Normandy and Vimy 95th Anniversary Tour

Join CBC broadcaster and bestselling author Ted Barris and celebrate the 95th Anniversary of the Victory of Vimy on a unique tour to historic battlefields of France and Belgium.

Travellers will join the Memorial rededication atop Vimy Ridge. Guided visits include the Somme, Beaumont-Hamel, as well as Belgian war sites at Passchendaele, the shooting post at Poperinge and Ypres where every night the downtown pauses to pay tribute to Allied soldiers who died in the fields of Flanders.

The tour returns to JUNO Beach, where Canadian D-Day troops launched the liberation of Europe in WW II. This will be the ninth sold out tour that Ted has hosted for Merit guests!

Finally the tour ends in Paris where travelers will have a full day tour to see the charming village of Montmartre where many artists (Van Gogh, Renoir, Picasso) settled to enjoy the simple and peaceful country life towards the end of the 19th century. From Montmartre, the tour heads to the Louvre Museum, where a guided visit will take you through its many exhibits such as the Winged Victory, the Venus of Milo, and Da Vinci's famous Mona Lisa.

Ted Barris

Ted Barris is an accomplished author and broadcaster. As well as hosting stints on CBC Radio and TV Ontario, he regularly contributes to the Globe and Mail and National Post, and various national magazines. Barris has authored 15 non-fiction books, including bestsellers Juno: Canadians at D-Day; Days Of Victory and Victory at Vimy: Canada Comes of Age, April 9-12, 1917. His 16th book Breaking the Silence: Veterans' Untold Stories from the Great War to Afghanistan was published in October 2009. Barris is also a full-time professor of journalism at Toronto's Centennial College.

Includes

• Return air
• Five nights hotel accommodation in Lille, three nights hotel accommodation in Ypres and five nights accommodation in Caen
• Tour Director for the duration of the tour
• Excursions and entrance fees as per the itinerary
• Transportation in a luxury motor coach
• 18 meals: nine European breakfasts and nine dinners
• Merit tour host
• Gratuities
• Airport transfers
• Airport departure taxes
• Local taxes and service charge