Evening: Overnight flight to Beijing.

Afternoon: Arrive at Beijing International Airport where your Group Leader will meet you. After check-in and a short rest, get together for a Welcome Meeting at your hotel. For those making your own international travel arrangements, meet your Program Leader at 6 pm – the program starting time – in the lobby of your hotel.

Dinner: Enjoy a Beijing specialty at a welcome banquet in a Peking Duck restaurant.

Lodging: Qianmen Jianguo Hotel

Meals Included: Dinner

Breakfast: Breakfast at the hotel.

Morning: Travel outside of Beijing city to a green mountain range where you can walk the Great Wall and experience spectacular views of the Wall winding its way up and down the distant mountains.

Lunch: Lunch at a local restaurant near the Great Wall.

Afternoon: On the way back to your hotel visit ‘the heart’ of Beijing -- Tiananmen Square. Meaning "Gate of Heavenly Peace," Tiananmen, set in the center of Beijing, serves as the location of formal celebrations and ceremonies. More commonly, this huge piazza is where families come to stroll and chat and where kites and balloons abound.

Dinner: Dinner at a local restaurant.

Evening: At a theater next door, enjoy a taste of Beijing opera, a unique art form that uses brilliant costumes, mannerized make-up, acrobatics and martial arts, various types of falsetto singing, and exuberant percussionists. The performance is presented with English and modern Chinese supertitles above the stage. We arrive early so that we can observe actors painting and applying their elaborate make-up.

Lodging: Qianmen Jianguo Hotel

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Temple of Heaven / Courtyard Home Lunch / Forbidden City / Board Chinese Train

Breakfast: Breakfast at the hotel.

Morning: At the Temple of Heaven, a 15th century architectural masterpiece, walk its encircling park and enjoy the activities of local people practicing calligraphy, tai chi, musical instruments, dancing, or flying kites. Then experience the majesty of the Temple itself, built as a symbol of the relationship between heaven and earth.

Lunch: Lunch is hosted by a courtyard family in an "old Beijing" neighborhood of hutongs (residential lanes and alleys). Though Beijing hutongs are rapidly disappearing, this neighborhood near Beihai Park still retains traditional courtyard homes and customs.

Afternoon: Explore the Forbidden City. This 250-acre imperial compound once was the residence and seat of the Qing Emperors and forbidden to all others.

Dinner: Dinner at a local teahouse.

Evening: Board the Chinese train, reaching Erlian in approximately 16 hours.

Lodging: Chinese Train

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Breakfast on board the train.

Morning: Mid-morning the Chinese train arrives at the border where the changeover to the special Tsar’s Gold private train takes place. The rail track gauge between China and Mongolia differs in size, requiring the change of trains at this juncture. The Russians (Soviets) built their rail gauge slightly wider than the standard size gauge used in Europe and China. Luggage is transferred between trains while you explore the colorful border market in the town of Erlian.

Lunch: Lunch is served at a local restaurant, followed by a presentation by our onboard expert: "From Genghis Khan to Modern Mongolia."

Afternoon: Transfer across the border to Mongolia and board the Tsar’s Gold Trans-Siberian Express private train. Head for Ulaanbaatar along a route through the Gobi Desert. Settle into your comfortable cabin and enjoy the onboard services.

Dinner: Dinner on board the train.

Lodging: Tsar's Gold Train

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Breakfast on board the train.

Morning: Arrive to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia’s capital, for a two-day exploration of the city and environs. Disembark the train and transfer to the hotel for check in.

Lunch: Lunch at a local restaurant.

Afternoon: Visit the Bogd Khaan Winter Palace Museum. Mongolia’s last Bogd Khaan, or Living Buddha, lived for 20 years in this compound, built between 1893 and 1903. Unlike other old sites in Ulaanbaatar, this one escaped destruction in the 1930s Stalinist purges. Six temples remain, as does a ceremonial gate built without the use of nails.

Dinner: Dinner at a local restaurant.

Evening: This evening enjoy a performance of Mongolian throat singing and traditional dances.

Lodging: Bayangol Hotel

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Breakfast at the hotel.

