Day 1 - Arrive Paris – Port-en-Bessin

Upon arrival at Charles de Gaulle Airport, we will be met by your tour director and transferred to Normandy, a land of verdant pastures and orchards. Meet your Normandy guide en route; Major General Graham Hollands served for 32 years in the British Royal Artillery and is an expert on D-Day and the battle for Normandy.

In Arromanches view the remains of Mulberry B, one of two floating harbors constructed in England and towed across the Channel. Afterwards proceed to our delightful 18th century château hotel near Port-en-Bessin. 

Before dinner General Hollands will enlighten you with his talk on the theme of “Planning for D-Day”.

Overnight: La Chenevière

Meal Plan: D

Day 2 - Normandy

This morning drive to La Cambe to visit the German military cemetery containing the graves of more than 21,000 soldiers.

Then, heading northward into the Cotentin Peninsula, reach St-Mère-Église where there will be time to enjoy lunch independently, followed by a visit to the Airborne Troops Museum, which documents the parachute drop by the 82nd Airborne Division at the beginning of the D-Day operations (the museum houses one of the Waco gliders used).

Afterwards, drive to Utah Beach, the westernmost of the five landing areas of the Normandy Invasion. Returning to Port-en-Bessin, stop in Pointe du Hoc, famously stormed on June 6, 1944, by the men of Lt. Col. James Rudder’s 2nd Ranger Battalion.

Tonight enjoy a dinner of typical regional cuisine at Ferme de la Ranconniere.

Overnight: La Chenevière

Meal Plan: B,D

Day 3 - Normandy

Drive this morning to Omaha Beach, the scene of some of the fiercest fighting on June 6,  before continuing to Colleville-sur-Mer to visit the nearby American military cemetery, which covers 172 acres and contains the graves of 9,387 U.S. soldiers killed during the Normandy campaign. Here the group will honor the fallen, especially those Virginians who gave their lives in the service of their country.

Later we will drive to Bayeux for a lunch stop, where you may also wish to visit the town’s great Gothic cathedral and the Bayeux Tapestry.

Longues-sur-Mer is home to a German battery, one of the few remaining defensive works of the Atlantic Wall still largely intact.  Despite being silenced  on the first day, the massive guns and observation post present a sobering reminder of what the Allies faced.

This evening we dine at the hotel

Overnight: La Chenevière

Meal Plan: B,D

Day 4 - Normandy – Paris

After breakfast, drive to Paris in time for lunch and an afternoon spent independently

It is worth noting that the German commander of Paris, Gen. Dietrich von Choltitz, established his headquarters at our hotel, Le Meurice.

This evening we dine in one of the city’s fine restaurants, Les Ombres.

Overnight: Le Meurice

Meal Plan: B,D

Day 5 - Paris

This morning visit Drancy, a WWII transit camp just outside of Paris where thousands were held before being shipped to Auschwitz. 

Returning to Paris, visit the Arc de Triomphe and, after lunch at leisure, visit the Mémorial Maréchal Leclerc-Musée Jean Moulin, commemorating the achievements of the liberator of Paris. Today we’ll also see the Hotel de Ville, where Gen. Charles de Gaulle gave his famous speech to the crowd on August 25, 1944.

Among the celebrated personalities who helped “liberate” Paris was Ernest Hemingway, and we’ll see the Ritz Hotel, where he allegedly was the first American to order a round of martinis after liberation.

Dine this evening at one of the city’s famous brasseries, La Coupole

Overnight: Le Meurice

Meal Plan: B,D

Day 6 - Paris – Mons – Maastricht

In September 1944, following the expulsion of German forces from northern France, the Allied armies surged into Belgium where the capital was captured by the British 2nd Army on September 3. This morning we will follow this route from Paris into Belgium.

Mons has its own Virginia connection with the liberation of Belgium and it is here you will be welcomed by Pierre Deghaye, friend of Richmond’s Judge John Randolph (Bunny) Tucker, who will host us for lunch and relate the story of the liberation and “Fish and Chips”. 

Afterward, drive east to Maastricht and check in to your hotel where we will dine tonight.

Overnight: Chateau St. Gerlach

Meal Plan: B,D

Day 7 - Maastricht – Arnhem – Nijmegen – Maastricht

Operation Market Garden was a bold initiative intended to seize a series of river bridges in advance of crossing of the Rhine. Unlike the German airborne invasion of Crete in 1941, the operation ended in failure. It was the only major Allied defeat of the northwestern European campaign. This morning we drive north to Nijmegen, successfully captured on day three of the operation, and the key to Arnhem, which famously proved to be “A Bridge Too Far.”  A short boat ride on the River Waal is included today

Visit what is now the John Frost Bridge named for the leader of the British 1st Airborne Division, which fought valiantly for four days to hold the bridge. Also visit Ooesterbeek, west of Arnhem, a key site in the operation, to visit Airborne Museum Hartenstein and the nearby war cemetery.

Return to Maastricht at the end of the afternoon and this evening dine in another of the city’s fine restaurants.

Overnight: Chateau St. Gerlach

Meal Plan: B,D

Day 8 - Maastricht – Eben-Emael – Aachen – Hürtgen Forest – Maastricht

This morning visit Eben-Emael, which in 1940 was the largest fort in the world.  On May 10 a small force of German paratroopers (Fallschirmjäger) landed gliders on the fort and in 15 minutes had destroyed most of the artillery. The three bridges over the Albert Canal suffered a similar Blitzkrieg attack, the result being a major psychological blow to the Allies and the capitulation of Belgium.

Afterward head east into Germany for a stop in Aachen, Charlemagne’s capital. After lunch independently, head further east to explore the principal sites associated with the battle of Hürtgen Forest, the name given to the series of fierce clashes between U.S. and German forces between mid-September 1944 and mid-February 1945. The fighting took place in an area barely more than 50 miles square and was called by Maj. Gen. James M. Gavin “one of the most costly, most unproductive, and most ill-advised battles that our army has ever fought.” Afterward return to Maastricht where we dine again tonight.

Overnight: Chateau St. Gerlach

Meal Plan: B,D

Day 9 - Maastricht – Bastogne – Verdun – Luxembourg

This morning drive south to Bastogne, an important crossroads and the epicenter of the battle of the Bulge in late 1944. When invited to surrender the town, heroically held by the 101st Airborne Division, Brig. Gen. Anthony McAuliffe issued his famous one-word reply, “Nuts!” Just east of the town visit Mardasson Hill, site of a memorial to the American troops lost in the battle.

  Afterward continue south to Verdun, site of one of the bloodiest battles of the First World War. The cemeteries here reveal the magnitude of that struggle which produced, at best, a two-decade armistice in the European conflict that resumed in 1939.

Our final destination for the day is Luxembourg, where the American Cemetery at Hamm is the final resting place of more than 5,000 American servicemen, including Gen. George Patton.  Just down the road, we plan to stop at the Sandweiler German War Cemetary.  Later you may wish to participate in a short orientation city tour.

This evening our farewell dinner will be held in restaurant La Lorraine on the nearby Place d’Armes.

Overnight: Le Royal

Meal Plan: B,D

Day 10 - Depart Luxembourg

Transfer privately to the Frankfurt airport for our homebound flight.

Meal Plan: B