Welcome!

Dear parent/guardian,

This year I have been invited to spend 21 days in Europe exploring the history I get to teach on a daily basis in class at Viewmont High School. That invitation is extended to any student that has an interest in history and Europe. Obviously I would love to see my past and current AP students come along. Since I am a relatively new teacher I have been invited to go along with a very experienced traveler, Mr. Kevin Rigby, who teaches over at Woods Cross High School. It will be a great adventure and a great learning experience!

It should be noted that this is in NO way affiliated with Viewmont High School, Woods Cross High School, or Davis School District. It is totally separate in every way. I will not be talking about it in class or using class time to promote or update the class on this trip. I will simply be directing students and parents to this website where they can contact me via email or phone if necessary to make arrangements.

We would like to get a roster of who is going by the end of October. We will be having a meeting sometime soon to give details and answer any questions that you might have. The trip will cost approximately $4000, but is well worth it. It will be 21 days long and go to some amazing places including England, France, Italy, Germany, Netherlands and more! We are chartering this trip through the company Explorica that Mr. Rigby has used for years. For a detailed itinerary and more detailed information please visit the Explorica website by following the link below. It has dates, prices, what it includes and all the details. Again, this trip is being done completely through Explorica and the school district or school does not have any information on it whatsoever.

BONUS! Mr. Rigby has been able to secure 6 college credits in the past for going on this trip as a "study abroad" through Weber State University. There is a $60 recording fee for this credit, but this is a rare benefit for students deciding to go. He is expecting to get that arrangement again this year.

This trip is open to anyone in the area including parents. There is no requirement to have taken my class or to be attending Viewmont High or Woods Cross High.

If you are interested please follow the link to Explorica's website and enter in the code for this trip. Then you can sign up right away! You will pay a $95 set up fee and then decide what payment plan you will make for the rest. It will be an unforgettable trip and something your child will never forget!

Please email me with any questions you have and don't delay in signing up. It is limited to 40 students and it will fill up fast.

Thank you!

Mr. Weston Clark

Where we goin'?

Itinerary

Optional Individual Stay Ahead $145

Day 1 > June 04 > Start Tour

Day 2 > June 05 > Hello London

Meet your Tour Director and check into hotel

London city walk

Step outside your hotel, for a stroll through the streets of the heart of the English-speaking world. In this city of nearly seven million, you'll see everything from 12th-century fortifications to modern skyscrapers, formal parks to punk rockers. Your Tour Director will lead you to some of the most famous sites. Walk along the Thames River. Cross Trafalgar Square. See bustling Piccadilly Circus. Pass trendy shops and cafés in Bohemian Soho on your way to Covent Garden, a 13th-century fruit and vegetable garden transformed into a maze of narrow streets and pedestrian walkways burgeoning with street performers, open-air markets and boutiques.

Thames River

Trafalgar Square

Piccadilly Circus

Covent Garden

Leicester Square

Soho

Fish & chips dinner

Nothing’s more British than fish and chips—there are eight fish and chip shops (“chippies”) for every McDonald’s in the country. Head to an authentic pub with your Tour Director for a taste of this national food, generally served with malt vinegar.

Day 3 > June 06 > London Landmarks

London guided sightseeing tour

Join a licensed local guide for an in-depth look at London, from the royal haunt of Buckingham Palace (the official London residence of Queen Elizabeth II) to the slightly more democratic Speakers’ Corner of Hyde Park, where anyone can pull up a soapbox and orate to his heart’s content. You’ll see the changing of the guard (season permitting), the clock tower of Big Ben with its 14-ton bell, and Westminster Abbey, where almost every English king and queen since William the Conqueror has been crowned. After a stop at the Houses of Parliament, continue on to the magnificent St. Paul’s Cathedral, the masterpiece of London architect Christopher Wren.

Buckingham Palace

Big Ben

Houses of Parliament

Westminster Abbey

Tower Bridge

Hyde Park

St. Paul’s Cathedral visit

Day 4 > June 07 > Stratford

Stratford excursion

Anne Hathaway's cottage & Shakespeare's birthplace visit

Visit William Shakespeare's childhood home, furnished in a style typical to the Elizabethan period. Then tour the thatched cottage where his wife, Anne Hathaway, lived before her marriage. The adjoining Shakespeare Tree Garden is planted with trees and flowers mentioned in Shakespeare’s plays.

