Berlin Excursions

One of the benefits of studying abroad is the ability to venture outside your host city and explore the surrounding area. Excursions are offered for all semester, trimester, year, and summer programs. You will receive a calendar of the specific CEA excursions offered for your program during orientation. To give you an idea of the possibilities, we have collected typical experiences from some of the tours and trips we may offer to our students.

Potsdam

Potsdam is a World Heritage site with beautifully restored period architecture and all the old-world charm of cities such as Prague and Budapest, with a population of 126,000. Located just 10 miles southwest of Berlin, the capital city of the State of Brandenburg is a picturesque old town with many parks, lakes and outdoor cafés and restaurants. It even has its own Brandenburg Gate! A half-day city tour will show students the city’s main sights including the 18th century Sanssouci Palace, built by Friedrich the Great, reminiscent of the grandeur of Versailles and surrounded by a magnificent 600-acre park; Cecilienhof, the historic country house where Truman, Churchill and Stalin met at the famous Potsdam Conference following World War II; and the three main historical areas of the city, The Russian colony of Alexandrowka, the Holländisches Viertel (the Dutch quarter) and the Bohemian Weaver's quarter. Renting a bike is a fun way to spend the afternoon criss-crossing the city’s many parks and lakes, or students may wish to visit some of Potsdam’s other great attractions such as the Babelsberg Filmpark, explore the world of nature at the Biosphaere, or play tennis or go swimmimg at the Volkspark.

Dresden

Baroque Dresden was planned by Augustus the Strong, 18th-century Elector of Saxony and King of Poland. He and his son Frederick Augustus, hired the most skilled Italian architects and craftsmen to build a city of unparalleled beauty and grace. Dresden was a city of culture, art and sophistication and had the advantage of a fabulous riverside setting on the Elbe. During WWII, the city was annihilated by allied bombing on the night of February 13/14 1945.

After the reunification of Germany in 1990, the reconstruction of Dresden took off and resulted in one of Europe’s most striking baroque cities. The CEA tour will begin with the most ambitious of all the reconstruction projects, The Church of Our Lady (Frauenkirche), located in the heart of the Old Town. Some of the most beautiful stops during the tour are located in a cluster on one bank of the river, including Zwinger Palace, the most important late baroque building in Germany; the Renaissance-style Semper Opera House; the Katholische Hofkirche, the largest church in Saxony; Brühl's Terrace, which overlooks the Elbe river, and The Old Masters Gallery which houses many great works of art. Students will have ample time to sample the rich bustle of Dresden’s outdoor café life and drink a toast to Augustus the Strong and the reconstruction of his beautiful baroque city with a glass of sekt (sparkling wine)!

Leipzig “City of Music”

“Leipzig Kommit!” (Leipzig up and Coming!) The city’s slogan is more than true. Leipzig is probably the most active of all cities in the former East Germany. Leipzig derives its strength from the courage and self-confidence of 1989 when Prayers for Peace was held in the Nikolai Church and the Monday Demonstrations, a series of peaceful political protests against the East German government, ultimately led to the collapse of the German Democratic Republic. German reunification followed. Often referred to as “City of Music”, the all time greats of classical music such as Bach, Mendelssohn, Wagner and Schumann lived and worked in Leipzig.

Students will visit the Bach Museum and St. Thomas's Church, home of the famous St. Thomas Choir and resting place of Johann Sebastian Bach, the church’s choirmaster for more than a quarter of a century. Leipzig’s most elegant arcade, Mädler Passage, is home to Auerbachs Keller, a tavern immortalized for its association with Goethe’s drama "Faust”. The compact pedestrian city center dates back to the 12th century. Other highlights include one of Europe's oldest coffee houses, "Zum Arabischen Coffe Baum," frequented by Robert Schumann; Old City Hall, one of the most impressive renaissance buildings in Germany; the Old Stock Exchange with its monument to Goethe; and Nikolai Church, the oldest church in the city built around 1175. The tour ends with a visit to the Stasi museum which housed the offices of the Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (Ministry for State Security) during GDR-times, from where Stasi agents monitored the citizens of East Germany.

Prague, Czech Republic

Prague, capital city of the Czech Republic, is known as the "city of a hundred spires", and "the golden city". It is said that everyone who sets foot in Prague falls in love with it. A city of museums and galleries, churches and synagogues, palaces and gardens, Prague has an amazing mixture of architectural styles and periods from the Middle Ages to the present. A full-day city tour will show students the main sights including Wenceslas Square, Old Town Square, Prague Castle, St. Vitus Cathedral, Charles Bridge, the National Theater and the Old Jewish Cemetery. Students will also visit Prague's main churches and synagogues, including the Gothic Church of Our Lady before Tyn, the Baroque Church of St. Nicholas and the Old-New synagogue in Prague's 13th century Jewish quarter (one of the oldest and best-preserved in Europe). The trip will also include free time for students to pursue their own interests or to visit some of the city's museums such as the Dvorak Museum, the Museum of Decorative Arts and the National Museum. There is no shortage of dance clubs, cafés, tea houses, restaurants, and beer halls to help them unwind when the museums and galleries have closed.