12-day WORLD WAR I TOUR

Passengers are greeted at the Brussels Airport and transferred to our hotel in Ypres, Belgium. After you got to know your fellow passengers at the orientation dinner, we start the tour by visiting the battlegrounds of Ypres which was of key importance throughout the war. The In Flanders Fields Museum and the surrounding battlefields with its monuments, trenches and sites such as Hill 60 or Kemmel American Monument makes the visitors face the consequences of the Great War. We pay our respect at the Flanders Field American Cemetery and will even participate in the moving Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate, the traditional final salute to those who died in the Ypres Salient. We will honor the Canadian contribution to the war by visiting Vimy Ridge and the various sites of the surrounding battlegrounds, such as trenches, bunkers, and cemeteries.

During the next leg of the tour, we will explore the Battle of the Somme, which, to this day, is for many Britts the most painful and infamous episode of this war. The Thiepval Memorial and Museum, and the Somme American Cemetery and Memorial will show us the heavy price the Allied had to pay in human lives for victory. Through a series of sites, such as the crash site of the Red Baron, the French National Tank Monument and the Lochnagar Mine Crater, we will see how the belligerents were fighting each other with new and old means of warfare in the skies, on and under the ground. During our stay in the beautiful coronation city of Reims, we will explore the rich history of the city at the gothic cathedral and the Museum of the Surrender where German forces signed the unconditional surrender at the Allied headquarters during World War II. Since Reims is one of the centers of champagne production, our visit cannot be complete without a champagne tasting.

The Battle of Verdun was the longest and one of the deadliest battles of WWI, so visiting this stronghold is a must. As we visit the Verdun Museum, Fort Douaumont, the Montfaucon American Monument and the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial, it will become clear how this battle had a lasting effect not only on the French national consciousness but also on the strategic implications of the rest of the war. We will pay special attention to the sites dedicated to the American participation in the Allied efforts through a battlefield tour of the Chateau-Thierry American Monument, and the Belleau Wood Marine Monument. This WWI tour would not be complete without visiting Compiegne where the 1918 Armistice was signed. At the end of our tour, we will travel to Paris where we conclude over a farewell dinner. The next morning, we will say goodbye to our Passengers at the Charles de Gaulle Airport.