Warwick Castle visit

Rising up from a cliff overlooking the Avon River, Warwick Castle is one of the finest medieval castles in England. Built between the 13th and 17th centuries, the castle has turrets, towers, and a turbulent past. Enter through a passageway cut in a slab of solid rock. See the "apartment block" containing the chapel, great hall, staterooms, and apartments. Then climb a narrow spiral staircase to the top of Guy's Tower (named after Guy of Warwick, a legendary warrior featured in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales). From the tower, look out over the lush countryside of Warwickshire. That small hill to your right is the castle mound, the site of the original 11th-century wooden castle. End with a stroll of the sweeping lawns planted with grand trees.

Day 5 > June 08 > London--Amsterdam

Eurostar Chunnel crossing to Brussels

Take a seat in London. Stand up in Brussels. Cross the English Channel in the Eurostar, a super-high-speed train. Faster than you can say . . . anything in Flemish, you'll arrive at the Belgian capital.

Brussels Tour Director-led sightseeing tour

Chocolate and comics (home of Tin Tin creator Herge). Surrealism. French fries. The headquarters of the European Union. Art Nouveau. Brussels combines Hapsburg-era elegance with modern business and big-city bustle. See the city's historical heart on a walking tour led by your Tour Director. Start at the cobblestone Grand-Place, a central square lined with ornamental gables, medieval banners, and gilded façades. Look at the 15th-century Town Hall and the King's House, lining the Place. Then walk to the Manneken-Pis, a statue of a boy shooting water from his . . . well, bring a camera. Tired from so much strolling? Buy a bag of Belgian pralines for fortification.

Grand Place

Manneken Pis

Travel to Amsterdam

Day 6 > June 09 > Amsterdam Landmarks

Amsterdam Tour Director-led sightseeing tour

Canals and crocuses. Bicycles and bluebells. With more canals than Venice (and more flower merchants than perhaps any other city in the world), downtown Amsterdam is an explosion of color and light reflecting off the water. Take a glass-topped canal boat ride--the best way to see the gabled houses and nearly 1200 bridges. Visit a diamond factory to see how the stones are cut. And take a tour of Anne Frank's house, where three different Jewish families hid for more than two years during World War II. See the bare rooms where they lived before being betrayed and deported to concentration camps.

Canal guided cruise

Diamond factory visit

Anne Frank’s house visit

Day 7 > June 10 > Amsterdam--Heidelberg

Travel to Heidelberg via Cologne

Towering over the train station is the Kolner Dom cathedral, which took seven centuries to finish, only to be scarred by 14 bombings during World War II. During your stop in Cologne, admire the cathedral’s striking architecture, and even go off on your own to climb the 509 stairs to the South Tower for a great view of the Rhine. Nine bells are housed in the Glockenstube, and in one corner, weighing in at 24 tons, is the Petriglocke, the world’s heaviest working bell.

Heidelberg Tour Director-led sightseeing tour

Surrounded by mountains, forests, and the Neckar River, Heidelberg showcases a quintessential German landscape. Join your Tour Director as you drive through this granddaddy of all college towns, with its scores of bars, cafés, and shops. Get a beautiful view Germany’s oldest university —founded in 1386—from the Marktplatz, Heidelberg’s main square. Notice that behind the university lurks the Students’ Prison, used from 1778 until 1914 to imprison students for up to four weeks for minor offenses like drunkenness, practical jokes, and dueling. (Imprisoned students still had to attend lectures — think of it as the 19th-century equivalent of being grounded.) Then head up to Heidelberg Castle, which is still a little wobbly from its partial destruction during the Thirty Years’ War, a 17th-century attack by the French, and a major lightening hit in 1764. The castle’s courtyard is home to the largest wine barrel in world, the Great Vat, which holds about 50,000 gallons of wine (possibly another contributing factor to the castle’s romantically off-balance appearance).

Castle & wine barrel visit

Day 8 > June 11 > Heidelberg--Munich

Travel to Munich via Rothenburg and Dachau

Dachau visit

A grim glimpse into the past, Dachau was the first of Nazi Germany’s camps and a model for the 3,000 work and concentration camps to come. Your Tour Director will lead you through the gas chamber (although never used) and crematorium, which have been restored as a chilling memorial to the 206,000 prisoners who were interned in the camp from 1933 to 1945. The museum examines pre-1930 anti-Semitism, the rise of the Nazi party, and photographed and documented lives of prisoners.