Morning: Learn about the Buddhist traditions of Mongolia during a visit to the beautiful Gandan Monastery, originally founded in 1838. Until then Mongolia’s monasteries had been small, mobile organizations that moved with the nomads. Meaning “Great Place of Complete Joy,” the monastery was badly damaged during the 1930 Stalinist repressions, but the main temple was allowed to remain as a showcase for foreigners. Today this temple houses a 20-ton gilded statue of “the Lord Who Looks in Every Direction,” created in the 1990s to replace the one destroyed in 1937. Then, venture outside the city to get a feel for the wide-open spaces and natural beauty Mongolia is known for.

Lunch: Lunch will be served in a traditional Mongolian-style ger.

Afternoon: See a demonstration of Mongolian horseback riding. Return to the city.

Dinner: Dinner at a local restaurant before reboarding the train.

Evening: At leisure as the train makes its way to the Russian border.

Lodging: Tsar's Gold Train

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Breakfast on board the train.

Morning: Today the train rolls through the valley of the Selenga River, which flows into Lake Baikal. Enjoy an onboard presentation: "Siberia: Melting Pot of Cultures and Spiritual Beliefs." En route a stop is made in Ulan Ude, capital of the Buryat Republic. Formerly called Udinsk, Ulan Ude was founded in 1666 by Cossacks as a winter encampment on the Selenga River. The city later prospered as a major trading post along the tea route between China and Irkutsk.

Lunch: Lunch on board the train.

Afternoon: See the original merchant center of the city, with its wooden Siberian houses; the trade rows and administrative center; the city's first stone Orthodox church; and the biggest Lenin head in the world. Then, return to the train to continue the journey on to Lake Baikal.

Dinner: Dinner onboard the train.

Lodging: Tsar's Gold Train

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Breakfast on board the train.

Morning: This morning arrive to the shores of beautiful Lake Baikal and spend a day traveling by train along the shore of the lake. Called the Sacred Sea by the indigenous people who have lived along its shores, UNESCO-listed Lake Baikal is the most ancient lake in the world. Formed in a rift in the earth's surface nearly 25 million years ago, the lake basin today holds about twenty percent of the world's unfrozen fresh water. Its great age and isolation have produced one of the richest and most unusual ecosystems on earth. Enjoy a short boat ride on Lake Baikal.

Lunch: Stop for lunch at one of the old rail stations and enjoy a barbecue on the beach.

Afternoon: The Circumbaikal Railway was the original line used by the Trans-Siberian before the present day route was completed. Considered one of the most complicated rail systems in the world, the route hugs the rocky lake shore and passes through 33 tunnels along its length. Aboard the train, enjoy spectacular views of Lake Baikal.

Dinner: Dinner on board the train.

Lodging: Tsar's Gold Train

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Breakfast on board the train.

Morning: Arrive in Irkutsk and explore the city. Stop at the Church of Our Savior, the Gagarin embankment and the restored house of Prince Sergei Volkonsky, now the House Museum of the Decembrists. The Decembrists were a group of young officers who had served abroad during the War of 1812 and became advocates of democratic reform. In December 1825, they tried to force the Senate to sign a manifesto abolishing serfdom and instituting reforms. Their rebellion was quickly put down, and five of the leaders hanged. The rest were sentenced to forced labor in Siberia. Many of them, with their wives, settled in Irkutsk after their terms were over, and brought with them education and culture. Enjoy a private concert with champagne at the museum.

Lunch: Lunch at a local restaurant.

Afternoon: This afternoon, venture outside the city to the delightful outdoor Museum of Wooden Architecture. This outdoor museum is a 166-acre collection of authentic Russian and native Buryat, Evenki and Tafalar houses and community buildings from the 17th to the early 20th century. The wooden structures were moved here from various Siberian locations and reassembled into little hamlets and nomadic camps that demonstrate how people actually lived.

Dinner: Dinner at a local restaurant.

Lodging: Courtyard Irkutsk City Center

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Breakfast at the hotel.

Morning: Rolling through the vast Siberian taiga, also know as a boreal forest, spend the day relaxing onboard the train. As the train passes Krasnoyarsk on the Yenisei River, balance for a moment at the geographic center of Russia.

Lunch: Lunch on board the train.

Afternoon: Enjoy an onboard presentation: "The Collapse of the Soviet Union and Its Effect on the Ordinary People."

Dinner: Dinner on board the train.

Evening: Enjoy an onboard traditional Russian vodka tasting.

