USA

Thursday, June 25th - Depart the NYC on our group flight to Berlin, Germany

Berlin

Berlin is achingly hip!. The art scene is thriving, the architecture and urban regeneration unrivalled. New restaurants, bars, clubs and hotels are opening up all the time and the city continues to maintain its reputation as one of Europe's most vibrant destinations. Two decades since the fall of the eponymous wall, Berlin is still in a constant state of flux. Thank God, with BGT you will traces the subtleties of its ever-changing cityscape. Such unpredictability makes for one surprising city, with a softer side hidden behind its austere façade; culture and style come together here to create one of the country's most 'un-German' cities. Like a BGT tour, conservative and straight-laced it ain't. Yes, we said Ain't! :)

Friday, June 26h - Get ready to hit the ground running! Upon arrival you well transfer by private deluxe motor coach to your hotel for a tour orientation lunch (included in package) while waiting our rooms to be perpared. After lunch you will have time a quick shower before your walking tour that will start with a metro lesson and walking tour.

Your walking tour will include a stop at "Check Point Charlie" which was the most famous border crossing at Berlin Wall. Nowadays, travelling through Berlin is easy and hassle-free, but as recently as 23 years ago; many Berlin residents were actually forbidden from accessing many parts of the city. Up until November 9th 1989, Berlin was still divided into two zones – Berlin (the West) and East Berlin, which was, at that time, the capital city of East Germany (DDR). Checkpoint Charlie (which was given its name in accordance with the NATO alphabet) was a border crossing point from West into East Berlin. Rain or shine, 365 days a year, a uniformed man stands in front of the inspector's hut, holding the American flag in his hands. Checkpoint Charlie as also a symbolic location for the confrontation between the two blocs in the Cold War, where Soviet and American tanks faced off in October 1961, which could have triggered WWIII. Located just in front of the inspector's hut are light-box billboards, on which an American and a Russian soldier are depicted. Each soldier's gaze is directed toward the sovereign territory of his counterpart. This installation was created in the year 1998 by the artist Frank Thiel. The photos of the soldiers were taken in 1994, prior to the withdrawal of the allied forces from Berlin. These portraits are intended to put a face on 50 years of history. There is a vendor stand across from Check Point Charlie, where you can buy Western Allies caps like the World War II US Army Air Force Crushers picture above. For a donation, you can take pictures with the soldiers.  Funds go to the "Check Point Charlie" museum. After the walking tour, return to the hotel for dinner, followed by a special welcome mixers.

Saturday, June 27th - Today after breakfast borad a private coach where you will be whisked away to take steps back into Gremany's horrific past! The Cold War ended 22 years ago, Germany was transformed above ground and Berlin reinvented itself as a party town. But a dark, unchanging nether region lurks beneath the surface Your first stop will be 50 feet underground (pictured above), for a tour of former subterranean bunkers, the only place where West Berlin civilians hide and might have survived a direct nuclear attack. Climbing down a set of steps is like boarding a time machine as you FEEL the past. Here in dimly lit catacombs, 3,600 civilians were expected to survive Armageddon on tinned food and bottled water for up to a year. Empty body bags still wait in the sickrooms.

Next stop is to meet a privately hired Holocaust survivor and
historian for a tour of Jewish/Holocaust Memorial. 'It happened, and therefore it could happen again; this is the core of what we have to say,' is written on the wall at the main entrance. For those of you that traveled to South Africa with us, this Memorial will be as equally as powerful as our vist to the Apartheid Museum. Be prepared to cry.

"Here in Berlin, one cannot help being aware that you are the hub around which turns the wheel of history. For just as we are proving to be the testing ground of races living together in spite of their differences, you are testing the possibility of co-existence for the two ideologies which now compete for world dominance. If ever there were a people who should be constantly sensitive to their destiny, the people of Berlin, East and West, should be they." -Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Berlin, September 13, 1964

Next you will visit the Marienkirche. On September 13, 1964, Dr. King visited to Berlin at the invitation of West Berlin Mayor Willy Brandt, who had met the civil rights leader on a visit to the US in 1961. Dr. King delivered a moving sermon before 20,000 people at the outdoor arena Waldbühne. Later that day, Dr. King managed to cross a GDR checkpoint into East Berlin without a passport and speak to thousands of people at two churches, the most important being the Marienkirche (St. Mary's Church). Dr. King's timeless message of courage, hope and nonviolence resonated deeply with Germans living with the inhumane division and helped inspire nonviolent resistance that eventually brought down the Berlin Wall. To learn more about other African-American's effort's in Germany during the cold war, visit here.

After, a day in the past, it is time to step back into present day Berlin. Modern-day Berlin is a cultural Mecca known around the world for world-class culture, high-quality beer and wine and its hard-partying antics. Did someone say PARTY? Now you KNOW it is not a BGT tour without hot parties! When most tour groups end the day after city tours, our FlyGirls are getting ready for PHASE 2... NIGHTLIFE and celebartion for our birthday girls. Grab your party shoes and join us for a night like no other, aka international parting BGT Style!

