Battlefields of Europe

Battlefields of Europe
Delve into the heroic history of Europe’s epic battles. Travel to the site of the legendary Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes forest, explore Luxembourg’s National Museum of Military History, and visit the famous D-Day beaches in Normandy.
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Day 1 Overnight flight to the Netherlands
Day 2 Hallo Amsterdam
Details: Meet your tour director and check into hotel
Your 24-hour Tour Director will meet you at the airport and remain with your group until your final airport departure. You’ll also have a private coach and driver while touring .
Details: Rijksmuseum visit
Amsterdam’s most popular art museum opened in 1885 to house William V’s personal art collection. It now holds an unbelievable collection of Rembrandts, Vermeers, and other Dutch masters, plus an extensive collection of Asian and decorative arts. Upstairs there’s a collection of 17th- and 18th-century dollhouses, furnished just as real houses of the time would have been.
Details: Traditional Dutch pannenkoeken dinner
Enjoy a traditional Dutch dinner of pannenkoeken, a large thin pancake similar to a crepe, that can be topped with anything from bacon to apples or raisins and finished with a drizzle of stroop, which is a dark thick syrup.
Day 3 Amsterdam landmarks
Details: Amsterdam tour director-led sightseeing
Canals and crocuses. Bicycles and bluebells. With more canals than Venice (and more flower merchants than perhaps any other city in the world), downtown Amsterdam is an explosion of color and light reflecting off the water. Take a glass-topped canal boat ride—the best way to see the gabled houses and nearly 1200 bridges. Visit a diamond factory to see how the stones are cut, and see the historic home where Anne Frank and her family hid for more than two years during WWII.
Details: Canal guided cruise
Take a glass-topped canal boat ride down the flower-lined canals of Amsterdam for an amazing view of the gabled houses and nearly 1,200 bridges.
Details: Diamond factory visit
Go on a Diamond cutting and polishing tour in one of Amsterdam’s renowned diamond factories. The diamond cutting industry was introduced to Amsterdam in the 16th century by the Sephardic Jews.
Details: Anne Frank House visit
Take a tour of Anne Frank's house, where three different Jewish families hid for more than two years during World War II and where Anne’s famous diaries were discovered. See where she and her family lived before being betrayed to the Nazis and deported to concentration camps.
Details: Jewish Historical Museum visit
Situated in the heart of the former Jewish Quarter of Amsterdam, the Jewish Historical Museum stands as a symbol of times both troubling and triumphant. Housed in a grand 17th century synagogue complex, the museum documents the 400-year history of the Jewish people in the region. With a permanent collection that includes an 18th century Sephardic Torah Mantle and a carved wood Ark dating from 1791, visitors will be awed and inspired by the various photographs, artworks, interactive displays and other insights into the Jewish way of life.
Details: Rijsttafel dinner
Rijsttafel literally translates to "rice table", and is an elaborate Indonesian meal made up of many small plates accompanied with rice. During the Dutch colonization of the East Indies, this meal became a popular dish in the Netherlands.
Day 4 Amsterdam--Lorraine
Travel to Bastogne
Details: Ardennes American Cemetery & Memorial guided visit
"Band of Brothers" depicted the difficult terrain and frequently isolating fog that made the Ardennes forest inhospitable ground on which to fight the Battle of the Bulge. The German surprise attack began December 16, 1944, and while they moved forward quickly they also ran into more Allied resistance than they had expected. The Germans were slowed, then stopped, and then finally retreated from Bastogne on January 13, 1945. The Ardennes American Cemetery and Memorial contain the graves of 5,328 American soldiers and the names of 462 Americans missing, many of whom died during the Battle of the Bulge.
Details: Bastogne Historical Center visit
On December 21, 1945, during the Battle of the Bulge, German attacking troops had surrounded the Belgian town of Bastogne. Asked to surrender, General Anthony McAuliffe replied, "Nuts." The Allies went on to defeat the Germans, and McAuliffe's defiant syllable now adorns bumper stickers, t-shirts, and signs throughout the town. The Bastogne Historical Center commemorates the battle with three-dimensional reenactments, films, and historical equipment, including portions of a B-17 cockpit that was shot down, American and German guns, and uniforms.
Day 5 Lorraine--Reims
Travel to Reims via Verdun
Reims city walk
Reims Cathedral visitPalais du TauPlace Royale
Details: National Museum of Military History guided visit
Luxembourg's National Museum of Military History takes a unique approach. They've worked with veterans from both sides of the war to create realistic displays, to capture the daily life and the suffering of both armies, and to help heal the rifts between the survivors. The museum also examines the history Luxembourg's army, both before and after World War II.