Day 9 > June 12 > Munich Landmarks

Munich guided sightseeing tour

Join a professional licensed tour guide for a whirlwind look at Munich. Founded in the 12th century by Henry the Lion, Munich now roars with the hustle and bustle of modern German life. As you pass by Marienplatz (named after the square’s gilded Virgin Mary and Child statue), mechanical knights joust and coopers dance to the folk-music chimes of the Neues Rathaus’s Glockenspiel. The twin onion-bulb towers of the Frauenkirche Cathedral frame this whimsical display, while the scents, sounds, and colors of the nearby food market attempt to draw your attention elsewhere. Resist temptation and continue on to Olympiapark, a new suburb built for the 1972 Olympic Games. Pass by several museums, such as the BMW Museum, Alte Pinakothek (home to Munich’s most precious art collections), and the Deutsches Museum of science and technology.

Residenz visit

Alte Pinakothek

Deutsches Museum

BMW headquarters

Olympic site of 1972

Frauenkirche

Neues Rathaus

Marienplatz

Hofbräuhaus

Nymphenburg Palace visit

Day 10 > June 13 > Munich--Venice

Travel to Venice via Innsbruck

Day 11 > June 14 > Venice Landmarks

Venice guided walking sightseeing tour with Whisper headsets

Bubbling up on more than 100 islands in a lagoon off the Adriatic, Venice is an absolutely unique and unquestionably beautiful city. The weight of its opulent architecture – bulbous domes, gothic spires, and lacy marble – may be sinking the city by 10 inches a century, but your local guide will make sure you don’t sink out of sight as you tour the intricate labyrinth of streets and bridges. Step into Piazza San Marco, an airy expanse of arches, sunlight, and pigeons. The multi-domed Basilica on one end, completed in 1094 but decorated for centuries afterward, is the final resting place of the apostle St. Mark, Venice’s patron saint. The mosaics beneath the basilica’s outside arches depict the arrival of St. Mark’s body, stolen from Egypt in 828 by Venetian traders. The frothy Venetian Gothic Doge’s Palace stands next door. Continue on to a glass-blowing demonstration. Venetian glass has long been considered the best in the world, and its production was such a state secret that during the Middle Ages, any Venetian glassblower who attempted to ply his trade outside the city was immediately arrested.

St. Mark’s Square

Basilica

Doges’ Palace visit

Glass-blowing demo

Day 12 > June 15 > Venice--Rome

Travel to Rome via Assisi

St. Francis' Basilica visit

A small town of narrow streets and medieval walls, Assisi might never have been famous had it not been the birthplace of St. Francis, the founder of the Franciscan order. Today it is a major destination for religious pilgrims and art lovers alike. You’ll explore the Basilica of St. Francis, built in the 13th century to hold the saint’s body. Ironically, the body was hidden so well in the basilica that it took 600 years of digging to find it.

Rome city walk

Baroque-en hearted? Revive your spirits with a walk past Rome's most beautiful and unusual Baroque fountains. At the foot of the Spanish Steps, elegant cafes once favored by visiting Brits and Americans surround the central fountain. The water pressure here was so low that the artist had to sink the fountain into the ground to get any water going through it, so he went ahead and designed the fountain to look like a sinking ship. There's no shortage of water pressure at the nearby Trevi Fountain, a Baroque extravagance designed by master sculptor Bernini. At the Pantheon you'll see the largest concrete dome ever constructed. An oculus, or hole, in the dome lets sunlight into the beautiful temple, dedicated to all the gods.

Spanish Steps

Trevi Fountain

Pantheon

Piazza Navona

Day 13 > June 16 > Rome Landmarks

Rome guided walking sightseeing tour with Whisper headsets

Gods and gladiators, glory and gore. Ancient Rome lives on in its spectacular monuments, flavoring the frenetic present with tastes of the past. Don a space-age Whisper headset to get the inside scoop on the most spectacular, the Colosseum, a grisly battle arena that seated more than 45,000. An enormous retractable roof awning system kept spectators cool on sunny days. The nearby Forum provides a glimpse into everyday ancient life, with markets, meeting places, and temples all combined into one vast space. Move into Christian Rome at St. Peter’s Basilica, the triumphal Renaissance church flanked by rows of columns radiating outward like welcoming arms. Within the church Michelangelo’s masterpieces are on display, the “Pietà” in the main church and the recently restored ceiling frescoes and “Last Judgment” in the Sistine Chapel. Continue your trek through time at Piazza Venezia, site of the enormous monument to Victor Emmanuel II, Italy’s first king, and of the Palazzo Venezia, where Mussolini set up his headquarters and from whose porch his mother was said to eavesdrop on citizens below. (The Sistine Chapel is closed on most religious holidays and Sundays, except for the last Sunday in each month).

