EUROPEAN SAMPLER - 2010

10 days incl. travel, or 9 days from London to Paris (HD)

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Vacation Overview

This is an exciting sampler of some of Europe’s main highlights. Start with two nights in London, where guided sightseeing includes a visit to St. Paul’s Cathedral and the Changing of the Guard (if held). Board the Eurostar train to Brussels, followed by a comfortable drive to Amsterdam. Here, a leisurely canal cruise shows you the sights. In Germany, visit Cologne’s impressive twin-spired gothic cathedral, take a cruise down the romantic Rhine River, spend the night in beautiful Heidelberg, and travel through the Black Forest, home of the world’s most famous cuckoo clocks. Cross the border into Switzerland and visit the thundering Rhine Falls before spending two nights in lakeside Lucerne. On through breathtaking alpine scenery and the Burgundy wine area to Paris, where guided sightseeing includes all the highlights as well as a ride up to the second floor of the Eiffel Tower.

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Things to see on your vacation: View Vacation Photo Slideshow

A Vacation Story Lion Monument

“The Lion of Lucerne” (Lowendenkmal) is a compelling statue in the north section of Old Town dedicated to the 42 members of the Swiss Guard who were assigned to protect Louis the XVI, Maria Antoinette and their family at the Royal Palace. When the Tuileries was stormed on August 10, 1792 by rioting Parisians at the start of the French Revolution, the king ordered the soldiers to lay down their arms. They were subsequently slaughtered by the crowd and the royal family was captured. Louis had made a big mistake. In 1821 Danish sculpture Berthel Thorwaldsen finished the sculpture, a 30-foot likeness of a wounded and dying lion with a broken lance in its heart and his paw resting atop the fleur-de-lys shield of the Bourbon king. The Latin inscription translated “To the bravery and fidelity of the Swiss.”