Bohemian Rhapsody

Settle in and set out to explore Poland's former capital city, which suffered little physical damage in WWII. The city's outstanding historic center was declared a World Cultural Heritage site by UNESCO.

Time permitting, you may want to stroll along Cracow's Florianska Street, which is known for the St. Florian's Walls Gallery and the Jama Michalika café, a favorite haunt of Polish artists.

Discover the Gothic and Renaissance treasures of the walled complex of Wawel Hill, where you will visit the Royal Castle and the Royal Cathedral. Once the coronation site and burial place of Polish monarchs, Wawel Cathedral is the See of the Archbishop of Cracow, including Karol Wojtyla until 1978, when he was elected Pope and chose the name John Paul II.

Known as Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II, the camps built in these towns formed the largest concentration and death camp complex in the Nazi world. At that time, there were 44 railroad tracks in the Auschwitz train yard, the final destination for a web of rail lines spread all over Europe.

Millions of men, women and children from 29 countries were gassed and cremated in Auschwitz during the Holocaust.

Visit the Jewish Museum established in the house of a Jewish family of the old town of Auschwitz. It's part of the Auschwitz Jewish Center, along with the restored Synagogue and other sites.

You may want to plan a hike in the footsteps of Pope John Paul II who spent many summers in this region, leading youth groups.

On a stroll through town, take notice of the quaint architecture, reminiscent of a Swiss village with its churches and wooden houses. Try some homemade ice-cream, which ranks among the very best in Poland!

Your destination is the capital city of Hungary.

A half-day local guide, well-educated and specially-trained on the history and culture of Budapest, will accompany your group.

Renowned for its scenic appeal and lively atmosphere, Szentendre became a flourishing artistic colony, first established by the 19th-century painter Károly Ferenczy. Visitors stroll at leisure along the Danube Promenade and down cobblestoned streets where artists and artisans shops abound.

Don't miss the Castle Hill cafés, notably Ruszwurm, the country's oldest pastry and tea shop.

You may want to plan a visit to one of Budapest's Turkish-style baths.

Enjoy a sightseeing stop in Gyor, where the cathedral stands proud, surrounded by the streets and squares of the Old Town, one of the great baroque jewels in Hungary.

Travel to Fertod, a town not too far from Austria.

A sightseeing stop will introduce you to this town, which was formed in 1950 and is the location of one of Hungary's best-known palaces.

Time permitting, you may choose to visit the newer Esterhazy Palace. Completed in 1766, the "Hungarian Versailles" was designed to rival the palaces of the Hapsburg monarchs, and turned out to be one of the most opulent in Central Europe with its 126 rooms and opera house. Haydn, a resident of the palace for 30 years, had many of his works performed here for the first time.

Cross the border to Vienna.

Take a stroll in the Old Town. Hearken to the music, which floats everywhere in the air. Why not treat yourself to a slice of Sachertorte at Café Demel, which is renowned for its fine pastry chefs?

You could climb the 345 steps of the Old Steffel, the south steeple of St. Stephen's Cathedral, to catch a bird's eye view of the city.

Visit Freud's house or the House of Music, a museum which uses the latest in audiovisual techniques to offer unequaled, hands-on encounters with music making.

Don't miss the Prater Amusement Park (free of admission charge). Attractions (each with a fee) range from old-fashioned carousels to the high-tech Flyboard flight simulator and, of course, the Vienna Ferris Wheel, featured in Orson Wells' 1949 film The Third Man and in James Bond's The Living Daylights. The Riesenradplatz, nearby, is a sparkling venue at night with its shops and restaurants.

Enjoy a guided tour of Melk Abbey, which overlooks the Danube from a height of 150 feet. The present Baroque building was begun in 1702 by the Benedictines and reflects their extravagant style. Napoléon used the abbey as headquarters during his campaigns against the Austrians.

Cross the Czech border and continue into southern Bohemia to the town of Ceský Krumlov, such an exceptional example of a Central European medieval city that it has been added to UNESCO's World Heritage list.

You will visit the famously photogenic Karlstejn Castle. Perched high on a pine-covered hill, this castle was used by Charles IV in 1348 as a hideaway. The Crown Jewels were once kept in the lavish Chapel of the Holy Cross, nestled between eighteen-foot-thick walls.

Travel to Prague, Eastern Europe's prettiest city! It was mercifully spared major damage in World War II, and its classical 19th-century buildings are strikingly reminiscent of Vienna, once its sister city in the Austrian Empire.

Walk along the Vltava River (Smetana's Moldau). Cross the Charles Bridge and wander through Mala Strana along Nerudova Street, the old coronation route of the Czech kings, now bedecked with cafés and souvenir shops selling genuine Bohemian glass.

Once known as "The Florence of the Elbe," Dresden has been lovingly rebuilt in its old Rococo style following near-total destruction by the Allied bombing of February 14, 1945. (You may remember Slaughterhouse Five, the novel written by bombing survivor Kurt Vonnegut.)

Continue on the Autobahn, headed to Berlin.

You're about to discover a city that has risen from the scars of World War II and the Cold War to reclaim its former splendor as the capital of a reunited Germany. Potsdam Square, long a desolate sector of East Berlin, is once again its most vibrant district.

You may want to visit the Berlin Wall Memorial, opened in 1998 and dedicated to the victims of the Wall and the partition of Germany. In addition to the Memorial, the site includes the Berlin Wall Documentation Center, which illustrates the history of the Wall, and the Chapel of Reconciliation, inaugurated on November 9, 2000, the 62nd anniversary of Kristallnacht.

Make your way to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, built near the Brandenburg Gate. Inaugurated in May 2005, this is the first monument commissioned by the reunited Germany. It commemorates the Shoah, the extermination of six million Jews from all over Europe, which was planned in this very city, little more than a half century ago. The design of the monument, by New York architect Peter Eiseman, is very striking: a stark field of 2,711 plain concrete blocks of varying heights that reflect ever changing light and shadow. An underground Information Center lit by natural light provides historical documentation.