Sunday, June 28th - Let go local loco! At BGT we believe in getting you off the beaten tourist path to mingle with the locals. Today, toss a sundress over you swimsit and be ready for a day frolicking in the sun. Along the way see why Greman men are considered some of the most handsome in the world. Think Boris Kudjoe and Til Schweiger. German men are FLY and German women, wellll ahhhhh ... who cares! This is BGT! lol  We are know for going where the HOT boyz are! For our married FlyGirls, you can look but no touch. :-) For the "single ladies" own it and take no prisoners. Carpe diem!

Your fun packed day will start at the Mauer Flee Market, - hailed as the "King of Flea Markets" It is popular urban oasis where half the city ends up on Sundays. The features not only second hand clothes, records, shoes, cameras, bikes , toys, furniture, etc. but also a great selection of crafty designer clothes and other funky and unique items, perfect for souveniers and gifts. If you are single, don't forget to ask a cutie for help in making a purchase decision. Its a great ice breaker! ;-)

Next it is time for some drunk singing, as we grab bottle of wine and head to the Bearpit Karaoke. Bearpit karaoke is a very Berlin enterprise. It kicked off in early 2009 when bike courier Joe Hatchiban got hold of a car battery and some speakers. Since then, providing the weather has held out, his karaoke bike has been a regular Sunday afternoon fixture. Thousands of Berliners and foreigners a-like gather around for a massive outdoor karaoke, sing-a-long, dance party, love fest. The speed with which the seats fills when Joe shows up is astonishing. The vast majority are just up for a laugh. And the bearpit roars and applauds far louder for the flawed but enthusiastic. All are welcome to take a turn in the Bear-pit. There's a tremendous atmosphere: a real community feel infused with a delicious sense of humour and good-natured appreciation of the inherent absurdity. No matter how awful the performances get (and they can be pretty bad) the crowd goes absolutely wild with applause. There is always much love and happiness in the air. No need to know all the words to a song, just go for volume and showmanship or shameless exhibitionism. lol Lots of fun and a great way to meet new German friends. We have an amazing prize for the FlyGirl that takes to the pit and gets the biggest response from the crowd.

As if all of the above was not enough for one day, it is time to get WET at the Arena Badeschiff! The Badeschiff is a floating swimming pool with a lively pool deck in the Spree River by day built from a WWII ship. During the summer the adjoining beach bar host extraordinary open-air parties with live acts to DJs of every kind, that keep the party going well into the night. There's no better way to spend a warm summer evening with the loco locals. After the pool closes at mid-night, the parties continue into the morning at neighbouring Arena Club where you can dance until ... you get WET again. lol

Monday, June 29th - Can you believe we are only at day four! After breakfast board our couch for the former Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. Sachsenhausen, just outside the Berlin city limits, was the nerve center of the Nazi concentration camp system. Stuck behind the Iron Curtain for 60 years and hard to reach, it is less well known than Dachau or Auschwitz. However, during WWII Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp was a place in which over 50,000 abused prisoners perished, as well was a school of brutality for training SS guards to work in this and other camps. You will see remnants and learn about the realities of life and death in Special Camp No. 7/1, where people fell victim to starvation, disease, forced labour and systematic extermination. Visit the punishment cells, execution grounds and crematorium, Pathology Laboratory and Hospital, and the 'pit', which victims were thrown into alive. This day will be life altering. After visiting the dark, we will enter the light with some retail therapy.

The Kurfürstendamm, known locally as "Ku'damm", is Berlin's version of the Champs-Elysees in Paris. Many people visit Berlin just for shopping on the "Ku'damm". Lined by theatres, cafes and boutiques, the 53-metre-wide (174 feet) boulevard soon became home to well-heeled Berliners. It is a place to see and be seen! While Ku'damm boasts a lot of international chains for various budgets, the more elegant and high-class boutiques can be found mainly between Fasanenstrasse and Schlüterstrasse. Here the boutiques are usually housed in the bourgeois buildings from the 19th and early 20th century that border the Ku Damm in this area. Ku Damm is also home to KaDeWe, one of Europe's biggest shopping emporiums. Shop til you drop. Don't forget to bring the good credit card. :)

In Rome, we zoom around the eternal city on the back of male driven Vespas. In Munich it will be hunk/thigh powered Rikschas. With two FlyGirl per Rikscha/driver, you will be wisked around on a city tour with stops for photo ops. Oh, you may also want to take a few pictures of the sites also. The drivers have been informed that this is a BGT tour and when it coms to fun we go hard! Feel free to enjoy yourself to the fullest... he is YOURS for the duration of the ride. ;-) The tour will end at Karlspltz Square for shopping, dinner, drinks and laughter. The food and drinks not included but the laughter after this tour will be priceless.