All Quiet on the Western Front - 27 April 2012
Number of days: 8 Days
Departs from: Paris
Avg distance travelled / day: 119 kms
Tyne Cot Cemetery, Ypres, Belgium
Tour Itinerary
Day 1: Paris
Your tour commences in your Paris hotel this evening with a welcome drink and dinner in your hotel.
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Your Paris hotel: Mercure Montmartre
Day 2: Ypres
We travel to Ypres where we stay the next three nights. This afternoon enjoy a walking tour through the centre of town and see the magnificent Cloth Hall, St Georges Chapel, Ypres Ramparts Cemetery and the Menin Gate Memorial, the British Empire’s tribute to the missing from the battles around Ypres. Between 1916 and 1918 thousands of Australian and New Zealand soldiers came to Ypres where some of the heaviest fighting in World War 1 took place. Completely destroyed in the war, the town was lovingly re-built carefully restoring the grand old buildings and picturesque square. Our hotel is superbly located in the very centre of the old town and barely 200 metres from the famous Menin Gate. Tonight, after a buffet dinner, you can attend the sounding of the Last Post at the Menin Gate, a moving ceremony repeated every night since 1928.
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Your Ypres hotel: Novotel Ieper Centrum
Day 3: Ypres
A fascinating day focusing on the ‘Flanders Offensive’ of June to November 1917. In the morning we visit the site of the Battle of Messines, the beautiful Toronto Avenue Cemetery and the Island of Ireland Peace Park. This afternoon we follow the famous Menin Road to visit Hooge Crater Cemetery and Museum (this small, private museum is in a renovated Chapel and small school), Hill 60, the 5th Australian Division Memorial in Polygon Wood and the British Commonwealth’s largest war cemetery at Tyne Cot. What happened in this area east of Ypres in 1917 was eventually summed up in one terrible word – Passchendaele!
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Day 4: Ypres
We have included a delightful excursion today to the charming city of Bruges. Recognised as one of Europe’s best preserved medieval cities, Bruges is riddled with canals, bridges and quiet back streets. Take time to wander the quaint and picturesque cobbled streets and relax in one of the pavement cafes on the glorious old market square. Later we will stop to visit the Essex Farm Cemetery, a site forever associated with the composition of the poem ‘In Flanders Field’.
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Day 5: Amiens
Today we journey through the old Western Front battlefields from Ypres in Belgium to Amiens in France. After crossing the border, we will stop at VC Corner (Australian Cemetery), Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery and the Australian Memorial Park at Fromelles, scene of Australia’s first major battle on the Western Front. From there we visit the most spectacular British Commonwealth memorial in France – the Canadian National Memorial on Vimy Ridge. Before heading into Amiens, we will travel across the old Bullecourt battlefield and view the moving statue of an Australian soldier at the Bullecourt ‘Digger’ Memorial. You will be staying the next three nights in the centre of Amiens within easy walking distance to the picturesque city canals and the Notre-Dame – Amiens’ masterpiece 13th century gothic cathedral. A packed lunch, and dinner at your hotel, has been included today.
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Your Amiens hotel: Mercure Amiens Cathedrale
Day 6: Amiens
Today we experience the tragedy of the 1916 and 1918 Somme Battlefields including the Adelaide Cemetery (site of the exhumation of Australia’s Unknown Soldier in November 1993) and the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux. We have included a visit to the fascinating Franco-Australian Museum at the Victoria Primary School in the village of Villers-Bretonneux. We also visit the Australian memorials at Pozières where over 23,000 Australians were injured with 8,000 losing their lives. The memorial at the windmill simply reads, “This spot was the centre of the struggle in this area and was captured by Australian troops who fell more thickly on this ridge than on any other”. Later we visit the vast and tragic Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme. Returning to Amiens your evening is free.
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Day 7: Amiens
Begin your day with a visit to one of the gems of French medieval architecture - Amiens Cathedral, where the Australian and New Zealand soldiers have been honoured. Later we visit the Australian Corps Memorial at Le Hamel and the 2nd Australian Division Memorial at Mont St Quentin. Lunch time is at leisure in the historical town of Péronne, where we have also included entrance to the Historial de la Grande Guerre (Museum of the Great War). Your farewell dinner tonight is in a local restaurant.
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Day 8: To Paris
Sadly your Western Front tour ends this morning after breakfast as you are transferred to Paris to arrive around midday.
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