New Year's in Amsterdam







This six night tour of New Years in Amsterdam includes: Performance at the Music theatre and a  
New Year’s Day concert in the Concertgebouw.  Entrances for:Canal boat tour, Jewish historical museum,Portugese Synagogue, Rembrandthouse, aurits Museum (guided tour), Anne Frank house,  
Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum and Theatre Museum.  



A festive holiday awaits you in the charming city of Amsterdam. Ring in the New Year with a seaside gala New Year’s Eve dinner and fireworks and begin 2006 with a New Year’s Day concert at the Concertgebouw and an evening performance of Mozart’s grand opera, The Marriage of Figaro. On our weeklong visit you’ll discover the city’s great  museums, and its gabled  architecture, serene canals and graceful bridges. Museum highlights include a visit to the Rijksmuseum , Van Gogh Museum, Anne Frank House, Rembrandt House, and the Jewish Museum, plus an excursion to the Maurits Museum in the Hague.






1.  Tuesday, December 26     Departure
We depart Newark Liberty airport on Continental Airlines at 7.00pm.  Dinner is served on board.  



2.  Wednesday, December 27     Arrival
We arrive at Amsterdam Schiphol airport at 8.00am, and after clearing Dutch Customs and Immigration we meet our guide and travel directly into Amsterdam, ok capital of the Netherlands.   Our panoramic introduction to the city is aboard a glass-topped canal boat as we leisurely cruise Amsterdam's beautiful canals, viewing the sites, the gabled Golden Age merchants' houses and the many graceful bridges.  The city’s many canals have earned Amsterdam the apt title of “The Venice of the North.”  After lunch (included) we check-in at our hotel, the 5 star Amsterdam Marriott Hotel, centrally located close to the picturesque city center.  It’s only a stone's throw away from the famous Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum.  After time to relax and refresh, we gather for our welcome dinner tonight.  (Breakfast-in flight) (L) (D)



3.  Thursday, December 28     Amsterdam
This morning, following our daily breakfast, we visit the Theater Instituut Nederland (Netherlands Theatre Museum), with its miniature theater dating from 1781.  This chamber theater is the only one remaining in Europe.  The museum is housed in five magnificent seventeenth-century buildings on one of the main canals in the historic center of Amsterdam.  The miniature theater comprises fourteen complete sets from the 18th and 19th centuries.  The sets of the chamber theater are changed by way of an authentic 18th-century wooden mechanism under the stage floor.  Today, visitors can still enjoy a performance, thanks to contemporary video technology.  The video highlights the ingenious theater techniques from those days.  After a traditional Dutch pancake lunch we visit the Anne Frank House, now a museum with a story that has profoundly moved millions of people from all over the world    Situated in the center of Amsterdam, it holds the hiding place where Anne Frank wrote her famous diary during World War II.  Today, the original version her diary is on display as part of the Anne Frank House's permanent exhibition.  We continue to the Van Gogh Museum which houses the world’s largest collection of works from Vincent van Gogh.  The collection provides the opportunity to observe the artist's developments and compare his paintings to works by other artists from the 19th century.  There are more than 200 paintings, 500 drawings and 700 letters as well as the artist's own collection of Japanese prints.  The museum also houses an extensive collection of works of art by other 19th-century painters and sculptors.  The permanent collection is housed in the main building and the exhibition wing houses a wide range of exhibitions related to 19th-century art.  Tonight we attend a performance of Mozart’s opera, the Marriage of Figaro. The evening is free. (B) (L)



4.  Friday, December 29     Jewish History
Today we visit the Portugese Synagogue, restored in the 1950s.  This building was constructed in the years 1671-1675, about 75 years after the first Sephardi Jews arrived in the Netherlands.  The design, inspired by the architecture of the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem, is the largest synagogue in the world.  The interior and exterior have remained largely in their original state since its completion in 1675.  Across the main entrance is a Hebrew text: 'For I shall enter Your house through Your abundant kindness.'  The surrounding building includes the world famous Ets Chaim Library.  Another part of the outer complex houses the winter synagogue, which is used when the Snoga itself is too cold.  We continue to the Jewish Historical Museum, in the heart of the former Jewish quarter.  The Jewish Historical Museum collects objects and works of art associated with the religion, culture and history of the Jews in the Netherlands and its former colonies.  This is the only museum in the Netherlands to focus on Jewish history, religion and culture.  The museum is located in a group of four historical Ashkenazi synagogues at the heart of the former Jewish quarter in the centre of Amsterdam.   We complete the day with a visit to Rembrandthouse, the only existent home and studio of the illustrious artist Rembrandt van Rijn.  In this house, where his son Titus was born and his wife Saskia died at a young age, many of his famous masterpieces were made.  The interior of the house has been restored to its 17th-century state and the rooms have been refurnished with works of art, furniture and other objects from Rembrandt’s time.  A new extension houses a superb collection of Rembrandt’s etchings and is the only place in the world where they are permanently on display.  In special exhibitions, the museum focuses on artists who have been inspired by Rembrandt’s art both past and present. delete Tonight we attend the Dutch National Ballet’s performance of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker at the Music Theatre. (B)



