 | Hessiches Puppenmuseum
Hanau-Wilhelmsbad
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 | Puppenfestival Flea Market
Neustadt
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 | Dollmaker's House
Deutsches Spielzeugmuseum
Sonneberg
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 | Doll's Kitchen
Coburger Puppenmuseum
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 | Kestner Meisterbuch
Schloß Tenneberg Heimatmuseum
Waltershausen
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 | Kämmer & Reinhardt Factory
Waltershausen
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 | Porcelain Demonstration
Meißen
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 | Seiffener Nutcrackers
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 | Puppen- und Spielzeugmuseum
Rothenburg odT
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 | Noah's Ark in Nürnberg
Spielzeugmuseum Lydia Beyer
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 | Steiff Molly Dogs
Steiff Museum
Giengen
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 | Schloß Neuschwanstein
Füssen
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ITINERARY
Day 1 - May 11 (Tue) Travel Day
Depart for overnight flight to Frankfurt.
Day 2 - May 12 (Wed) Wilhelmsbad
Upon arrival in Frankfurt, visit the Hessisches Puppenmuseum. The theme of the museum is clear – children, by imitating grown-ups in play, learn to become adults. Every facet of daily adult life is portrayed through dolls, their clothing, and accessories, and a complement of doll-scale toys, in a lovely, arcaded building overlooking Wilhelmsbad Park. (Hotel Stadt Coburg, Coburg, 4 nights)
Day 3 - May 13 (Thu) Flea Market
The "high days" of the 19th Annual International Puppenfestival kick off with a huge flea market, where one will find oodles of dolly treasure! On our way back to Coburg, visit Die Alte Weihnachtsfabrik, featuring Inge-Glas® Christmas ornaments, skillfully handcrafted with techniques that have been passed down the generations.
Day 4 - May 14 (Fri) Spielzeugstadt Sonneberg
The Sonneberg School of Industry’s collection of illustrative dolls and toys was the foundation of the Deutsches Spielzeugmuseum, the oldest toy museum in Germany. Its exhibits include an incredible array of salesmen’s sample boards, shoes, and wigs; Sonneberg dolls of wood, papiermâché, china, and bisque; and much more. Shop for fine papiermâché figures in the factory outlet of Richard Mahr GmbH (Marolin®). At the Museum der Deutschen Spielzeugindustrie, cases and floor exhibits feature the manufacturing processes of wood, wax, papiermâché, composition, bisque, and celluloid dolls, and plush toys. A special themed exhibit of exquisite artist-dolls coincides with the Puppenfestival, and special Puppenfestival exhibitors are located throughout the museum.
Day 5 - May 15 (Sat) Doll and Teddy Bear Show
The main event of the Puppenfestival is today’s International Doll and Teddy Bear Show. Various trade shows and special exhibitions are located throughout town. Be sure to visit Peter Packert, the Puppendoktor. Shop for charming holiday candy containers of papiermâché at the Ino Schaller factory – at factory prices!
Day 6 - May 16 (Sun) Coburg & Schloß Tenneberg
More than 900 German dolls, an exquisite collection of half-dolls, and some rare French dolls, are exhibited with period doll furniture, clothing, and accessories in the Coburger Puppenmuseum. Fifty miniature rooms and doll-sized Dresden china will take your breath away! Deep in the Thüringer Wald, in a 12th-century hunting palace perched on a hill overlooking Waltershausen, is the Schloß Tenneberg Heimatmuseum. Among its other precious relics, the dolls, bodies, wigs, shoes, and stockings of well-known Waltershausen factories are exhibited. Most exceptional are the original master books of the J.D. Kestner firm. (Hotel Waldhaus, Waltershausen, 2 nights)
Day 7 - May 17 (Mon) Puppenstadt Waltershausen
"Only the best is good enough," is the motto of Waltershäuser Puppenmanufaktur GmbH, successor to the Kämmer and Reinhardt firm founded in 1810. Tour the factory where the dolls of such artists as Gunzel and Himstedt are made. The neglect of a half-century of Soviet occupation has left standing many of the historic doll factory buildings in the area. Our Waltershausen walking tour takes us to more than a dozen within a ½-square-mile. (driver’s day off)
Day 8 - May 18 (Tue) "Mon Plaisir"
The Schloßmuseum Arnstadt, formerly the palace of Duchess Dorothea of Schwarzburg-Arnstadt, features the "Mon Plaisir" Exhibit of wax and wooden dolls in elaborate room settings, from the mid-1700s. It details virtually every aspect of town life in baroque Germany – in miniature. (Parkhotel Meißen, Meißen, 2 nights)
Day 9 - May 19 (Wed) Meißen
In the demonstration workshop of Staatliche Porzellan Manufaktur (formerly KPM), watch the three-centuries-old process of manufacturing white, hard-paste porcelain into the finest figurines and dinnerware in the world. There are more than 3,000 original Meißen pieces exhibited in the Meißner Porzellanmuseum. Spend your free time in Meißen shopping and sightseeing – the Albrechtsburg, home of the original KPM factory, is especially interesting.
