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Canadian Heritage in France
DAY 1: TORONTO – PARISDepart Toronto this evening on a wide-bodied overnight flight bound for Paris. DAY 2: PARIS – REIMS (D)You will arrive at Charles de Gaulle airport in the early morning. After clearing immigration and customs, you will be met, escorted to your private coach and transferred to Reims. Upon arrival in Reims, you will visit the Surrender Museum which was the headquarters of the supreme commander General Eisenhower and where the Allied Forces brought an end to the war on May 7, 1945. Dinner and overnight in Reims. DAY 3: REIMS – BRUGGE (B/D)After an early breakfast, depart Reims for Beaumont-Hamel memorial park, where trenches, parapets, and barbed wire recall the fighting waged by Newfoundland regiments in July 1916. After spending a couple of hours here, continue on to the Village of Vimy. Upon arrival, visit the Canadian National Vimy Memorial where a cleft rectangular tower adorned with female figures in tearful lament, is highly effective. Its base is inscribed with thousands of names of the fallen. If open, you will also see the Tunnels dug by Canadian soldiers, instrumental in the Canadian victory at Vimy Ridge. Your next stop will be Neuville-St-Vaast to visit the World War Museum/Cemetery “La Targette”. Continue north to the city of Brugge where you will overnight. Dinner and overnight in Brugge. DAY 4: BRUGGE – YPRES – LILLE (B/D)Brugge is a city of interlaced canals overhung with hump-backed bridges and weeping willows. This morning you will go on a guided sightseeing tour of Brugge taking in all its major points of interest; Markt the old market square, Burg the city’s main square, Basilica of the Holy Blood (Heilig Bloed Basiliek), Jerusalem Church built in the 15th century, Minnewater (a man made lake created in the 13th century to expand the city harbour), Town Hall, etc… Following the tour make your way to Ypres. Known as the queen of the Flemish plain, Ypres is one of the three great towns of Flanders. Be sure to visit the Cloth Hall which houses the Salient War Museum and the Museum of Modern Art, and the Menin Gate, a masterpiece of classic simplicity built as a lasting memorial to the 250,000 officers and men of the British Commonwealth who lost their lives on the Western Front in World War I. You may also want to visit the cemeteries and memorials at Passchendaele, where the “Third Battle of Ypres” took place. Late afternoon, transfer to Lille where you will overnight. Dinner and overnight in Lille. DAY 5: LILLE – DIEPPE – CAEN (B/D)Depart for Dieppe, a charming seaside town that is indelibly etched into Canadian history. It was here in 1942 that the commando raid, code name Jubilee, took place. Just before nightfall on August 18, 1942, the Jubilee force of over 6,000 men in 250 ships slipped their moorings in small ports along the English coast and headed for their rendezvous, where after dark, they would assemble and make their way to Dieppe. In the chill pre-dawn twilight off the coast the infantry ships lowered their boats, which were filled with the finest men of the finest regiments of Canada. At the exact instant and in the exact place the landing craft touched down on the beaches, German machine guns and artillery open fire. Most of the 6,000 men never got beyond the sea wall; many never disembarked at all before they were killed. The losses were frightful. Of the 4,963 Canadian who went in, 3,367 were killed, wounded or captured. Some Canadian regiments were virtually wiped out. One of the Town Squares has been named Square du Canada in commemoration of the battle. Your visit to Dieppe is self-guided. Continue on to Caen. Dinner and overnight in Caen. DAY 6: CAEN (B/D)Begin your day with a morning trip to Bayeaux. Here you will visit the Tapestry locally known as “La Telle du Conquest” (the Conquest Cloth). This medieval work of art, stitched in 1067, is really a 225 foot-long embroidered scroll, which depicts, in 58 scenes, the epic story of William of Normandy’s conquest of England in 1066. Its origin remains obscure, it is an incomparable document of medieval warfare, costume and social organization, and the embroidery is Saxon work. Next, a self-guided tour of the Landing Beaches at Caen. The first shells fell on Caen on D-Day itself; June 5, 1944; the city burned for 11 days before being liberated by Canadian troops on July 9. For another month it was continuously bombarded by the Germans. Miraculously the ancient churches were spared and after the war the town was sensitively restored. The Juno Beach Centre is a museum and cultural centre which opened at Courseulles-sur-Mer on June 6, 2003. The Centre presents the war effort made by all Canadians, civilian and military alike, both at home and on the various fronts during the Second World War, as well as the manifold faces of contemporary Canadian society. This will be your last stop for today. Head back to the hotel for