Details: Reims city walk
Reims is the metropolis of the Champagne-Ardenne area, and a city that celebrates art, history and the enjoyment of fine food. After serving as the capital for the Celtic Remi tribe, it became an important city of the Roman Empire. Its cathedral was the location of the coronation for all French kings.
Details: Reims Cathedral visit
Visit the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Reims, one of the world's most famous cathedrals. It was restored after World War I, largely by U.S. contributions from John D. Rockefeller, and it escaped World War II relatively unharmed. St- Rémi, the bishop of Reims, baptized Clovis, the king of the Franks here in 496 CE. All of the kings of France, from Louis the Pious in 815 CE to Charles X in 1825, were also crowned here.
Day 6 Reims--Normandy
Travel to Normandy
Day 7 Normandy
Details: Arromanches D-Day Museum visit
Ingenious military engineering allowed the Allied forces to land at Arromanches on D-Day. Barges towed 600,000 tons of concrete across the English Channel, sinking them to create an artificial harbor, and then 33 jetties and 10 miles of floating roadways allowed the troops to land in France. Learn about this feat and other at the Arromanches Museum, where dioramas, interactive displays, and models detail the Allied landing.
Details: Normandy D-Day landing beaches
See the D-Day beaches where on June 6, 1944, thousands of Allied troops landed in an effort to recapture the coast from Germany. All along the beaches, deserted German bunkers have been turned into memorials and the stark white crosses and stars that mark the cemeteries are grim reminders of the war.
Day 8 Normandy--Paris
Travel to Paris
Paris city walk
Île de la CitéNotre-Dame CathedralÎle St. LouisLatin Quarter
Dinner in Latin Quarter
Details: Paris city walk
This city was made for walking. Stroll grand boulevards with sweeping views of the city, pristine parks with trees planted in perfect rows, and narrow streets crowded with vendors selling flowers, pastries and cheese. Then head to the Île de la Cité, a small island in the Seine, to see Notre Dame Cathedral. Please note Notre Dame Cathedral is currently closed due to fire damage.
Details: Notre-Dame Cathedral
View the Notre-Dame Cathedral. Work began in 1163 on a spot that had been a holy shrine since Roman times. Over the centuries, the cathedral has been the scene of some of France's most momentous occasions, including the coronation of Napoleon.
Day 9 Paris landmarks
Paris guided sightseeing tour
Arc de TriompheChamps ÉlyséesEiffel TowerChamp de MarsÉcole MilitaireLes InvalidesConciergerieTuileries GardenPlace VendômeOpera House
Optional  Versailles guided excursion (pre-book only)  $80
State ApartmentsHall of MirrorsGardens of Versailles
Details: Paris guided sightseeing tour
What's that huge white arch at the end of the Champs-Élysées? The Arc de Triomphe, commissioned by Napoleon in 1806 after his victory at Austerlitz. Your licensed local guide will elaborate on this, and other Parisian landmarks. See some of the most famous sites, including the ornate, 19th-century Opera, the Presidential residence, the ultra-chic shops of the Rue du Faubourg St-Honoré, and the gardens of the Tuileries. You'll pass the Place de la Concorde, where in the center you’ll find the Obelisk of Luxor, a gift from Egypt in 1836, and the Place Vendôme, a huge square surrounded by 17th-century buildings. Spot chic locals (and tons of tourists) strolling the Champs-Élysées. Look up at the iron girders of the Eiffel Tower, built for the 1889 World's Fair to commemorate the centenary of the French Revolution. See Les Invalides (a refuge for war wounded), the École Militaire (Napoleon's alma mater), and the Conciergerie (the prison where Marie Antoinette was kept during the French Revolution).
Details: Tuileries Garden
Tuileries was originally the name of an old tiles factory. Yet, in the sixteen century, the queen of France, Marie de Medicis, ordered to build a castle with a long French garden at this place. Parisians used to call this new building the Tuileries Palace. During three centuries the garden was exclusively reserved for the court and the King. During the nineteen century, the Tuileries palace became the residence of Napoleon I, Louis XVIII, Charles X, Louis-Phillipe and Napoleon III. In 1871, Parisians burnt down the castle of Tuileries, during the last French Revolution and the insurrection of Paris.However, the garden kept its 17th-century design and became a popular place, always crowded in summer time.
Details: Seine River cruise
See the city from the water on an hour-long cruise along the River Seine. The Seine cuts right through Paris, dividing the city in half. See the Eiffel tower rising up on the Left Bank, the walls of the Louvre on the Right Bank. A guide will point out other monuments and architectural marvels as you pass, many of which are illuminated by clear white light at night.
