Innsbruck's principal theater is the Tiroler Landestheater. Both opera and operetta are presented in the "large house." Music concerts also take place in the modern Saal Tirol of the Kongresshaus. Each year at Pentecost the churches resound with organ music during the annual International Organ Week. Excursions from Innsbruck will take you to Hungerburg where the combined funicular and cable cars will take you soaring above the skyline. South of the city beyong the rail line is the district of Wilten, even older than the city core and known for its 18th-century Rococo parish church. About a 15-minute walk from the Wilten basilica is the Bergisel park, with the Olympic ski jump.

Public transportation in Brussels is convenient and comfortable. All parts of the city are easily accessible by metro (underground), tram, bus and taxi. Brussels also has a neat underground rail connection which links the North and South stations via its Central station. The ultra-modern underground railway stations of Brussels are an art gallery as well. They have been decorated by leading Belgian artists, many of them with an international reputation, like Somville, Delvaux, Caille, Folon, Landuyt, Raveel and Van Hoeydonck.

Brussels is a veritable paradise for shoppers. 'Uptown' is the area between the Porte de Namur and Place Louise. The residents of Brussels consider this as the most exclusive area for jewelry, fashion, shoes and leather goods. Oftentimes we visit the city of Bruges which is the most heavily-visited tourist site in Belgium. Bruges is the victim of one of the strangest natural events of history of the “silting of the Zwin” which snuffed out its commercial life in the late Middle Ages, causing it to miss out on the Industrial Revolution.

Today Bruges is a city in constant evolution, a city that wants to create a distinct profile by accepting new challenges. Bruges hosted the European Football Championships and continues to offer attractive sights as well as markets and museums. The Grote Markt (Market Square) takes place every Saturday morning. At one side of the square is the Belfry of Bruges, built in the 1200s, in one of those perfectly proportioned shapes that makes a breath-catching masterpiece out of a simple tower.

China is one of the most rapidly growing economies in the world and a very popular destination for study abroad culturally and business wise. Economic development has proceeded unevenly, with urban coastal areas, particularly in the Southeast, experiencing more rapid economic development than other areas of the country. China has a mixed economy, with a combination of state-owned and private firms. A number of state-owned firms have undergone partial or full privatization in recent years. The Chinese government has encouraged foreign investment -- in some sectors of the economy and subject to constraints -- since the 1980’s, offering several "special economic zones" in which foreign investors receive preferable tax, tariff, and investment treatment.

In China we will visit Beijing, the political center of the country, Shanghai, the financial center of the country, and Xi’an, the historical center of the country. Seminars to China will include combination of international companies such as PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ericsson Communications, as well as the Bank of China, and world cultural wonders such as the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, and the Terracotta Army. In all of these places you will find a distinct contrast between thousands of years of history blended with the most modern progress of our world today.

Sights to see are the Charles Bridge, Prague Castle and the Old Town. The Charles Bridge is the city's most celebrated structure and dates back to the 14th century. The history of Prague Castle and the city of Prague are inextricably related, they grew up together and it's impossible to envision one without the other. Old Town was founded in 1234 and was the first of Prague's original five towns.

Nice is located on the Baie des Anges of the Mediterranean Sea, about 100 miles east of Marseille in southeastern France. The boulevard des Anglais, which today remains a wide promenade fronting the bay and, divided by "islands" of palms and flowers, it is still a place to visit. The museums to see are the National Museum and the Matisse Museum. And, of course, one must see the Old Town which lies between the Paillon, the Castle and the sea.

In Avignon there's the Palais des Papes which contains the Gothic tomb of Pope John XII. The Musee Calvet, an 18th-century town house, has an extensive collection of mainly French paintings from the 16th-century on. West of Avignon is the well-preserved Pont du Gard, a huge, three-tiered aqueduct, erected 2,000 years ago as part of a 30 mile canal supplying water to Roman Nimes.

The Black Forest, roughly 90 miles long and 25 miles wide lies in southern Germany and is inappropriately named, as the forests are no darker to black than any other forests in Germany. The whole area receives considerably more sunshine than the overall average for the rest of the country.

The name Cologne comes from the Latin word, "colonia." The city was named Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium, which in time became Koln in German. The first city wall was built in the form of a square with sides of about 1 km. Cologne is probably the one city in Germany that could be visited primarily for its cultural attractions. The rough-and-ready essence of Cologne may be felt in the old-fashioned beer taverns-the most venerable and popular being the original Brauhauser of brewhouses.

Heidelberg is highly favored by the Germans for as long as anyone can remember. A university town, Heidelberg dates back to some 550,000 years, if one considers the discovery of the remains of the so-called Heidelberg Man, one of the oldest humans on record. The Heidelberg of today may appear almost too good to be true, as though it had been dreamed up especially for the tour bus trade, but it’s for real, and makes an enormously satisfying place to visit. A suggested walking tour start at the Bismarckplatz, where the New and Old Town meet. The Hauptstrasse is the main passageway through the old quarter, running parallel to the Neckar River.

