Travel-Learn Trips
In addition to our regular courses, Encore offers Travel-Learn opportunities. These are one day trips, sometimes with a pre-trip or on-the-bus lecture. They are most often scheduled during the early part of the college's Fall and the later part of its Spring semesters. They feature unique opportunities to visit actual sites and learn first-hand. Occasionally they are also offered during the January intersession and the summer months. All trips are open to MEMBERS ONLY.
June 25, 2010
Olana, Frederick Church's Hudson River Estate & Museum
Named for a fortress treasure-house in ancient Persia, Olana was the home of Frederic Church (1826-1900), one of America's most important artists, a student of Thomas Cole, and a major figure in the Hudson River School of landscape painting. Built high on a hill between 1870 and 1891, Olana overviews our own Catskill Mountains and Hudson River. A New York State Historic Site visited annually by over 150,000 people, it is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Hudson Valley and upstate New York. Called by Church “the Center of the World,” Olana's Persian-style house and 250 acres of romantically- designed grounds are “a personal vision of harmony between man and the American landscape”.
We will see an introductory movie, then have the house and museum tours. There is an attractive gift shop, too. The site is accessible but be prepared for a short incline walk to the home, and standing during the tour. Afterwards we’ll lunch on our own at our individual choice of the many interesting restaurants in nearby Hudson, NY* or via our own bag lunches. Cost is $45 and includes bus and house and museum tickets only.
August 11, 2010
Bard College SummerScape: "The Chocolate Soldier" & Spiegeltent Lunch
Encore offers this unique opportunity to "Go Back To Bard" and its musical Summerscape. This time members will experience "The Chocolate Soldier", an operetta by Oscar Straus; it's based on George Bernard Shaw's "Arms & The Man." The production is described as "a fusion of Viennese operetta and British wit." "A comic take on an unusual boy-meets-girl scenario", it was first performed in New York City in 1909. Then we'll lunch at the famous Spiegeltent right on campus. Since the theater only holds 200, Encore was lucky to secure 29 tickets, so register as soon as registration forms are received, soemtime in early June.
Past Encore Travel-Learn Trips
Over the years, Encore Travel-Learn trips have included:
- New York Aquarium
- Museum at Bethel Woods
- NY Maritime Museum
- Steam Town Steam Railroad Museum Scranton Pennsylvania
- Ellis Island Museum & Grounds
- New York City Tenement Museum
- New York Botanical Gardens & "Moore In America" Sculpture Exhibit
- FDR & Vallkill Estate
- Natural History Museum
- Bard College Summer Theater: Gershwin's "Of Thee I Sing"
- Hudson River Maritime Museum