Tour: "From Normandy to the Battle of the Bulge
- World War II in Europe"
Price - $3,300 per person plus r/t airfare
for the 11-day schedule.
Offered for 2008: May 14-24 and
October 08-18 (other months/dates possible dependent on discussion and arrangements with individuals or groups).
Itinerary:
Day One: Fly from the United States to Charles
de Gaulle Airport, Paris, France.
Day Two: Arrive CDG to be met by Doug with transportation; drive to the Normandy
Region and explore beautiful Bayeux. Tour orientation. Visit the St. Laurent American Cemetery. Overnight
- Bayeux.
Day Three: Visit D-Day sites: the Colleville Draw and Omaha Beach landing
area of the 16th Regiment 1st Division, the Omaha Beach Museum, the Vierville Draw and again Omaha Beach where the 116th Regiment
of the 29th Division (attached to the 1st for D-Day) landed, and Pointe-du-Hoc. Time to see, back in Bayeux, the Normandy
Tapestry if desired. Overnight - Bayeux.
Day Four: Tour the Airborne Museum at St. Mere-Eglise, the "Iron Mike" Statue
and tribute to the Airborne Forces by the Mererdet River, Utah Beach and 4th Division action, and a German Battery.
Overnight - Bayeux.
Day Five: Visit the German Longue Gun Battery and the spectacular Arromanches
"Port Mulberry" Harbor and Museum. Drive out of Normandy via the British and Canadian sector Gold/Juno/Sword Beaches,
with the overnight in Amiens or the Compiegne-area.
Day Six: See the Compiegne Memorial and Museum, the famous railroad car and
site of the WW I Armistice and the WW II surrender, in the same car, to the revenge-seeking Germans. Then to Reims to
visit the Salle de Rendition Museum, the site of the German surrender to GEN Eisenhower's forces in the West. Overnight
- Verdun or Thionville, FR-area.
Day Seven: We'll start a thorough tour of the Battle of the Bulge and Ardennes
area. Visit the American Cemetery at Hamm with GEN Patton's gravesite, a German Cemetery nearby, then on to Bastogne
and its Monument and Museum. We'll also tour some of the Bastogne perimeter positions of the American Forces, that held
off the Germans, in this heroic action. Overnight - Bastogne, BE.
Day Eight: See the National Military Museum of Luxembourg (mostly dedicated
to the Bulge), a small part of the actual battlezone (a 109th Infantry, 28th PA Keystone Division area of operations),
and some German Siegfried Line positions and pillboxes around Wallendorf. We'll also visit a striking statue of
GEN Patton in Ettelbruck. Overnight - Clerveaux or Larochette, LX.
Day Nine: Head up Skyline Drive to the northern sector of the Bulge. Drive
by St. Vith, surrendered by the Americans after six days of fighting that critically held up the German advance; see
the Malmedy Memorial to the Americans senselessly killed by Pieper's troops at this spot; visit the Losheim Gap
and Siegfried Line, seeing some of the amazing "Dragon's Teeth" anti-tank barriers; and, beautiful Monschau, the northernmost
town in the German Offensive. Stop at the American Cemetery at Henri-Chapelle, BE, on the way to the hotel.
Overnight - Liege-area or Genk, BE.
Day Ten: Drive to Paris-area hotel for our final overnight, with a possible
stop in Brussels to have lunch at its fabulous Grand Place, or, Waterloo just south of the city. Overnight - close
to CDG Airport.
Day Eleven: To CDG Int Airport for the return
flight to the United States. Note: If desired, you may be dropped off at a Brussels hotel on Day Ten for
your own stay, post-tour (you would then have to book your return ticket from Brussels Int Airport; you are on your own),
or, Doug will drive you on Day Ten or Eleven to a hotel in Paris where you can extend your vacation.