Stuttgart has been called "Germany's biggest small town" and remains a pastoral backwater along the Neckar River. Few metropolitan areas have become so thoroughly identified with the industrial age as Stuttgart.

Frankfurt's museum's are a must to visit. The Museumsufer consists of nine museums lining the Main River along Schaumainkai. In the 1980s, Frankfurt decided that it wanted to buck it's "Bankfurt" and "Krankfurt" image and went on a culture kick and devoted 11 percent of the city budget to the arts and culture. The result is that Frankfurt has become a city of art.

Like Londoners, Dubliners are devoted to the bi-level bus. It’s worth a ride just for the view from the upper deck, but you’ll also find it a quick and easy way to get from one side of town to the other. Dublin has no subway, but there is an above-ground electric train system known as DART, that not only traverses the city center but also fans out to the scenic suburbs. Within a half hour, you can be touring the gardens at Howth Castle on the north side or walking along the pier at Dun Laoghaire, to the south of the city.

Florence is an artistic treasure house of unique and incomparable proportions. Florence gave birth to the Renaissance. In the early 15th century the study of antiquity became a Florentine passion. Places to visit are the Duomo (Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore), the Galleria dell'Accademia Museum, the Pitti Palace, the Bargello, The Palazzo degli Uffizi and the Ponte Vecchio.

Founded by the Insubrian Celts around 400 b.c., Milan assumes so much a part of the history of Italy in itself. After constant wars with the Gauls, the Romans succeeded in conquering Milan and henceforth it was known as “Mediolanum” which means “in the middle of the plain.”

Venice is one of those cities one either loves or hates. Some people do not like its maze of narrow snaking streets, the faint smell of decay rising from the canals and the hordes of pigeons and tourists in Piazza San Marco. Some of the world’s most inspired architecture has been developed during Venice. Most certainly, water remains the city’s defining feature. You must walk everywhere in Venice; and when you cannot walk, you go by water.

Located 56 miles west of Florence, with a population of a little over 100,000 people is Pisa. This town is mainly known for the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Occassionally our seminars have taken this direction and it is well worth seeing.

The 17th century demonstrates perhaps the best of how a willingness to accept strangers brought prosperity and progress. Merchants from everywhere were attracted by the riches to be gained from the newly discovered markets of the East. Amsterdam's Dutch East Indies Company was the most efficient exploiter. The canals were dug to bring the goods from the ships to their very doorsteps.

Amsterdam has about forty museums. These are only a few interesting places to visit. There's the Rijksmuseum, one of the world's premier public art galleries. The Van Gogh Museum contains more than 200 paintings and almost 500 drawings by Van Gogh and his contemporaries. Other museums are the Stedelijk Museum; The Royal Palace, Dam Square; Anne Frank House; Joods Historisch Museum, Allard Pierson Museum; Amsterdams Historisch Museum and Rembrandthuis.

Another city we visit is Maastricht, which is a unique city in the Netherlands. The oldest of all Dutch cities, it is also, by location, the most pan-European. From times immemorial, Maastricht's character has been shaped by its unique location at the ancient crossroads of land and river trade routes, thus placing it at the polyglot centre of European cultures.

In the very center of Maastricht are a large number of plants which can otherwise only be found in nature reserves. Together with more common plant species they help convey a picture of the wealth of flora in South Limburg. The plants have been brought together in the botanical garden of the Maastricht Natural History Museum.

The millions of people loosely governed by the Greater London Council live spread out over 609 square miles. The heart of the area is perhaps the most fascinating area on earth. London is a very old city, even by European standards. The Roman conquerors of Britain founded "Londinium" in 43 A.D. by settling and fortifying two small hills on the north bank of the River Thames and linking them via a military road network with the rest of the island.

London is a mass of contradicitons--some dating way back in history. On the one hand, London is a decidedly royal city--studded with palaces, court gardens, coats-of-arms and other regal paraphernalia. Yet, London is the home of the second-oldest parliamentary assembly. The huge, gray building that houses parliament and its famous clock, Big Ben, is more truly symbolic of London than Buckingham Palace.

There's plenty of places to shop. There's Regent Street; Oxford Street; Piccadilly; Bond Street; Knightsbridge; The Strand; Kensington High Street; just to name a few. Other attractions are the Tower of London, Windsor Castle, Westminster Abbey; the River Thames and the London Bridge.

Luzern always seems to be a favorite of visiting Americans because it lives up to a cliche image of a Swiss town. The narrow, old cobblestone streets, slender spires and turrets, covered bridges, promenades and plazas dominated by fountains and frescoed houses add to its charm. One important event is the Luzern International Festival of Music. Other interesting things to see is Kappelbrucke (Chapel Bridge); Spreuerbrucke, also know as the "Mills Bridge"; Schwanenplatz (Swan Square); Am Rhyn-Haus, which contains a small collection of Pablo Picasso; quays of Luzern and Lowendenkmal (Lion Monument).