Breakfast and dinner included.

Day 6 (Thursday, August 12)   Zurich – Luzerne, Switzerland

Travel to Zurich for a morning walking tour of the Grossmünster, old-town Zürich where Conrad Grebel, founder of the Anabaptist movement, once lived. Finally, you will walk through the old town section to the memorial plaque honoring the drowning of Felix Manz in 1527 and the beheading of Hans Landis in 1614. From here we travel to Hirzel where Hans Landis lived up until the time of his beheading. Several of the first settlers in Lancaster County (yr. 1710) have lineages from this Albis mountain region including Hirzel where the Landis, Huber, Brubaker, Suter/Sauder and Baumann/ Bowman families have their origin. Continue to Luzerne on our way to Wengen where we will stay overnight. This is one of the villages for which the Wengers receive their surname during the Middle Ages. Branches of the Smucker/Smoker and Kaufmann/ Kauffman families came from Grindelwald located near Wengen. Dinner and breakfast included.

Day 7 (Friday, August 13)   * Free Day in the Alps!

Enjoy a free day in the Alps! Make the most of your time here in the Jungfrau region by hiking on its numerous trails, take a cograil train ride to the Jungfraujoch (the highest railway station in Europe at 11,300 ft.). Visit the picturesque villages of Mürren or Gimmelwald and take the gondola ride to the Schilthorn where you can have lunch in the mountain peak revolving restaurant with 360 degree vistas as you enjoy your meal. Perhaps, shopping in Wengen or relaxing in view of the snow covered Jungfrau would suit you better. You’re on your own! Overnight in Wengen. Breakfast and dinner included. * Bus driver has the day off while members of the tour group are visiting Wengen. As required by law at the present time the motorcoach driver must be given one day off for up to six consecutive days of travel in Europe.

Day 8 (Saturday, August 14)   Emmental Region

Today, we tour the Emmental. Our first stop is Steffi sburg where many Mennonites and Amish families including Yoder, Blank, Kurtz , Kaufmann, Gingerich, and others have their origin. You will view the wonderful hills and valleys of the southern Emmental from Schallenberg Pass and the home of Christian Wenger (immigrant of 1727) and the original homestead of Christian Wenger family at Schallenberg Pass. Then you travel to nearby Rothenbach and Eggiwil where more than 40 Anabaptist families once lived including Engel, Haldeman, Schenk, and Stauffer families. You will visit the historic Wurtzbrunnen Reformed Church where many children of these families were once baptized. Next, travel to the vicinity of Schangnau from where the Hershey immigrants to Pennsylvania likely immigrated from. Take a 15 minute hike to Räbloch Cave in the Emmental where Anabaptists secretly met for worship and prayer. Travel to the Fankhauser farm called Hinter Hütten near Trub where there is a secret hiding place in a barn. Enjoy lunch and visit an excellent exhibit that explains Anabaptist history of the Trub valley. After lunch you will travel to Langnau to see the Oldest Mennonite Church in the world and the community cemetery located next door with Mennonite family names. Just up the hill is the hamlet of Dürsrüti where the Anabaptist family named Baumgartner once lived. Anabaptists met in secret in a nearby wooded area above the hamlet. From here you will travel to Trachselwald where Anabaptist ancestors were placed in jail including Hans Haslibacher, the last person beheaded in the canton of Bern in 1571. Finally, you will stop at the Affoltern show dairy where you can purchase cheese and see how it is made. If time permits you will visit the nearby Hans Haslibacher Hof where a 15th generation descendant Hans Haslibacker lives today. Overnight in our hotel in Interlaken. Breakfast and lunch provided.

Day 9 (Sunday, August 15)   Bern, Switzerland

Today, attend a worship service at Bern Mennonite Church located in the suburbs of Bern. Lunch on your own in the city of Bern. In the afternoon take an Anabaptist tour of the city of Bern and visit nearby Schwarzenburgerland where Amish families named Hostettler, Mast and Beiler originated. Mennonite families from this area include the Horst/Hurst, Harnish and Binkely families. Drive through the “Täufernest” of Winterthur where the Amish line of Jacob Hostetter and Mennonite Binkleys once lived. There we find a secret hiding place located under the floorboards of the hof now owned by a Brönimann family. We will visit the Ey Estate near Heubach where Lazareth Wenger (line E) in the region of Rüschegg emigrated to Tochelhocken, Berks County, Pennsylvania in 1735. Blumenstein is the village where Wengers continue to live in great abundance in the Gürbetal Valley. We will see the location of a Peter Wenger hof where its been reported that a hiding place once existed. We conclude this day with a wonderful vista of a distant view of the Alps, the Emmental and the entire region of Bern from Schwarzenburg to Bern as seen on a clear day from near the village of Hasli. Travel to Bienenberg Mennonite Seminary, near Liestal for overnight. Dinner and breakfast included.

Day 10 (Monday, August 16)   Alsace, France

Drive by motorcoach thru the wine county of Alsase, France and continue on the German Wine Route to Weierhof, home of the most-important Mennonite historical archives in Germany. While enroute thru Alsace, you will stop briefly at the quaint town of Riquewihr, an old French farming town. Our final destination for the day is Ibersheim for an afternoon walking tour of the village where hand-painted frescos by Mennonite artist Fritz Kehr exist and where many Swiss exiles once lived after being driven from the Emmental in Switzerland in 1671. These families include the name Stauffer, Reiff, Gochenauer, Brubaker, Forrer, Heistand, Meyer, Schnebeli, Strickler, Denlinger, Fried, Rohrer, Sensenig, Groh, Wenger, etc. Overnight in Mainz, Germany. Breakfast and dinner included.

Day 11 (Tuesday, August 17)   Mainz

Take a boat ride downstream (north) from a Mainz boat ramp to St. Goar during the morning hours. An early lunch can be purchased individually while on board the boat. Visit the small museum at Lerchennest Hof in Steinfurt and the nearby basement where Anabaptists were arrested for an illegal meeting of 53 church members during the winter of 1661. These members were assessed a very heavy fine. See the wooded Wiedertäuferchurch near Wagonbacherhof where members met for worship during the summer months. Other brief stops will take place nearby in the former Mennonite community of Hasselbach where many of the immigrants to Pennsylvania lived. Visit present-day Unterbiegelhof owned by a Mennonite family named Funk who have lived here for many generations. Unter- and Ober-Biegelhof was once the Kraichgau homes of the Herrs, Kendig, Mylins and Müller families prior to their emigration to Pennsylvania. Overnight in Mainz with farewell dinner and breakfast at Mainz hotel.

Day 12 (Wednesday, August 18)   Return to USA

Prepare for an early morning departure from our hotel by motorcoach to the Frankfurt International Airport for our return flight home to Philadelphia International Airport. Arrival in Philadelphia should be by late afternoon.

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For further information, contact:
Sam Wenger
3 Fairview Drive
Akron, PA 17501
Tel: (717) 859-2357
Email: swenger@ptd.net

Travel Arrangements by:

124 E. Main St
Ephrata, PA 17522
Tel: (800) 418-2929, ext. 81335
Fax: (717) 733-1009
E-mail:dougenck@dejazzd.com

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OBW080710VDE
CST 2013363-40