Lodging: Tsar's Gold Train

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Breakfast on board the train.

Morning: The train pulls into Siberia?s largest city today. With a population of over 1.6 million people, Novosibirsk is Siberia?s industrial center. It did not exist before the Trans-Siberian railway was built and its growth is largely due to the railway. In 1900 only 15,000 people lived here. In 2008, the total solar eclipse center line ran directly through Novosibirsk. Learn about the region during a driving city tour of the central area featuring the Opera House (Russia?s largest) and Lenin Square.

Lunch: Lunch on board the train.

Afternoon: An interesting side note: At the height of the Cold War in 1959, Nikita Khrushchev and Soviet mathematician Mikhail Lavrentyev envisioned a special town built expressly for scientific research, called Academgorodok, or Academy City. They located it near Novosibirsk in the depths of the Siberian hinterland, and convinced some of the USSR’s best scientists to move here. A pleasant green town, Academgorodok is home to Novosibirsk State University, several academies and 35 research centers. The community is untouched by industry, and enjoys the proximity of the Ob Sea.

Dinner: Dinner on board the train.

Lodging: Tsar's Gold Train

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Breakfast on board the train.

Morning: After breakfast, enjoy an onboard presentation: "A Dynasty Comes to an End: The Demise of Nicholas II and his Family." Stop today in Ekaterinburg. Founded in 1721 and named after Catherine I, Ekaterinburg has a fair number of pre-revolutionary buildings. It is best known as the place where the last czar, Nicholas II, and his family were imprisoned and executed by the Bolsheviks in 1918. The Church on the Blood stands over the spot where they died. The young family has been canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church, and declared martyrs, as holy passion-bearers, reverent believers who were tormented by the Soviets for their beliefs. The church was designed in the early 20th century Russian/Byzantine style that Nicholas favored. Ekaterinburg is also known as the birthplace of Boris Yeltsin. Born to peasant parents, Yeltsin studied civil engineering at Ekaterinburg Technical University before working his way up the ladder in the Communist Party.

Lunch: Lunch at a local restaurant.

Afternoon: While in this city of 1.5 million, enjoy the traditional and ornately decorated wooden houses of former aristocratic citizens. Visit the Romanov execution site.

Dinner: Dinner on board the train.

Lodging: Tsar's Gold Train

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Breakfast on board the train.

Morning: Today the train pulls into Kazan. Kazan, capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, is an old city on the Volga River with a fascinating multi-ethnic history. The Tatars, who make up a majority of the population, are actually Turkic Muslims with an ethnic makeup identical to that of early Bulgarians. An exploration of Kazan includes the city's kremlin, the Qol Sharif Mosque, Peter and Paul Cathedral, and the shores of Lake Kaban. Inaugurated in 2005, the Qol Sharif Mosque stands where its original stood until it was razed by Ivan the Terrible’s conquering army in 1552. Named after Imam Seid Qol Sharif, the Tatar cleric who died defending it, the turquoise and white mosque is the largest in Russia. The mosque has become a symbol of Kazan and Tatarstan.

Lunch: Enjoy lunch at a restaurant in the city.

Afternoon: Take a free afternoon in Kazan before rejoining the train. Enjoy an onboard presentation: "Being Russian: Traditions, Customs, Superstition and Beliefs Influencing the Russian National Character."

Dinner: Dinner on board the train.

Lodging: Tsar's Gold Train

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Breakfast on board the train.

Morning: Arrive in Moscow. The Soviet flag flew here for the last time on 25 December 1991, and since then central Moscow has been transformed. Beautiful pre-Revolutionary buildings that had been allowed to fall into disrepair under the Soviet system are being lovingly restored to their former glory.

Lunch: Lunch is at a local restaurant in Moscow.

Afternoon: Begin the afternoon city tour with a drive by some of Moscow’s best-known places – Red Square, the Duma building where Russia’s governing body meets; the Bolshoi Theater; the forbidding Lubyanka prison where the KGB was headquartered; Moscow State University on the Sparrow Hills for a panoramic city view; the moving World War II Memorial and Victory Park on Farewell Hill; and a drive along the Sofiyskaya Embankment, past the 16th century Novodevichy Convent by the Moscow “White House” and to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. The Cathedral of Christ the Savior has had a tumultuous history. Built from 1839-1883 to commemorate the Russian victory over Napoleon in 1812, it was destroyed by the Soviets in 1931 to make way for a Palace of Soviets. However, the soft ground could not support the huge building, and so the excavation was used for the world's largest outdoor swimming pool. In the 1990s the Moscow government meticulously rebuilt the cathedral, completing it in 1998.