Sistine Chapel visit

St. Peter’s Basilica visit

Colosseum visit

Forum Romanum visit

Piazza Venezia

Day 14 > June 17 > Rome--Florence

Travel to Florence via Orvieto

Travel to Florence, stopping to see Orvieto's Cathedral on the way. This Gothic cathedral was started in 1263 to commemorate the "miracolo del sangue”, a miracle witnessed by a priest in nearby Bolsena. He was celebrating Mass when blood began to drip from the Host he was consecrating, and today the cathedral is one of the most celebrated in Italy. The façade is a riot of sharply carved marble, colorful mosaic, and bas-relief. Many of the carvings feature disturbing stories from the Bible, including a vivid image of the Inferno, where the sinners writhe and suffer in lifelike detail.

Visit Orvieto Cathedral

Day 15 > June 18 > Florence Landmarks

Florence guided walking sightseeing tour with Whisper headsets

Immerse yourself in the charms of old-world Firenze, a red-brick splendor set in the rolling green hills of Tuscany. The birthplace and focal point of the Italian Renaissance, Florence still has the masterpieces to prove it. Brunelleschi’s elegant Duomo (dome) dominates the skyline, and around every corner is an architectural triumph filled with wall after wall of incomparable art. Your local licensed guide will take you to Giotto's Bell Tower and the aptly named Gates of Paradise, the bronze east doors of the Baptistery that spurred the burgeoning Renaissance. The boy guarding the Palazzo Vecchio with his slingshot is just a copy of Michelangelo’s David; the real statue is over at the Accademia. Don’t overlook the tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo, and Machiavelli at the Chiesa di Santa Croce, and definitely don’t overlook Florence’s amazing leather goods. Check them out when you visit one of the area’s famed workshops.

Palazzo Vecchio

Piazza della Signoria

Chiesa di Santa Croce

Ponte Vecchio

Duomo visit

Leather workshop

Gates of Paradise

Giotto’s Bell Tower

Dante's house

Day 16 > June 19 > Florence--Lucerne

Travel to Lucerne via Lugano

Day 17 > June 20 > Lucerne Landmarks

Lucerne guided sightseeing tour

Before a backdrop of snow-capped Alpine mountains and green, cow-filled pastures, join a local licensed guide on a tour of Lucerne’s famous sights. Weave your way through a maze of narrow, winding streets until you reach the River Reuss and the medieval Kapellbrücke Bridge. Stop to marvel at the bridge walls, decorated with murals that recreate the 14th-century originals destroyed in a fire. Journey the cobblestone streets in the Old Town to see the Löwendenkmal (Lion Monument), the somber sandstone wild cat gazing down into a reflecting pool. Sense sheer courage as you ponder this artfully chiseled statue created to honor the Swiss Guards who died defending the Tuileries in 1792.

Löwendenkmal

River Reuss

Kapellbrücke

Day 18 > June 21 > Lucerne--Paris

Travel to Paris on the TGV (Europe's fastest train)

City Walk

This city was made for walking. Stroll grand boulevards with sweeping views of the city, pristine parks with trees planted in perfect rows, and narrow streets crowded with vendors selling flowers, pastries and cheese. Your Tour Director will show you some of the most famous sites, including the ornate, 19th-century Opera, the Presidential residence, the ultra-chic shops of the Rue du Faubourg St-Honoré, and the gardens of the Tuileries. You'll pass the Place de la Concorde (that pointy thing in the middle is the Obelisk of Luxor, a gift from Egypt in 1836), and the Place Vendôme, a huge square surrounded by 17th-century buildings. End your day with a visit to the Louvre, one of the world's most-famous art museums, housed in a medieval fortress-turned-castle so grand, it's worth a tour itself. But check out the art on the wall. The Mona Lisa is here, as well as seven different departments of paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures and antiquities.

Ile de la Cité

Notre Dame Cathedral visit

Ile St. Louis

Latin Quarter visit

Visit one of the original college towns. Since the Sorbonne’s founding in the 1100s, the Left Bank has attracted not only intellectuals but also the cafés, bookstores, and cinemas that tend to accompany them. It’s also attracted its fair share of famous residents – a plaque marks one of Hemingway’s apartments on rue du Cardinal-Lemoine, and the imposing neoclassical Panthéon holds the tombs of Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Hugo, and Marie Curie.