5.  Saturday, December 30     Royal City of The Hague
We visit the Royal City of The Hague, the seat of the government and home of the Royal Family where we see the Houses of Parliament, Queen Beatrix’house, and Carnegie’s Peace Palace (now the International Inner court).  The Peace Palace, whose construction between 1907 and 1913 was largely due to a gift from the American Andrew Carnegie, houses the International Court of Justice (better known as the World Court), the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the Hague Academy of International Law and a splendid library of international law.  Countries around the world have donated its furnishings.  Mauritshuis Royal Picture Gallery is housed in one of the most beautiful examples of Dutch classical architecture.  The core of the collection consists of masterpieces from the Dutch Golden Age, including paintings by Vermeer, Rembrandt, Jan Steen, Frans Hals, Potter and Ruisdael and numerous other masters.  But there is much more to see.  The works on permanent display provide a magnificent panorama of Dutch and Flemish art from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century; from Flemish primitives to sunlit landscapes, from biblical characters to meticulous still-lifes, and from calm interiors to humorous genre scenes.  We return to Amsterdam for a free afternoon and evening. (B)  delete:  (L) (D)



6.  Sunday, December 31     New Year's Eve
The morning is spent at the venerable Rijksmuseum.  Although, the museum has been undergoing a modernization program for several years, the finest works from the 17th century in the Rijksmuseum continue to be on view.  The Masterpieces, which are being shown in the Philips Wing, provides an opportunity to see 400 highlights of the Golden Age in surprising combinations.  The afternoon is free.  Since many roads in the center of Amsterdam are closed to cars, it makes for pleasant strolling, shopping, and exploring.  In the early evening we depart for the seaside resort town of Scheveningen where we celebrate the New Year’s Eve at the elegant Kurhaus Hotel, situated along the beach for dinner and dancing. ADD:  The glamorous Kurhaus, established in 1818, was a popular venue for world-famous entertainers, as can be seen in today's bar which features a gallery of portraits of all those who ever made an appearance here - including such names as Marlène Dietrich, Duke Ellington, Vladimir Horowitz and Maria Callas. Festive Fireworks at midnight on the beach cap a glorious evening.  (www.kurhaus.nl)  (B) (D)



7.  Monday, January 1     New Year's Day
The morning is free to relax.  This afternoon we attend a concert at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw.  In 1888, the city’s leading citizens decided that the Dutch capital should have a proper concert hall.  Built in marshy fields just outside the city limits, it stood as a wonder of neoclassical architecture.  Now in the heart of the city the Concertgebouw concert hall  (delete) and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, enjoys a worldwide reputation.  We have tickets for the annual New Years concert of the Dutch Wind Ensemble.  Their repertoire is always a surprise ADD and the performance is a popular sell out!  Tonight we have a farewell dinner.  (B) (D)



8.  Tuesday, January 2     Farewell
After breakfast check out of our hotel and we transfer from the hotel to the Amsterdam Schiphol airport for our Continental Airlines non-stop flight departing at 1:25pm, arriving Newark at 4:00pm.  (B) (Lunch-in flight)





This engaging experience includes:

  • Round trip airfare on Continental Newark-Amsterdam
  • 6 nights in the 5-star Marriott Amsterdam hotel
  • Daily breakfast buffet, 2 lunches, welcome & farewell dinners plus Sylvesterparty at the Kurhaus hotel including drinks, dinner, music
  • 2 Performances
  • Numerous Entrances to museums and tours
  • English speaking tour guide throughout
  • Private transfers according to itinerary
PROGRAM PRICES  
Per person (double occupancy) from New York: $2999.00  
Single Supplement: $545.00  
Air Taxes: $225.00