Bonn & Beethoven (postponed)

Overview

THIS TRIP WILL BE POSTPONED DUE TO GROUP CONSTRAINTS AT LOCATION.
A NEW DATE WILL BE COMMUNICATED SOON.

Join us on a historic and classical journey to the beautiful city of Bonn. The city is located on the Rhine River, about 25 km south of Cologne. From 1949 to 1990 Bonn was named as the provisional capital of West Germany. Not only is it famous for its political past, but it is also the birthplace of one of the most iconic and influential composers in history, Ludwig van Beethoven. Enjoy the captivating urban nature that Bonn has to offer, from trees laden with spring cherry blossom to glorious green parks running alongside the Rhine whilst also discovering the cultural heritage that Beethoven left. We visit the house he grew up in and arranged a private concert by a live orchestra.

Pictures

Aerial view of Bonn and the University of Bonn

Panoramic view of Bonn | © travelview - Shutterstock

A river runs through it, an aerial view of the Rhine | © saiko3p - Shutterstock

The green city Bonn | © Vlad060955 - Shutterstock

Bonn turns pink in spring time | © Dihetbo - Shutterstock

And white as well | © eugen_z - Shutterstock

|Aerial view of Bonn|©travelview - Shutterstock

Small streets and alleys make Bonn an attractive city to wander through | © LightField Studios - Shutterstock

The Bonn Minister | © saiko3p - Shutterstock

The baroque Poppelsdorf Palace | © Borisb17 - Shutterstock

The University of Bonn is home to almost 40.000 students | © Ian Law - Shutterstock

Statue of Ludwig von Beethoven | © nitpicker - Shutterstock

The Beethoven house, where the iconic composer was born in 250 years ago | © Valentyna Chukhlyebova - Shutterstock

Sculptures depicting heads Saints Cassius Florentius | © gumbao - Shutterstock

Program

As with any Expat Club trip our schedule is carefully designed so you can enjoy all the places and have enough time for lunch, a coffee and some free time. Still, all times below are tentative and depend also on external circumstances, such as weather and traffic conditions. Together with the bus driver, guide and welcoming destinations we will do our best to give you the most optimal experience. FYI, Expat Club loves being on time and we are very often spot on when it comes to keeping track of the schedule.

08h00 – Departure to Bonn
10h30 – Guided city tour by bus and foot
12h30 – Lunch in local Brauhaus
13h30 – Free time
15h00 – Visit to Beethoven Haus & Museum
15h05 – Private introduction
15h30 – Individual visit to museum
16h30 – Private Beethoven concert
17h15 – Kölsch time (i.e. drink in bar!)
18h30 – Departure to Brussels
21h00 – Arrival Brussels

Bonn

Although Bonn is a relatively small city on the Rhine river, it compares to cities like Trier and Cologne for being among Germany’s oldest towns. It was also founded as a Roman settlement in the 1st century BC. After the separation of East and West Germany, Bonn become the capital of the latter republic from 1949 to 1990, also referred to as the Bonn Republic. In 1990, Berlin became the capital of Germany, but Bonn remained de facto the government seat until 1999, after which the great majority of government institutions moved to Berlin. Nowadays, still about one third of ministerial jobs are located in Bonn and it is still considered the second unofficial capital of the country.

Currently it is home to about 327.000 inhabitants, with about one third from non-German origin. The city welcomes over 850.000 visitors per year, including many who come for conferences in the former parliamentary and governmental buildings. It houses the headquarters of both Deutsche Post DHL and Deutsche Telekom, two of the largest German companies. Besides, a few international organisations, such as the headquarters for Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Secretariat of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), and the UN Volunteers programme.

Upon arrival in Bonn we will discover the city with our bus and by foot. Our local guide will show us around in the most important parts of the city, introduce us to the local history, culture and architecture. He or she won’t be telling us much about the most important former inhabitant, since we will visit his birth house anyway.

Beethoven

Not many other cities can claim decades of being the German capital and the birth of the musical genius. Ludwig von Beethoven lived in Bonn for 22 years before moving to Vienna.

Ludwig van Beethoven was a classical pianist and composer in the late 18th and early 19th centuries and remains one of the 3 most influential and iconic composers of all time together with Johan Sebastian Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Beethoven was born in Bonn in 1770. Both his father Johann and his grandfather Ludwig were famous musicians. He was the second of seven children but only he and two of his siblings lived longer than a year.

At the age of five Beethoven was harshly and intensively taught to play the piano and had his first public performance at age seven. In 1792, he moved to Vienna to study under Joseph Hayden. Just as he was beginning to find success, Beethoven started suffering from a loss of hearing in 1798. Despite Beethoven no longer performing, he still continued to compose music and released arguably one of his best pieces, the 9th Symphony. He passed away during a thunderstorm at the age of 56 in 1827 and his funeral procession was attended by over 20.000 people.

Lunch

Going to Bonn for culture and such is a great excuse to cover up the real reason to visit this historic city… food!  Don’t tell anyone, but at Expat Club we simply love German food. And also this time we have made a booking for you in a great local restaurant, Dreesen – Gasthaus Im Stiefel.

Dreesen is a true Brauhaus right next to the Beethoven Haus. The staff would love to welcome our group and serve you an amazing meal. Joining us for lunch is optional (you can indicate this during checkout), but we always recommend joining us because it is a great way to get to know others in the group.

Transportation

We will be travelling with a comfortable 4* luxury coach. The seats are configured in Princess Class, which means you will have extra leg space and can recline your seat. This way you can get some extra rest. All seats have footrests as well. There is a (small) toilet on-board and a DVD system with three flat screens, so we can show you a nice documentary/ film about Beethoven during our outbound trip and a lovely movie on the inbound.