For the third consecutive year Ron and Julie Palladino of the Solvang Antique Center will speak as Antique Experts onboard an annual International Cruise Event. From August 24th through September 9th, 2006, participants in this adventure will have the opportunity to experience China’s cultural highlights and sail the scenic Yangtze River prior to the completion of the record-setting Three Gorges Dam and the flooding of the Yangtze Valley in 2009.

Highlights of the tour will include escorted visits to the Great Wall of China, Beijing’s Forbidden City, the Summer Palace and Ming Tombs, Xian’s Terra-Cotta Warriors, the Three Gorges, and Snow Jade Cave. This expedition is for those who want to truly understand the origins of Chinese culture. The tour will reveal the roots of Chinese civilization from Jingdeshen, birthplace of porcelain, to Mt. Jiu Hua’s remote Buddhist Temple complex, to Nanjing, former capital of ancient China, and Suzhou with its famed gardens. Special cultural events will include a visit to the Peking Opera, a Peking Duck Dinner, a Tang Dynasty Show and a Chinese Acrobatic performance.

Among the Palladino’s featured talks will be “The Amazing Automaton Clocks of Beijing’s Forbidden City”. The collection consists of over 1,000 timepieces acquired by the Qing Dynasty emperors of 1644 to 1911, and include complicated works (including many profusely decorative, animated and musical examples) by the finest European clock and watchmakers of the 18th and 19th centuries. About one hundred clocks are on display at the museum at any given time, and several of these are shown and perform for the crowds during twice daily demonstrations.

The special 16-day Cruise/Tour includes Roundtrip Airfare, 9 days aboard the brand new, all balcony 306-passenger Viking Century Sun, 5-star accommodations on land, all meals and 19-specially guided tours, from $3,399 to $3,950. For further details email julie@solvangantiques.com or journeys2005@earthlink.net, or phone Journeys of Distinction toll-free at (877)251-0497.