Three capitals. Twelve days. One planetary crisis.
On foot, by train, and with open minds we will explore how different countries along the former Iron Curtain approach a common problem.
We will focus on energy, resilience, public involvement, and social justice – but we will also see and experience three of the most vibrant and historic cities in Europe.
When you book an experience with Puget Sound Alumni Tours, you get to explore less-traveled regions of the globe with expert faculty members, enabling you to gain a new perspective and deeply immerse yourself in the places you visit. See the world and expand your knowledge with our Alumni Tours program.
We will stay four nights each in Berlin, Prague, and Vienna. In Berlin we will stay at Hotel Oderberger, located in the Prenzlauer Berg neighborhood in the heart of the city. The Hotel Oderberger features comfortable rooms, a historic pool and spa, a bar and lounge, an onsite restaurant, and an exquisite, complimentary breakfast buffet every morning.
Hotel Falkensteiner is a 5-star, modern, boutique-style hotel in central Prague, just steps away from Wenceslas Square and the train station. It features an extensive, high-quality breakfast buffet and an on-site restaurant and lounge with jungle-inspired decor and outdoor courtyard seating.
In Vienna, we will stay at Mooons Vienna, very near Central Station and historic Belvedere Place. The rooms in this stylish hotel are soundproof and feature round "full-moon" windows that double as seating areas. The seasonal rooftop bar offers gorgeous skyline views, and the vegetarian-focused breakfast buffet is served in the outdoor garden space during warm months.
We will start the trip in Germany’s capital Berlin and discuss the “Energiewende”, the change in approach with which Germans want to handle climate change and the country’s energy needs. We will talk to political actors, activists, and those who have felt left behind. We will see the gaps between green ambition and lived reality. And we will visit sights and museums that remind Germans how societal change that leaves too many behind can backfire.
We will take a four-hour train first through former East Germany’s coal mining region, then along the lovely river Elbe through “Saxonian Switzerland”, and finally through northern Bohemia to the Czech capital Prague. Prague boasts Europe’s largest castle with a view across the river Vltava to the meticulously restored old town and a cathedral from the 14th century. Built along the river Vltava, Prague has suffered devastating floods, including one of the worst in 2002. This event became a wake-up call to reckon with environmental excesses of the communist past and focus on ecological resilience not least in the face of a changing climate. We will see the new flood barriers in Old Town, experience the river from the water, and learn about the lasting effects of coal mining in Eastern Europe.
Another four-hour train trip will take us to Vienna, where we will see how a country that as a neutral country during the Cold War stayed above the fray of East-West division. Vienna is not only the center of the Habsburg Monarchy but also the cultural capital of central Europe, one of three seats of the United Nations, and the International Atomic Energy Agency. In Vienna we will visit a new neighborhood of the city that was designed and built as a model for sustainability, visit the UN headquarters, and get a tour of a fully constructed nuclear power plant that never entered service because of public protests. We will also have time to experience Vienna’s baroque beauty, stroll along the Danube, and enjoy Viennese culture, wine, and hospitality.
Itinerary is subject to change.
Andreas Madlung is a professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Puget Sound. A plant biologist by training, for the past three decades Professor Madlung’s work has focused on how plants respond to their surroundings, their behavior in stressful conditions, and in particular their use of light receptors to orient themselves in time and space.
Born in Hamburg in what was formerly West Germany, Madlung grew up in a family that was divided between east and west by the Cold War. He witnessed first-hand the difficulties of maintaining family ties across the Iron Curtain and traveled extensively in Germany before, during, and after the fall of the Berlin Wall. During the 2023–24 academic year Madlung lived in Berlin, where he conducted research.
His longstanding scholarly pursuits explore how organisms, particularly plants, deal with changing environments both on the cellular as well as the whole organism level. Living in Berlin inspired Madlung to take a closer look at how eastern and central European countries have tackled environmental challenges and are now fortifying their cities against the consequences of climate change by becoming more sustainable and at the same time more livable for all their inhabitants.
Madlung has published extensively with undergraduate researchers, postdocs, and technicians from his laboratory at Puget Sound. His research has been funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, the Murdock Charitable Trust, and the American Society for Plant Biology. His first book The adaptive plant: How physiological ingenuity allows plants to cope with climate change is due to appear in 2027.
Let us know you're interested in this once-in-a-lifetime faculty-led alumni tour in Central Europe!