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Day 10 Flight home from Paris

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    Day 10 Start extension to Berlin
    Fly to Berlin
    Details: Louvre visit
    The world's largest art museum, the Louvre is housed in a Medieval fortress-turned-castle so grand it's worth a tour itself. You walk through the 71-foot glass pyramid designed by I.M. Pei and added in 1989, and step into another world--one with carved ceilings, deep-set windows, and so many architectural details you could spend a week just admiring the rooms. The Mona Lisa is here, as well as the Venus de Milo and Winged Victory (the headless statue, circa 200 BC, discovered at Samothrace). The Louvre has seven different departments of paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures and antiquities. Don't miss the Egyptian collection, complete with creepy sarcophagi, or the collection of Greek ceramics, one of the largest in the world. (Please note the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays.)
    Day 11 Berlin landmarks
    Berlin guided sightseeing tour
    Checkpoint CharliePotsdamer PlatzBerlin WallBrandenburg GateReichstagVictory Column
    Details: Berlin guided sightseeing tour
    Join a professional, licensed tour guide as you discover one of the most historical cities in Germany. Although nothing remains of the mortar and cement-block barrier between East and West Berlin, the Berlin Wall (built in 1961; destroyed in 1989) is still a main “site” in Berlin. View the well-known Brandenburg Gate, once a main gate hidden behind a 10-foot barrier and now known for celebratory dancing on its flat top during the reunification. Travel to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum, the most famous border crossing point. Checkpoint Charlie, once a wooden guard hut, was the most (in)famous border-crossing point between East and West Berlin from 1961 to 1989. All that remains of the checkpoint itself is a skeletal watchtower and a memorial of attempted escapees. Follow your guide as they lead you through the museum’s accounts of the most ingenious of these escape attempts— even a few by hot air balloon.
    Details: Berlin Wall
    Follow the route of the Berlin Wall viewing numerous crosses and wreaths to remind us of the tragedies which occurred after the wall was built in 1961.
    Details: Brandenburg Gate
    Spend time at the Brandenburg Gate, a triumphal arch, which stood in "no man's land" between East and West Berlin during the Cold War and became a symbol of a divided Germany. Enter the Room of Silence, built into one of the guardhouses, where visitors gather to meditate and reflect on Germany's past.
    Details: Checkpoint Charlie Museum visit
    Visit the museum that documents the history and significance of the most famous crossing point between East and West Berlin during the Cold War.
    Details: Sachsenhausen excursion
    Visit Sachsenhausen, one of the major Nazi concentration camps in Germany. Most of its prisoners arrived after the Crystal Night pogroms, when Nazis arrested over 30,000 Jews over the course of just a few days. From its construction in 1936 until its liberation by the Soviet army in 1945, this camp held more than 200,000 prisoners. The site now holds a museum, memorial hall, and cinema, which screens a film depicting the camp’s history.
    Day 12 Potsdam
    Potsdam excursion
    Neues Palais guided visitSanssouci Palace gardensThe Russian Colony
    Details: Jewish Museum visit
    Located on the line that once separated East and West Germany, this stirring museum was built in the shape of a warped Star of David and focuses on the realities of Jewish life in Germany, from ancient times up to the horrors of the Holocaust.
    Details: Potsdam excursion
    Seen as Germany’s “Little Hollywood” from 1921 through WWII, Potsdam was the dazzling city of Frederick the Great, with countless marble fountains, exotic pavilions and Baroque castles (mostly built in the name of Frederick and Prussia’s power). Among the parks are testaments of Frederick’s eclectic and sometimes odd tastes such as the parasol-toting Buddha on the roof of the Chinesisches Teehaus pavilion, Frederick’s “guest house."
    Details: Neues Palais guided visit
    Visit the Neues Palais, ordered by Frederick the Great, including the Palace, the Grotto, and the Theater.
    Day 13 Flight home from Berlin
    Map of Battlefields of Europe Educational Tour
    Tour Includes:
    • Round-trip airfare
    • 8 overnight stays (11 with extension) in hotels with private bathrooms
    • Full European breakfast daily
    • Dinner daily
    • Full-time services of a professional tour director
    • Guided sightseeing tours and city walks as per itinerary
    • Visits to select attractions as per itinerary
    • Tour Diary™
    • Note: On arrival day only dinner is provided; on departure day, only breakfast is provided
    • Local Guide and Local Bus Driver tips; see note regarding other important tips
    • Note: Tour cost does not include airline-imposed baggage fees, or fees for any required passport or visa. Optional excursions, optional pre-paid Tour Director and multi-day bus driver tipping, among other individual and group customizations will be listed as separate line items in the total trip cost, if included.
    We are better able to assist you with a quote for your selected departure date and city over the phone. Please call 1.888.310.7120 to price this tour with your requested options.
    Please select a postal code
    3674.00 total fee
    Basic Options


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