Day 19 > June 22 > Paris Landmarks

Paris & Versailles guided sightseeing tour

What's that huge white arch at the end of the Champs-Élysées? The Arc de Triomphe, commissioned by Napoleon in 1806 after his victory at Austerlitz. Your licensed local guide will elaborate on this, and other Parisian landmarks. See some of the most famous sites, including the ornate, 19th-century Opera, the Presidential residence, the ultra-chic shops of the Rue du Faubourg St-Honoré, and the gardens of the Tuileries. You'll pass the Place de la Concorde, where in the center you’ll find the Obelisk of Luxor, a gift from Egypt in 1836, and the Place Vendôme, a huge square surrounded by 17th-century buildings. Spot chic locals (and tons of tourists) strolling the Champs-Élysées. Look up at the iron girders of the Eiffel Tower, built for the 1889 World's Fair to commemorate the centenary of the French Revolution. See Les Invalides (a refuge for war wounded), the École Militaire (Napoleon's alma mater), and the Conciergerie (the prison where Marie Antoinette was kept during the French Revolution). The ultimate palace, Versailles was built by Louis VIX, and housed the royal family and its groveling court from 1582, when the Sun King moved in, to the French Revolution. Everything in Versailles is worth a look, from the 250-foot-long Hall of Mirrors, with themed salons-"war" and "peace"-on either side, to Marie Antoinette's faux country hamlet. When being a queen became too much to bear, she would pretend to be a commoner, tending her sheep and wearing peasant clothes. (Please note Versailles is closed on Mondays.)

Arc de Triomphe

Champs-Élysées

Eiffel Tower

Champ de Mars

Les Invalides

École Militaire

Conciergerie

Tuileries

Place Vendôme

Opera House

Versailles guided excursion (pre-book only)

The ultimate palace, Versailles was built by Louis VIX, and housed the royal family and its groveling court from 1582, when the Sun King moved in, to the French Revolution. Everything in Versailles is worth a look, from the 250-foot-long Hall of Mirrors, with themed salons-"war" and "peace"-on either side, to Marie Antoinette's faux country hamlet. When being a queen became too much to bear, she would pretend to be a commoner, tending her sheep and wearing peasant clothes. (Please note Versailles is closed on Mondays.)

Day 20 > June 23 > Royal Paris

Louvre visit

The world's largest art museum, the Louvre is housed in a medieval fortress-turned-castle so grand it's worth a tour itself. You walk through the 71-foot glass pyramid designed by I.M. Pei and added in 1989, and step into another world-one with carved ceilings, deep-set windows, and so many architectural details, you could spend a week just admiring the rooms. But check out the art on the walls. The Mona Lisa is here, as well as the Venus de Milo and Winged Victory (the headless statue, circa 200 BC, discovered at Samothrace). The Louvre has seven different departments of paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures and antiquities. Don't miss the Egyptian collection, complete with creepy sarcophagi, or the collection of Greek ceramics, one of the largest in the world. (Please note the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays.)

Seine cruise

See the city from the water on an hour-long cruise along the River Seine. The Seine cuts right through Paris, dividing the city in half. See the Eiffel tower rising up on the Left Bank, the walls of the Louvre on the Right Bank. A guide will point out other monuments and architectural marvels as you pass, many of which are illuminated by clear white light at night.

Day 21 > June 24 > Flight Home from Paris

Optional Individual Stay Behind $145

What does it cost?

Tour Fee

$3,728 (plus taxes) (Fee Increases Saturday, December 01, 2007)

Tour Fee includes

Round-trip airfare Overnight stays in hotels with private bathrooms Full European breakfast daily Dinner daily Full-time services of a professional Tour Director Guided sightseeing tours and city walks as per itinerary Visits to select attractions as per itinerary Guided sightseeing tours with high-tech headset as per itinerary High-speed Eurostar Chunnel crossing High-speed TGV train to Paris Tour Diary™

Tour Fee does not include

Passport and visa fees (non U.S. citizens must secure any necessary visas) The $95 non-refundable Explorica Lifetime Membership Fee Airport fees, taxes, and airline fuel surcharges (all subject to change) Beverages at dinner Lunch, unless specified in the itinerary Optional excursions and/or extensions Explorica Comprehensive Travel Protection or Comprehensive PLUS Local transportation to unscheduled activities Tips to Tour Director, bus drivers, and cruise staff Weekend supplement of $35 if your departure or return flight falls on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday High Season supplement of $95 for departures between December 15 and December 24