Remembrance Battlefield Tour
November 4th - 14th, 2009

Every November on Remembrance Sunday, a special event and moving ceremony takes place at the Menin Gate in Ypres (Ieper), Belgium.  In remembrance of all the war dead who was walked through these portals into the battlefields of Passchendaele, St. Julian, Sanctuary Wood and other battlefields of the "Wipers" Salient.  The commemoration is one of the most moving ceremonies in the world as it is also in honour of all the Fallen and is attended by visitors from all over the globe.

You will also be visiting the newly dedicated memorial at Vimy Ridge as well as the Somme, Beaumont Hamel and battlefields of the Second World War in Normandy, Dieppe and Holland.

 

Day One - November 4th: Meet your tour manager at Toronto’s Lester B Pearson International airport for your flight to Paris. Dinner and breakfast will be served onboard.

Day Two - November 5th: Upon arrival, you will be met by your driver and will begin your journey to Normandy. You will visit Pegasus Bridge where the 6th British Airborne landed, captured and liberated the first house in Europe, Café Gondre. You will then make your way to your hotel for some rest and relaxation before your “welcome dinner” and the opportunity to get to know your travelling companions. Overnight - Bayeux(D)

Day Three - November 6th: You will begin your day with a visit to the Battle of Normandy Museum in Bayeux. This museum, which was recently re-opened, are presenting entirely new displays that offer the visitor a better understanding of the decisive actions taken in the liberation of Western Europe. Your next stop will be Verrieres Ridge to view the area where the Black Watch suffered severe casualties during “Operation Spring”. You will then travel to the Juno Beach Center, dedicated to the 3rd Division landings as well as Canada’s full involvement during World War II. Before heading back for dinner, you will visit the Canadian Military Cemetery - Beny-sur-Mer. Overnight - Bayeux (B,D)

Day Four - November 7th: You will start your morning with a visit to Point du Hoc where you can still view the cratered landscape and the German battery taken by the US Rangers. You will continue to Omaha Beach to the American Military Cemetery to get an overview of the appalling challenge of landing on Bloody Omaha. After leaving Omaha, you will visit La Chaos, the German offshore battery still relatively intact after 60 years. In the afternoon you will visit the Disembarkation Museum and Mulberry Harbour in Arromanches before heading back to your hotel. Overnight - Bayeux. (B,D)

Day Five - November 8th: This morning you travel through the Normandy countryside to Dieppe. You will visit the Dieppe Canadian Cemetery, Green Beach at Pourville and the main landing beaches of Red and White on the Dieppe seafront. You will explore Blue Beach in Puys to view the gun emplacements on the cliff tops, which were responsible for the terrible Canadian casualties. After leaving Dieppe, you will travel to Amiens for check-in at your hotel and dinner. Overnight - Arras (B,D)

Day Six - November 9th:  After breakfast, you will tour onto Albert and visit the Musee de Arbris to give you a perspective on the Somme. You will then tour the Somme Battlefield and visit the Memorial to the Missing at Thiepval, as well as one of the only surviving intact First World War battlefields at Beaumont Hamel. The park maintained by Canada, remains as it was during the Battle of the Somme, now dedicated to the Newfoundland Regiment who lost so many men on the first day of the Somme. Overnight - Arras (B,D)

Day Seven - November 10th: Today you will be able to tour Vimy Ridge. It was on Hill 145, April 1917, that Canada truly became a nation in the eyes of the world. It’s troops combined and stormed Vimy Ridge after other allied forces had failed to do so for the previous two years. You will tour the tunnels, trenches and memorial. You will then tour the short distance to Ieper (Ypres) for the Ypres Salient Battlefield and a visit to John McCrae’s Essex Farm, the place where John McCrae wrote “In Flanders Fields”before dinner and your overnight accommodations. You will also visit Hill 62 and a small area of the original battlefield and part of the Canadian Front Line. This evening after dinner, you can attend the Menin Gate Last Post Ceremony at 8PM, led by the Ieper Fire Department. Overnight - Ieper (B,D)

Day Eight - November 11th: This morning we join in the Remembrance Parade for 11am at the Menin Gate after which you will also visit “In Flanders Fields” museum - a unique exhibition in the Cloth Hall in Ieper as well as a a visit to Crest Farm and Armistice Ceremony at Passchendaele. Overnight - Ieper (B,D)

Day Nine - November 12th: After breakfast you will begin your tour to Nijmegen for the opportunity to visit the Canadian Military Cemetery at Groesbeek as well as the Hartenstein Hotel, then the command centre for Operation Garden, now the Museum to the Airborne. Overnight - Nijmegen (B,D)

Day Ten - November 13th: Your first stop today will be Arnhem, where the Airborne Division received heavy casualties during Operation Market Garden, known as the “Bridge too Far”, and also the area where the Canadian Second division liberated in 1944/45. This afternoon you will explore Apeldoorn, as well as Holten Canadian Military Cemetery Tonight your “farewell dinner” will be at a local restaurant. Overnight - Nijmegen (B,D)

Day Eleven - November 14th: This morning after breakfast you will transfer to Amsterdam airport for your flight home. (B) Lunch and snacks served onboard.

$3375 CAD per person based on double occupancy
$ 495 CAD single supplement

$2625 CAD LAND ONLY per person based on double occupancy

INCLUSIONS:

• Round trip air transportation from Toronto * Air transportation taxes
• First Class Tourist Accommodations * Gratuities to driver / guide
• Breakfast and dinner daily * Travel Insurance
• All entrances as per your itinerary
• Experienced tour manager
• Luxury coach
• Porterage

EXCLUSIONS:

• Air Transportation taxes
• Travel Insurance
• Drinks with meals
• Gratuities to driver / tour manager

 

Carlson Wagonlit Travel Source / Connection Tours 101 Duncan Mill Road, Suite #305, Toronto, ON M3B 1Z3 Tel: 416-449-0931 Toll Free: 1-800-265-2817 Fax: 416-449-9965 email: kkettle@carlsonwagonlit.ca www.connectiongrouptours.ca