During our first day on French soil, we will explore the capital of France – Paris. During our bus sightseeing tour, we will make several stops that will provide the general context for our trip. First, we will visit the medieval Basilica of Saint-Denis, the resting place of French kings from the eighth to tenth centuries. Our next stop will be the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris, commonly known as Sacré-Cœur. The basilica was built to commemorate the nearly 60,000 dead in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. Although the church was completed in 1914, it was not consecrated due to the outbreak of World War I. Consecrated in 1919, the church serves as a memorial to those who perished during the Great War as well. Just before lunch, we will stop at the Arch de Triumph. The Arch was originally dedicated to the French Armies of the Revolution and Empire, but took on an added significance when the Unknown Soldier, killed at Verdun, was entombed at the base of the arch in 1921. In the afternoon, we will visit the Army Museum located in the Les Invalides, an imposing complex of buildings envisioned by Louis XIV as the place for disabled soldiers. The museum has a great number of exhibitions that cover a vast historical period from the Medieval Era all the way through the 20th century.

Overnight: Paris 

In the morning, we will travel to Meaux, a suburb of Paris. Here we will visit the Great War Museum, one of the largest of its kind anywhere. The location for the museum is significant: in September 1914, the battlefields were close by, and the French army valiantly resisted the fierce German attacks aimed at seizing Paris. After exploring the galleries with their vast collection of WWI artifacts and realistic recreation of the battlefields and trenches, we will continue to the site of the Battle of Belleau Wood, which occurred during the final German offensive of World War I in early June of 1918. The Belleau Wood battle, one of the first major US engagement of WW I, is closely associated with the United States Marine Corps whose men fought along side their Army brethren there. One of the most remarkable sites that we will visit there will be the Chateau-Thierry American Monument on Hill 204 and the nearby Aisne-Marne Cemetery, which commemorates Americans who fell during the Second Battle of the Marne. For dinner and overnight, we will arrive at Verdun.

We will start our day with the exploration of memorial sites related to WW I in the town of Verdun. This small town gave its name to the longest battle on the Western Front, lasting nearly the entire year of 1916. Multiple sites commemorate those dreadful days, but perhaps one of the most telling is the Citadel of Verdun. Built in the 17th Century and later modified, the Citadel was the strongest fortification along the front line. Our next stop will be the Falouse Defenses, an assembly area for French soldiers during the battle. In more recent years it was restored and is now used to demonstrate day-to-day life of French soldiers at the front lines. In the afternoon, we will visit the Verdun Memorial, and the Douaumont Ossuary. The remains of over 130,000 soldiers, both French and German, are laid to rest here. Our last visit of the day will be to Fort Douaumont, the largest of nearly 20 fortifications in the area of Verdun. 

 Today we will begin by exploring an area of operation of the US 1st Infantry Division including Montfaucon d'Argonne. We will then travel to the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial, the largest American cemetery in Europe, where over 14,000 Americans are buried, and nearly 1,000 names of the missing are engraved on a stone wall. From here, we will proceed to Fort de Pompelle, which played a key role in the defense of Reims and now is known for its architecture and a museum on the premises. An interesting detail about that site is that starting in 1916, its defenders included two Russian brigades sent by Tsar Nicholas II. In January 1917, they successfully defended the fort against a German gas attack. A year later, after the Russian Revolution, these Russian soldiers chose to remain loyal to their oaths and to their French, English and American allies and continued to fight. Later in the afternoon, we will arrive at the ancient city of Reims, famed for its medieval cathedral where the earliest French monarchs were crowned. We will overnight in Reims.

Our first stop of the day will be at an ancient stone quarry turned into fortifications by the French and Germans. It changed hands several times, however for part of the war soldiers of both armies occupied it simultaneously, divided by internal walls. Today, visitors can see traces of war, including graffiti left by the soldiers and gun positions. From here we will travel along the Chemin des Dames, a road which runs along a ridge between the valleys of the rivers Aisne and Ailette, which was also an approximate battle line in 1914, 1917, and 1918. In the afternoon we will arrive to Clairière, nearby Compiègne, the site of the signing of the armistice that ended the fighting of WW I. The original railroad car where the signing took place was later destroyed, but a faithful replica now serves as a memorial. For an overnight we will arrive to the medieval city of Amiens.

Today we will explore sites largely related to the Battle of the Somme. The Battle of the Somme is especially significant to the United Kingdom due to massive British casualties, including over 20,000 killed on the opening day of the battle. We will start our day with a visit to the Lochnagar mine, a gigantic crater still clearly visible today, some 100 years after its creation. It is the site of the explosion of a massive underground mine placed by the British in tunnels dug under the German trenches. From there we will visit Thiepval Memorial, the largest British war memorial on foreign soil. It is dedicated to over 70,000 British and South African soldiers lost in WWI.   

From here we will move to the Somme Museum and then to Beaumont-Hamel Memorial. The latter commemorates Canadian soldiers who fought in this sector. The memorial area includes remaining trenches and craters: deep, still-not-healed traces of the bitter fighting of the battlefields fought there. Continuing further north, we will make a stop at the Arras Memorial that commemorates over 35,000 soldiers from the United Kingdom, New Zealand and South Africa who died here from 1916 to 1918, and then at the Vimy Ridge Memorial, dedicated to the memory of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. For dinner and overnight we will arrive to Saint-Omer, on the way to Dunkirk.  

Today we will start our exploration of the sites of WWII. The evacuation of the Allied soldiers in late May and early June 1940 from Dunkirk is known by its codename “Operation Dynamo”. We will visit the city of Dunkirk and explore the scene of that tragic and heroic time. Our next stop will be at the Museum of the Atlantic Wall, parts of the coastal defenses built by the Nazis during WWII. The Todt Battery is one of the better-known and well-preserved compounds of the coastal artillery. The fifteen guns were each capable of delivering projectiles some 50 kilometers away, reaching the British coast over the English Channel. Heading on from Battery Todt, we will take the road to Cap Blanc Nez, then on to Gris Nez – offering a spectacular, if extremely windy, view to the white chalk cliffs of the English coast. Time permitting, we will then visit the Museum of War 39-45 at Ambleteuse, which covers the time period from the invasion of Poland to the surrender of Japan. From here we will travel to the city of Rouen for overnight 

This morning we will travel close to the Allied landing beaches on the Normandy coast. Our first stop of the day will be the Merville Battery. It was crucial for the Allies to capture this artillery emplacement, as it could prevent the storming of Sword beach, less than 10 miles away. From here we will travel to the Bénouville Bridge, the first objective taken by British airborne troops during the Normandy campaign. 

From here we go on to the Juno Beach Center and the Museum of the Mulberry Harbors with indoor and outdoor exhibits. Our last stop of the day will be at the Arromanche 360 - Circular Cinéma. An eighteen-minute movie projected in HD on several screens is a moving history lesson and tribute to the Allied effort to ride Europe of Nazism. For dinner and overnight we will arrive to Bayeux area.