Rockhurst University | Learning, Leadership and Service in the Jesuit Tradition

Center for Arts and Letters Selects Vienna, Prague as 2013 Trip Destination

The Center for Arts and Letters is headed to the crossroads of Eastern and Western Europe for its 2013 trip destination. Vienna, Prague and places in between fill our itinerary with elegant and enchanting sights.

We arrive in Austria’s glittering capital city of Vienna, the seat of the Habsburg dynasty that ruled over the German empire for nearly 650 years. During our three-day stay, we will visit St. Stephan’s Cathedral, the Spanish Riding School, the Vienna Opera House, Schönbrunn Palace, and the artists’ quarter of Grinzing where we will enjoy a Heuriger—a celebration of the new wine.

En route to Cesky Krumlov, a medieval jewel in southern Bohemia and our home for the next two nights, we stop in Melk to visit the magnificent Benedictine Abbey perched high above the Danube River. Known as the “Cradle of Austria” more than a thousand years ago, Melk’s Old Gingerbread House (1657) and 15th-century Gothic Church make Melk an historian’s paradise.

In Cesky Krumlov, we will visit the city’s Renaissance castle and famed Gothic arcades. We will visit Ceske Budejovice to tour the imperial brewery that once supplied the Holy Roman Empire with Budweiser beer - the original Budweiser after which Anheuser-Busch imitated its beer.

Next, we wind our way to Prague for our final three nights. Daytime excursions include Hradcany Castle, St. Vitus Cathedral, the Golden Lane, the famous Charles Bridge, Wenceslas Square, the Jewish Quarter and its cemetery and museum, Villa Bertramka where Mozart wrote Don Giovanni and a dinner cruise on the Vlata River. Our farewell dinner includes a wine reception and a Mozart performance.

The trip is scheduled for April 24 to May 3, 2013.

For a complete itinerary and brochure, call The Center for Arts and Letters (816) 501-4607 or email cynthia.cartwright@rockhurst.edu.