Kasteel Well students will explore (as a group) two major European cities with their professors and staff from Kasteel Well. The travel package cost covers one-way transportation (air, train, or ground) to each group excursion city, the price of hotel accommodation, some meals, and museum/special event admissions.

The Travel Package does not include the cost of individual transportation back to the castle (or other travel destinations) at the end of a required group field excursion.

Every spring and fall semester one group excursion will be to Amsterdam. The second excursion city varies from semester to semester. Please see your term calendar for travel destinations and dates. Some examples might include:

Amsterdam

  • City walk around the theme: Amsterdam and Holland in the Golden Age
  • Rijksmuseum: lecture on Netherlandish painting of the 16th and the 17th centuries
  • Van Gogh Museum
  • Optional: Jewish Historical Museum with visit to three synagogues; Anne Frank House; Rembrandt House; Film museum; Marine Museum; evening concert of classical music.

Berlin

  • City walk through Berlin’s past, present, and future, covering some of the historical landmarks such as Gedächtniskirche (Memorial Church), Brandenburg Gate, Unter den Linden, Checkpoint Charlie, Reichstag Parliament Building, Alexanderplatz, Potsdamer Platz, and the remains of the Berlin Wall (East Side Gallery)
  • Contemporary Museum at Hamburger Banhhof
  • New National Gallery: Collection of 20th-century European paintings and sculptures
  • Visit to the Museum Island: Pegamon Museum (Collection of Classical Antiquities/Ancient Near East/Islamic Art), Altes Museum (Collection of Classical Antiquities), Bode Museum (Old Master Paintings), Old National Gallery (19th-century sculptures and paintings)
  • Gemäldegalerie (Collections of European art from the 13th to 18th centuries; especially important are the Italian paintings from the 13th to 16th centuries and Netherlandish painting of the 15th and 16th centuries)
  • German Historical Museum: An extensive and chronological exhibition from the beginning of German history to the present day
  • Museum of Photography
  • Jewish Berlin: Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe (Holocaust Memorial), Jewish Museum and New Synagogue
  • Optional: Sachsenhausen concentration camp, Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial (former prison used by the "Stasi"), Wansee Villa, Olympic Stadium, Charlottenburg castle, Deutsche Guggenheim Museum

Prague

  • City walk through the historical center: An introduction to the history of Prague
  • Prague Castle with the St. Vitus Cathedral
  • Convent of St. Agnes of Bohemia: Museum of Medieval Art
  • Estates Theatre Prague Opera
  • Museum of Modern Art at the Veletrzni Palace
  • Visit to Theresienstadt, used as ghetto during WW II
  • Jewish Quarter with its synagogues and old Jewish cemetery
  • Optional: Franz Kafka Museum; Mucha Museum; Municipal House

Madrid

  • A city walk through the streets of Madrid will feature important historical sites and monuments and may include Alcalá Gate, Royal Palace, Plaza de Cibeles, Ritero Park, Plaza Mayor, Gran Via, and perhaps a walk through the Checa Quarter, a diverse and colorful neighborhood in Madrid.
  • Museum visits including The Prado, which has the largest collection of Spanish paintings in the world, including notable art from Diego Velázquez, Francisco de Goya, El Greco, Zubaran, among others. Reina Sofia Museum includes some great pieces of art from Spain's 20th century masters: Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali, including Picasso's Guernica. Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum is the third museum in the "golden triangle of art" and houses Impressionist, Expressionist, and European and American paintings from the second half of the 20th century.
  • Abbeys, monasteries, and churches may include Basilica de San Francisco El Grande, Saint Anthony Hermitage, Monastery of the Incarnation, and a trip about 30 miles northwest of Madrid to a historic residence of the King of Spain, The Royal Seat of San Lorenzo de El Escorial.
  • Evening concert of classical music, opera, or dance performance
  • Optional: Valley of the Fallen, Museum Sorolla, Archeological Museum, Museum of America

Paris

  • The Louvre Chateau: the medieval Louvre Castle and the medieval origins of Paris
  • Louvre Museum: lecture on painting and sculpture of Antiquity and the Renaissance
  • Notre Dame Cathedral
  • Musée de Cluny: Late medieval sculpture, stained glass windows, furniture, and tapestries
  • Sainte Chapelle: Architecture and decoration of the Late Gothic
  • Optional: Versailles; Musée Quai d’Orsay; Centre Pompidou; Picasso Museum; Victor Hugo’s house; The Opera House; walk through the Jewish Quarter; Church of Saint Denis; evening concert of medieval music