Renaissance Group
Cultural tour the Berkshires
July 18 - 21, 2006
Sponsored by The Renaissance Group




This 4 day, 3 night trip to the Berkshires includes: bus transportation, accomodations at The Williams Inn, performances and much much more.  
 
Trip Price: $995.00 (Double Occupancy), details below.



Please join us for this wonderful trip to the Berkshires.  Our tour includes the highlights of the area, performances, museums, and historical sights.  As always, we know that you'll enjoy the companionship of traveling with your Renaissance friends.  We look forward to being with you.






1.  Tuesday, July 18     Amherst/Williamstown
The motorcoach departs xxx at  8:00am for the trip to the Berkshires. We drive directly to Amherst, MA for a visit to The National Yiddish Book Center, a vibrant, non-profit organization working to rescue Yiddish and other modern Jewish books and celebrate the culture they contain.  The Center, located in the beautiful new headquarters in Amherst, Massachusetts is a lively “cultural shtetl” featuring a book repository, theater, conference space and museum exhibitions.  Supported by 30,000 members, the center is the largest and fastest growing Jewish cultural organizations in America.    
 
We travel to Williamstown where we check into the Williams Inn.  Surrounded by scenic mountains and farmlands, picturesque Williamstown is the quintessential Berkshire village, a wonderful blend of natural beauty, small town charm, and heightened cultural awareness.   This evening a welcome dinner is planned at the hotel’ followed by an evening theatre performance at either the Williamstown Theatre Festival or Shakespeare and Co. will be included. Schedules are available in late April.  (Lunch) (Dinner)    



2.  Wednesday, July 19     Museums and Tanglewood
This morning we tour the renowned Clark Institute, founded by Robert Sterling Clark, heir to the Singer sewing machine fortune, and his wife Francine.  Though probably best known for the many examples of Renoir, Monet, Degas, and French 19th century work, the collection, which spans the Renaissance through the late-nineteenth century, continues to grow by purchase and gift.  American artists, including Frederick Remington and Winslow Homer, are also well represented.  Lunch on own.  
 
In the afternoon we tour the Norman Rockwell Studio and Museum, one of America’s most beloved and successful illustrators. At this 36-acre site, the 19-century carriage house, which was Rockwell’s actual studio, was transplanted from the village to these grounds in 1986 and offers an intimate glimpse in the world of the artist.  It is furnished exactly as Rockwell had it, and gives one the strange feeling that the artist had simply stepped out for the moment, and may pop back in at any time.  We spend time in the Stockbridge where you are free to browse and enjoy dinner (not included) prior to an 8:30pm concert at The Tanglewood Music Center, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, where you will have reserved seating. (Breakfast)  



3.  Thursday, July 20     Museum/The Mount/ Performance
This morning we tour the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams. Mass MoCA is an extraordinary project that converted a 27-buildiung historic mill complex in the Berkshire Mountains into the multi-disciplinary center for  visual, performing and media arts.  International in scope, Mass MoCA presents exhibitions and performances by renowned artists and cultural institutions. We return to Williamstown for free time and lunch on own.  
 
We depart for Lenox and a tour of Edith Wharton’s Berkshire home, The Mount.  A century ago, many of American’s wealthiest families were attracted to Lenox by the clear air and commanding vistas.  They built magnificent summer mansions and called them cottages.  The Mount is a fine example of this style.  The Edith Wharton Restoration has returned the estate to its former grandeur, reflecting the life, times, art and ideas of Edith Wharton. As a part of the current restoration visitors will see the Edith Wharton’s bedroom suite, the “Private Sanctum” where she wrote some of her most important works.   You will have free time to stroll in Lenox.  Farewell dinner is planned, prior to the performance at Jacob’s Pillow.  (Breakfast) (Dinner)  



4.  Friday, July 21     Hancock Shaker Village
After breakfast we check out of the hotel and tour the Hancock Shaker Village, an outdoor history museum of Shaker life, on 1200 acre in the scenic Berkshire Hills.  The twenty restored historical buildings to be visited are a vital link of America’s most successful communitarian society, showing their practiced harmony with the land and their passionate dedication to producing simple yet elegant furniture and dwellings.  Today its buildings collections and programs interpret three centuries of Shaker life and work, with activities which appeal to visitors of all ages.  After lunch, included, we return to New Jersey.  (Breakfast) (Lunch)





This engaging experience includes:

  • Motor coach transportation
  • Breakfast daily
  • 2 dinners, 2 lunches
  • Tours and performances as per itinerary
  • 3 nights hotel– The Williams Inn
PROGRAM PRICES  
Per person (double occupancy) from New York: $995.00  
Single Supplement: $195.00