dinner and overnight. DAY 7: CAEN – TOURS (B/D)Depart Caen after breakfast and travel south to Tours in the Loire Valley. Upon arrival, meet your guide and go on a tour of the magnificent Loire Valley, an area where many French aristocrats built themselves palaces for gracious living. Its gentle landscape and soft light encouraged kings, courtiers and magnates to build the Renaissance châteaux for which the region is famous; Blois, Chambord and Azay. Their elegance and architectural exuberance is contrasting with the sterner fortresses of an earlier age. Then visit two of the most famous chateaux; Cheverny and Chenonceau. From long-ago, historical figures such as Diane de Poitiers, Catherine de’Medici, and Mary Queen of Scots, to modern day travel writers all have called Chenonceau the “most exciting” and “most romantic” of all the Loire Châteaux. Cherveny – this white, symmetrical château in the disciplined classical style (built 1620-34) has ornate painted and gilded panelling on its walls and ceilings. Dinner and overnight in Tours. DAY 8: TOURS – VERSAILLES – PARIS (B/D)Depart Tours this morning and travel to Versailles, the creation of the French monarchy at the time of its greatest splendour. Consisting of the great palace, the gardens and the Trianons, it is a wonderful harmonious composition of building and landscape, a unique expression of the vitality of French art during the 17th-18th century. Between 1682 and 1789, Versailles was the seat of government and France's political capital. Today the chateau of Versailles seems outrageously large, but in 1682 when Louis XIV took up residence it housed about 15,000 noblemen, servants, and hangers-on who moved in with Louis. Built between 1662 and 1690 it took 26,000 labourers and soldiers to construct. See the Grand Appartement, Hall of Mirrors, King's and Queen's suites, as well as many other sights. Continue on to Paris, the city of perfume and charm, everlastingly beautiful and unchanged. No other city has lavished such energy and attention upon its music halls and cabarets: such names as "Opéra Comique", "Folies Bergère" and "Casino de Paris" are famous around the world. Indeed it may only be a slight exaggeration to state that no one has fully lived until they have sampled the phantasmagoria of attractions and spectacles available in the capital of France. The twenty arrondissements (districts) of Paris are in the form of a clockwise spiral around the Hôtel de Ville. There are very few places in Paris, which are further than 400 metres from a Métro station. Sixteen lines serve 273 stations on a network of nearly 2000 kilometres, open from 5 in the morning till 12:30 at night. A single ticket is valid for a journey anywhere on the inner Paris networks. A guided tour of Paris upon arrival will show you all the highlights of this unique city; Les Grands Boulevards, l'Opéra, Place de la Concorde, Les Champs Elysées, l'Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, etc. Dinner and overnight in Paris. DAY 9: PARIS (B/D)After breakfast, take the Metro to the Louvre Museum and meet your tour guide at the Pyramid. This former Royal Palace transformed by the Revolution into a museum, lays claim to the title of "Most beautiful museum in the world." You will enter through I.M. Pei's pyramids (highlights of the major modernization program; in the course of their construction the medieval foundations were unearthed and are displayed as an integral part of the museum's collection). Containing over 200,000 works of art in 225 galleries, it is impossible for you to view them all so you must be very selective. Some of the most famous exhibits are Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, the soaring 3rd century BC statue Victory of Samothrace, the celebrated Vénus de Milo (2nd century BC) and the realistic Egyptian Seated Scribe. The afternoon is at leisure for personal sightseeing. Suggest you use your supplied Paristoric ticket and see an audiovisual explaining the history of Paris from its founding some two millenniums ago. Dinner and overnight in Paris. DAY 10: PARIS (B/D)This morning you will tour the Montmartre area which offers spectacular views of Paris. First you will visit the Sacred Heart (Sacre Coeur) Basilica in Montmartre. It was built at the end of the 19th century and became a holy place of Catholic devotion to the Holy Virgin Mary in Paris. Near the Basilica sits Place du Tertre, one of the loveliest squares in Paris which is occupied by many painters. There are many restaurants, cafes and souvenir shops in this area. Remainder of the afternoon is free. Dinner and overnight in Paris. After dinner: suggest you use your supplied Bateaux Mouches ticket and see an illuminated Paris from the river. DAY 11: PARIS – TORONTO (B)AU REVOIR PARIS ET A BIENTOT! BONJOUR CANADA. Transfer this morning to Charles de Gaulle airport for your flight home, arriving the same day. INCLUSIONS:
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