Day 10 - May 20 (Thu) Spielzeugdorf Seiffen
Near the German-Czech border, on the ridge of the central Erzgebirge, lies the little toy village of Seiffen where the Erzgebirgisches Spielzeugmuseum displays more than 3,000 colorful examples of cleverly lathe-turned, wooden folk art objects, including toys, Christmas ornaments, nutcrackers, chandeliers, and miniatures. Spend the rest of the day shopping for Noah’s Arks, and other classic toys and decorations. (Hotel Erbgericht "Buntes Haus", Seiffen, 1 night)
Day 11 - May 21 (Fri) Nürnberg Shopping
Our stopover in Nürnberg provides an opportunity for shopping and sightseeing at your leisure. We know a nice place to shop for antique dolls, dolls’ houses, and dolls’ accessories, and we’ll take you there. We arrive in Rothenburg odT just in time for the Meistertrunk Festival! (Hotel Glocke, Rothenburg odT, 3 nights)
Day 12 - May 22 (Sat) Rothenburg odT
More than 800 dolls produced by French and German makers over a span of 200 years are exhibited in the 15th-century house of the Puppen- und Spielzeugmuseum. Dolls’ houses, doll kitchens, and doll shops are furnished with all the precious things that a complete dolly household requires. Puppet theaters, trains, tin toys, doll carriages, and thousands of charming accessories from the distant past are on display. The rest of the day is free to spend as you wish in this shopper’s paradise. (driver’s day off)
Day 13 - May 23 (Sun) Nürnberg Museums
The Spielzeugmuseum Lydia Bayer holds the largest and most varied toy collection in the world. Changing exhibits feature doll antiquities, wax dolls, wood dolls, china dolls, bisque dolls, celluloid dolls, costume dolls, doll rooms, doll stores, tin toys, toy railroads, wood toys, children’s books, and more. Doll and toy exhibits spanning six centuries are concentrated in a special wing of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, including the world-famous collection of extraordinary 17th- and 18th-century dolls’ houses.
Day 14 - May 24 (Mon) Steiff
More than 2,000 enchanting plush animals have a home in 2,400 square meters of exhibition space in the Steiff Museum, on the grounds of Margarete Steiff GmbH headquarters. Find the best prices for Steiff first- and second-quality products in the factory outlet store.
(Altstadt Hotel zum Hechten, Füssen, 2 nights)
Day 15 - May 25 (Tue) Bavarian Märchenschlößer
The original structure of Schloß Hohenschwangau dates to the 12th-century knights of Schwangau. When the knights faded away, the palace began to fade, too, helped along by the Napoleonic Wars. Maximillian II, Ludwig II’s father, saw the palace in 1832, purchased it, and had it completely restored. Ludwig spent all his childhood summers here, and then spared no expense indulging his fantasies with the construction of Schloß Neuschwanstein. Every inch is painted, carved, or decorated in some fashion. The major part of the interior paintings are scenes from his favorite Wagnerian operas, and the colors are bold and brassy. Enjoy the rest of our day in the picturesque village of Füssen, an alpine jewel at 880 meters above sea level. This evening, "show and tell" about your favorite PuppentourTM souvenir at our Auf Wiedersehen Dinner Banquet.
Day 16 - May 26 (Wed) Auf Wiedersehen!
Transfer to FJ Strauss International Airport
Note about coach driver’s days off: For safety reasons, the EU has passed legislation that limits the number of hours a coach driver may work and mandates specific periods of rest. As a consequence, there are two days during our tour when we do not have use of our coach and driver. We have arranged our itinerary to minimize the impact of this mandate on our PuppentourTM.
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