Depart Toronto on your overnight flight to Amsterdam.
Morning: Welkom in Amsterdam!
Known both as a centre of entertainment and as a city of classic design and architecture, Amsterdam is a city of astonishing contrast.
After checking into your hotel, enjoy a walking tour of Amsterdam
Get to know Amsterdam during your Tour Director-led walking tour. You may stroll along the canal-lined streets, city’s largest square near the Royal Palace, and the expansive Vondelpark gardens.
Afternoon: Visit the Anne Frank House *subject to availability at the time of booking
Enter through the secret staircase up to where the young girl hid with her family from 1942 to 1944-and where she penned the poignant diary that has been translated into dozens of languages worldwide. (Pending availability due to entrance capacities and limited group reservations)
Enjoy a dinner at a local restaurant.
Overnight in Amsterdam.
After breakfast in your hotel, travel to Apeldoorn to discover this unique city in The Netherlands.
Following Apeldoorn, travel the short distance to Holten, where you will have a guided tour of the Holten Cemetery, one of the many Canadian War Cemeteries in The Netherlands.
Afternoon/early evening cycling tour of Amsterdam or Haarlem.
Dinner in a local restaurant.
Overnight in Amsterdam.
Following your breakfast in the hotel, begin your day's journey to some of Canadian History's most important sites.
We can incorporate a Dutch cemetery south of Amsterdam on the way to Ypres or we can stop in Bruges. * please advise.
Visit the In Flanders Fields Museum
This award-winning museum is located in the eastern end of the beautiful and grand Cloth Hall in Ypres. Focusing on the horrors of war, this interactive museum invites participants to engage emotionally in the presentation of the past.
Attend the “Last Post Ceremony” at the Menin Gate
Experience a unique and moving nightly ceremony to honour the dead of WWI. At exactly 8 pm up to six members of the regular buglers from the local volunteer Fire Brigade step into the roadway under the memorial arch and play the Last Post, followed by a short silence and Reveille. The Last Post Ceremony has become part of daily life in Ieper (Ypres) and the local people are proud of this simple but touching tribute to the courage and self-sacrifice of those who fell in defense of their town.
Enjoy a dinner at a local restaurant or in your hotel.
Overnight in Ypres.
Breakfast at the hotel followed by a full day cycling tour.
Today the group will travel to the Northern Part of the Salient via bicycles in the following order: White House Cemetery, John McCrae Dressing station, St. Julien Memorial, German War Cemetery, Tyne Cot Cemetery, Passchendale, German Cemetery in Langemark as well as the Memorial Museum Passchendaele. Return to the hotel for dinner and overnight at Kasteelhof’t Hooghe.
Overnight in Ypres.
Following breakfast, travel to Caen via the Vimy Ridge Historic Site and Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial.
Visit to the Vimy Ridge Historic Site
Walk along Vimy Ridge, where in 1917, Canadian troops came together to accomplish what larger British and French forces had failed to do, and what would become a defining moment in the first World War. See where these brave soldiers charged over the ridge, marching under continuous, heavy fire and cleverly isolating the German troops in their dugouts. A towering, white marble monument now marks Hill 145, the place where the capture of Vimy Ridge ended in a bayonet charge against machine-gun nests. Learn more about this stunning victory that Brigadier-General A.E. Ross called “the birth of a nation.”
Visit the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial
Take in a Guided visit of the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial, built to commemorate and honour all of the soldiers from Newfoundland and Labrador who were killed during the First World War. Opened in 1925, the memorial features a 15m bronze caribou overlooking the battlefield and remaining trenches. The site also includes an excellent visitors’ centre which details the story of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment. As the largest memorial site of the six memorials erected by the Government of Newfoundland following the First World War, it is an immersive, contemplative, humbling and emotional experience for all who visit.
Arrive in Caen
Welcome to the Normandy region, the location of many of the battles that turned the course of World War II. See why Normandy is not only known for its connection with major military events, but for its scenic beauty, elegant landscapes and patchwork fields, as well.
Enjoy a dinner at a local restaurant or in your hotel.
Overnight in Caen.
After breakfast in the hotel, travel the short distance to visit the Beny-Sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery, a cemetery containing predominantly Canadian soldiers who were killed early on in the Battle of Normandy during WWII.
Stop for a photo at Canada House
Continue on and visit Juno Beach Centre, the first memorial of its kind for Canadian veterans of WWII. The Centre was conceptualized by Canadian veterans who fought in the June 6, 1944 D-Day invasion of Normandy and stands at Courseulles-sur-Mer, the site of the invasion. The Centre is an educational facility designed to teach Canadians more about Canada’s role in the war, whether on land, sea or air.
From Juno Beach, visit the American Cemetery at Colleville, the final resting place of 9,386 American military dead, most of whom gave their lives during the landings and ensuing operations of World War II. The site also includes a memorial commemorating the soldiers and a chapel bearing the poignant words: “These endured all and gave all that justice among nations might prevail and that mankind might enjoy freedom and inherit peace.”
Afterwards, visit the German Cemetery at La Cambe, the beautifully landscaped final resting places of more than 21,000 German soldiers who lost their lives during the Allied invasion of Normandy. Reflect on the inscribed words of Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Albert Schweitzer: “soldiers’ graves are the greatest preachers of peace.”
After these cemetery visits, visit the Musée Airborne in St. Mere Eglise to get a greater understanding of how the control of this key city directly affected the outcome of the war.
Dinner in a local restaurant or in your hotel.
Overnight in Arras.
After breakfast in your hotel, travel to Paris to discover the cosmopolitan City of Light!
The bus tour will continue to Versailles for a Guided Tour of the Palais de Versaille
Home of the decadent Palais de Versailles. During your guided tour of this lavish estate, discover why Versailles was more than just a vacation home for Louis XIV. Explore the state apartments of the king and queen and the magnificent Hall of Mirrors. Then walk through the meticulously landscaped gardens and marvel at dozens of ornate fountains. (Because of the extreme popularity of Versailles, guided visits of the interior cannot be guaranteed during peak seasons. In this case, your group will hear a presentation from your guide before entering the palace.)
While visiting, learn why Paris has grown to become the undisputed centre of France, and one of the world’s most important cities both culturally and politically.
Visit the Louvre
The Palais du Louvre, built to defend the city in the 13th century, now safeguards one of the world’s greatest art collections. Enter the museum through world-renowned architect I.M. Pei’s 1989 modernist glass pyramid. Inside, discover priceless antiquities from Egypt, Greece, Italy and Asia such as the statues of Venus de Milo and Nike of Samothrace, better known as Winged Victory. You’ll also see some of the Louvre’s most prized paintings by Renaissance and European masters, including Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of the mysterious Mona Lisa.
Walking tour of Paris
Join your Tour Director on a walking tour that will introduce you to Paris. Together, you might see the chic, boutique-filled Opéra district, city’s largest square at the Place de la Concord, and the geometric Tuileries gardens.
See Notre-Dame Cathedral
Built between 1163 and 1361 over the remains of an ancient Roman temple, it was here that Napoleon crowned himself emperor in 1804. Victor Hugo once described the sculptured façade of Notre Dame as “a vast symphony in stone.” However, had it not been for the creation of his famous hunchback, Quasimodo, the cathedral might never have returned to its former glory. Hugo’s novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame helped inspire a 23-year restoration of the cathedral that began in 1841.
Dinner tonight at a local restaurant.
Overnight in Paris
Following breakfast in your hotel, transfer to the airport for your return flight.
