Europe - World Wars

88_world-wars
Sample package

World Wars

DAY 1 


Flight towards Paris. 


DAY 2 

Arrival at the airport in Paris and meet with your bus driver.

Loading of luggage on the motor coach and departure for VIMY.  

A.M.: Self-guided tour of the Mémorial Canadien de Vimy.  

Lunch on your own.

P.M.: Journey towards ABLAIN-SAINT-NAZAIRE in early afternoon. Visit of the Notre-Dame-de-Lorette’s Cemetery and French National Memorial which commemorate the violent battles of 1915.

Visit of the Musée militaire de la Targette. This tour will allow you to see, « in action », more than 70 mannequins in period costumes, as well as 4500 collector’s items: objects crafted by soldiers, documents, posters, cannons, machine guns, costumes, etc… The Musée de la Targette constitutes the most important collection relating to World War I Commonwealth troops in France with the reconstitution of a trench, a first-aid station.

Next, self-guided tour of the German Cemetery of NEUVILLE ST VAAST.

Transfer towards ARRAS in late afternoon where you will have some free time to visit the town.

Dinner and overnight in hotel in Arras.

  

DAY 3

Breakfast. 

AM: Departure for YPRES.  

Bus tour around YPRES Salient with stops: PASSCHENDAELE, Tyne Cot Cemetery, Hooge Crater, Messines ridge, Mont Sorrel, LANGEMARK, Sanctuary woods, Saint-Julien, ZONNEBEKE.

Then, at the end of the day, back to YPRES to see where John Mc Rae composed his “In Flanders Fields”.  

Visit of Sanctuary Wood et more specifically of the Canadian Cemetery and Canadian Memorial of Mont Sorrel / Hill 62.

Then continue on towards ZONNEBEKE and tour the Musée Mémorial de Passendale. This museum, thanks to an impressive films, photos, and objects collection, relates the world conflict different steps in this part of Belgium. The must of this visit is the dug-out reconstruction, unhealthy tunnels network where soldiers used to hide for days.

Lunch on your own.

PM: Visit of Tyne Cot Cemetery, world’s largest british cemetery with its 11.908 tombs.

Then, stop at LANGEMARK german cemetery.

Then, Back to Ypres to see where John Mc Rae composed «In Flanders Field ». Visit of the Musée de la Halle aux Draps « In Flanders Field ».

Dinner in Ypres.

You will attend the Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate Memorial in memory of the First World War fallen soldiers. 

Overnight in hotel in YPRES.

 

DAY 4

Breakfast. 

AM: Departure for ALBERT.

Tour of the Somme 1916 Museum, the « Shelters Museum ».

Lunch on your own.

PM: Bus ride along the 1916 front line going through BEAUMONT-HAMEL.  

Visit of Park of Newfoudland. This site is one of the rare sites, in France and Belgium, where it is possible to see a World War I battlefield trenches lines.

Stop in THIEPVAL to see the largest war memorial in the world. You will also stop at LONGUEVAL cemetery.

Continue towards POZIERES where one can discover 2 other memorials facing each other: the « Monuments aux chars », celebrating the first tanks battlle in the history and the« Mémorial du Moulin à Vent ».

Finally, make a stop at the impressive mine crater of Ovillers la Boisselle.

Departure towards DIEPPE.  

Dinner and overnight in hotel in DIEPPE.
 

DAY 5

Breakfast at the hotel. 

AM: Departure for Normandy.

Self-guided tour of DIEPPE in late morning, town from which started the « Raid des Canadiens » in august 1942. Stop at the Square du Canada.  

Lunch on your own.

PM: Departure from DIEPPE.

Arrival at the landings beaches.

Tour of Juno-Beach Center at COURSEULLES-SUR-MER.

Stop for a couple of minutes at BERNIERES-SUR-MER beach where landed the French Canadians of the « Régiment de la Chaudière ».  

Self-guided tour of the Canadian Cemetery in REVIERS / BÉNY-SUR-MER.  

Continue on towards CAEN. 

Dinner and overnight in hotel in Caen.



DAY 6

Breakfast. 

AM: Visit of the Mémorial de la Paix in CAEN. You will attend « le jour J » film projection.  

Lunch on your own inside the Memorial.

PM: Departure for a bus tour of the including: LONGUES-SUR-MER (German Batteries), American Cemetery of COLLEVILLE-SUR-MER (the one that can be seen at the start of the Spielberg’s movie “Saving Private Ryan”), and ARROMANCHES (view of the landings artificial port).Canadian landings beaches

Then, the group will assist at the ARROMANCHES 360° projection.

Dinner and overnight in youth hostel in Caen.


DAY 7

Breakfast.

AM: Departure for MONT-ST-MICHEL.

Self-guided tour of the famous abbey followed by a stroll along the main street.  

Lunch on your own.

PM: Return to PARIS. The motor coach will leave you at your accommodation. 

Dinner and overnight in PARIS in youth hostel.


DAY 8

Breakfast. 

AM: Meet with your driver at your hostel. 

Self-guided tour of the Musée de l’Armée at LES INVALIDES.  

Departure for Versailles.

Lunch on your own.

PM: Guided tour of Versailles, the Hall of Mirrors, the gardens and the King’s apartments. Louis XIV, the Sun King, built and held court at Versailles’s extraordinary palace, West of Paris. The incredibly lavish château embodies the extravagance of the Old Regime, especially in the Hall of Mirrors and fountain-filled gardens. 

Return to PARIS.

Discover MONTMARTRE district on your own: the Sacré-Coeur and Place du Tertre occupied daily by dozens of painters and portraitists.

Dinner and overnight in PARIS in youth hostel.  

  

DAY 9

Breakfast. 

AM: Self-guided tour of the Louvre Museum. This museum is one of the most important monuments in Paris. Before becoming a museum in 1793, it was first a fortress and then a royal residence. The Code of Hammurabi, the Venus de Milo, and this woman with the mysterious smile known as Mona Lisa, are some of the marvels that can be seen at the Louvre. 

Lunch on your own.

PM: Free time on Rivoli Street and/or at Les Halles Beaubourg for your last shopping session. 

Dinner and overnight in youth hostel in PARIS.

 

DAY 10

Breakfast. 

Transfer towards Paris Airport in motorcoach.

Return flight from Paris.