Context Announces the Spring Schedule of Its "Out of Context"

Critically-acclaimed "Out of Context" series connects travelers with unusual experiences in Paris, R

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. October 14, 2008

PHILADELPHIA, PA, February 13, 2008. Context Travel announces the spring schedule of its critically-acclaimed Out of Context series. Designed to give travelers a deeper experience than a simple tour, the series pairs scholars from the Context network with special openings of monuments and museums in four European cities: Rome, Paris, Florence, and Venice.

This spring's season includes such unique programs as a visit to one of the top restoration laboratories in Florence; a tour of the Louvre's much-anticipated Jean Fabre exhibition with a curator; a walking lecture on the plague in Venice; and afterhours visits to the Vatican Museums in Rome and the Basilica San Marco in Venice.

The series also includes three "Scent Dinners" with New York Times perfume critic Chandler Burr, which will be staged in Paris, Rome, and Florence and explore the history of these cities through the perfumes that define them.

"We're always trying to match scholars and experts from our network with amazing opportunities, like visits to sites that are closed to the public or workshops on unusual but provocative topics," says Paul Bennett, founder of Context. "Reaction by the kind of smart, sophisticated traveler that we cater to has been fantastic, pushing us to develop what is our most ambitious season to date."

The current scholarship of Context's docents plays an important role in the programming of this fifth season of the series. In Paris, for example, dining historian and chair of the Oxford Food Symposium Carolin Young will be hosting a "Rite of Spring Banquet" at the historic Le Pharamond restaurant (May 7) around the theme of springtime and food through history. In Rome, Anthony Majanlahti, the author of the critical success The Families of Rome will lead a three-part series on the Barberini, Farnese and Colonna families, visiting a number of private palaces and art collections (June and July). In Paris, chef and PBS food personality, Louisa Chu, will take a group out to Rungis, the world's largest market, on the outskirts of Paris (May 21).

Other events include: a guided tour of the international iris competition in Florence; a seminar on the ecology of Venice with ecologist/author Jane da Mosto; on-site lecture with medievalist Elaine Polley at St. Germain des Pres in Paris; visits to the Vasari Corridor in Florence (normally closed to the public); an annotated lunch focused on the cuisine of the Veneto region; an Oxford-style seminar on Dante in Florence; and an egg tempera and gold-leafing workshop in Florence with one of the leading scholars of traditional techniques, Dr. Alan Pascuzzi.

The Out of Context series was originally launched in the spring of 2006 as an extension of Context's sustainable tourism initiative with the idea that these events provide a kind of counterweight to the drive-by mass tourism that is so altering the character of European cities. Context's sustainable tourism initiative has been featured in the International Herald Tribune and on MSN.

The full schedule of the Out of Context series, from late March until July, 2008, is posted on the Context website at:

www.contexttravel.com/main/product/outofcontext.php

Founded by National Geographic writer Paul Bennett and designer Lani Bevacqua, Context is a network of scholars and experts in such fields as art history, archaeology, gastronomy, and architecture who organize and lead thematic walking seminars in seven cities: Rome, Paris, New York, London, Naples, Florence, and Venice. In May 2006, Travel + Leisure named Context one of the top European tour companies for its innovative approach to travel and the depth of its programs. To learn more about Context visit its website at: www.contexttravel.com