Dinner: Dinner at a local restaurant.

Lodging: Hotel Park Inn Sadu

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Breakfast at the hotel.

Morning: Embark on a discovery of Red Square, the Kremlin and the Armory Museum. Red Square and St. Basil's Cathedral are perhaps the most recognizable symbols of Russia. The square owes it origins to Ivan III, who in the late 15th century had all buildings removed from the eastern wall of the Kremlin. For the next 400 years, this newly formed area was a trading center. In 1920 all traders were banned from the square, and in the early 1960s cars were banned as well, making Red Square a pedestrian area. St. Basil's was built to celebrate Ivan the Terrible's victory at the Tatar stronghold of Kazan in 1552. Built between 1555 and 1561, it was originally painted white. The domes were not patterned and colored as they are today until a hundred years later. St. Basil's is named after Vasily, the "holy fool" who predicted that Ivan would murder his own son. Admire the vivid exterior of St. Basil's today. The Moscow Kremlin reminds modern-day Russia of its medieval past. Built on the site of Prince Yuri's hunting lodge, the Kremlin overlooks the Moskva and Neglina rivers. In the mid-14th century, the Russian princes, ruling from the Kremlin, became so powerful that Moscow was named the center of the Russian Orthodox Church. Under the guidance of Ivan the Great, Moscow extended its influence and soon became the seat of Russian political power as well. Today, the Kremlin remains the center of Moscow and Russian politics. Inside the fortress walls are palaces, cathedrals, government buildings and the Armory Museum. Built in the 16th century as a warehouse for the Kremlin's weaponry, the Armory was transformed into an exhibition hall and museum in 1814. It now houses Russia's national treasures, such as religious icons, Faberge eggs, a bejeweled chalice belonging to Prince Yuri, and Catherine the Great's ball gowns and shoes.

Lunch: Lunch at a local restaurant.

Afternoon: This afternoon explore Arbat Street and take a ride on the Moscow Metro. In the 15th century court artisans and craftsmen lived in the Arbat Street neighborhood, and by the 19th century it had become an artists’ enclave. Today the Arbat is like a busy street fair, with small shops lining the sides of the street and tables of crafts and merchandise set out along the center. Here street artists draw portraits, musicians sing and play, and fur hats, matrioshki dolls and Russian woolen scarves are offered for sale. The first Moscow Metro station opened in 1935, and today there are more than 150 of them along the 125 miles of track. The stations in the city center are showpieces of Socialist art, furnished with statues, frescoes and mosaics, and with marbled, gilded, and bronzed walls and ceilings.

Dinner: Dinner on your own.

Lodging: Hotel Park Inn Sadu

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch

Breakfast: Breakfast at the hotel.

Morning: Free time to explore Moscow on your own.

Lunch: Lunch on your own.

Afternoon: This afternoon, learn about the history of the Russian (Soviet) space program. The Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics is housed in the base of the monument named "To the Conquerors of Space." The monument is a huge upright titanium contrail behind a rocket taking off into the sky. It was built in 1964 to commemorate the 1957 launching of Sputnik, the first-ever orbiting satellite. It was the lights of Sputnik moving across the night sky that frightened the U.S. into stepping up its own space program. The museum celebrates the Soviet Union's exploits in space, and includes artifacts like Yuri Gagarin's space suit and the first rocket engine, designed and built in 1931 by engineer F. Tsander. The small movie theater for video showings resembles the inside of a spaceship. 2011 marked the 50th anniversary of man's first space flight, a feat achieved by Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in 1961. Enjoy an exclusive opportunity to meet with a former cosmonaut to learn more about the past and present contributions the Russians have made to space exploration.

Dinner: Farewell dinner at a local restaurant.

Lodging: Hotel Park Inn Sadu

Meals Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Breakfast: Breakfast at the hotel.

Morning: Transfer to the airport for flights home or continue on the extension to St. Petersburg.

Meals Included: Breakfast