holland liberation tour 2015

HOLLAND LIBERATION TOUR 2015
HOSTED BY TED BARRIS
Join CBC broadcaster and bestselling author Ted Barris and attend the 70th
Anniversary of the Liberation of the Netherlands and be part of history! This is Merit
Travel’s 12th European Battlefield Tour; it’s a springtime journey when the tulips
bloom and the Dutch pay homage to their Canadian liberators.
HIGHLIGHTS:
$4,690* p.p.
10 days
Departs Toronto
May 2-12, 2015
Amsterdam | Wageningen | Anne Frank House | Historical Liberation Route |
Arnhem | Nijmegen | Wageningen | Oosterbeek | Groesbeek | National Liberation
Museum | Keukenhof Gardens | The Hague | Apeldoorn | Reischwald
INCLUDES:
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roundtrip airfare from Toronto to Amsterdam
nine nights 4-star accommodations in Amsterdam at the NH Carlton Hotel
Holland Liberation 70th Anniversary events and sightseeing
touring coach and experienced tour manager
transfers
Amsterdam Museum pass
hotel service charges
local taxes & porterage
daily breakfast and five dinners
Merit Tour Host
Ted Barris, CBC broadcaster and
bestselling author.
Merit Travel | 1.866.341.1777 | MeritTravel.com
CDN$ pp dbl occ. Space is limited on this hosted departure. Contact a Merit Travel Specialist for full terms and conditions. Single room supplement: $1,295 per person.
Day 1 – Saturday, May 2, 2015
TORONTO TO AMSTERDAM
Following the ceremony we return to our hotel. Overnight at our lodgings in
Amsterdam.
Depart aboard an overnight flight to Amsterdam. KLM flight 696 departs
Toronto Terminal 3 at 23:05 p.m. and arrives in Amsterdam at 12:10 p.m.
on the following day (May 3).
Day 4 – Tuesday, May 5, 2015
WAGENINGEN (B)
Day 2 – Sunday, May 3, 2015
AMSTERDAM (D)
Upon arrival at Schiphol Airport, in Amsterdam, our group will be welcomed by
our tour manager who will get us aboard our touring coach as we transfer to
the city of Amsterdam and check in to the NH Carlton Hotel, which becomes
our home base for our stay in Amsterdam.
We will visit the Anne Frank House for a pre-tour of the life of Anne Frank and
the importance of her experience – in particular her diary – in the
understanding of the plight of Jewish people detained and murdered in the
Holocaust. Check-in and enjoy our traditional welcome dinner in Amsterdam.
Day 3 – Monday, May 4, 2015
NIJMEGEN / OOSTERBEEK / ARNHEM / BAARN (B,D)
After breakfast we travel the Allied liberation route from Nijmegen to Arnhem.
In September of 1944, with the liberation of northwestern Europe well
underway, this region witnessed Operation Market Garden, Field Marshall
Bernard Montgomery’s ill-fated plan involving airborne troops from the U.S.,
Britain, Poland and Canada to capture key river crossings at Eindhoven,
Nijmegen and Arnhem well into the heart of Holland. Our tour takes us to the
second of the three bridge objectives at Nijmegen, then to Arnhem and the
John Frost Bridge. In Oosterbeek, we’ll visit and tour Huize Hartenstein; in 1944
it was Gen. Roy Urquhart’s British Airborne headquarters; today it’s the home
of the British Airborne Museum. We continue west from Oosterbeek to the Old
Dutch Reform church, unknown until actions involving the Royal Canadian
Engineers on the night of Sept. 24, 1944.
Then on to Baarn for a special evening of remembrance and celebration. May
4th is the official Commemoration Day in the Netherlands, when Dutch
citizens reflect on the eve of German capitulation in Europe. We’ll dine in Baarn
and have a visit with a local community representative to explain the
significance of the annual Silent March to the people of the Netherlands. Just
before 8 PM, we’ll join veterans and members of the Baarn community walking
to the town centre for the solemn ceremony marking the end of the
occupation and the cost of the Allied liberation.
Breakfast at the hotel. We’ll make our way to the location of one of the pivotal
locations and moments of the Dutch liberation. During the early morning
hours of May 4, 1944, Canadian military officials gathered at a designated
location in downtown Wageningen, along the River Rhine. There, in the Hotel
de Wereld, Canadian Gen. Charles Foulkes faced Gen. Johannes Blaskowitz as
the German occupation forces formally signed unconditional surrender.
Today’s ceremony at Wageningen marks the 70th anniversary of formal
capitulation of the Germans in the Netherlands and signifies the key role that
Canadians played in the Allied liberation of Dutch citizens.
Following the ceremony, free time either Wageninger or Amsterdam and
return to our hotel. Overnight at our lodgings in Amsterdam.
Day 5 – Wednesday, May 6, 2015
GROESBEEK (B,D)
Breakfast served in the hotel, followed by our trip to Groesbeek to visit the
National Liberation Museum. The museum is located in the place where
Major-General James Gravin landed with the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division on
Sept. 17, 1944. We’ll take in a lecture about the Dutch resistance. Explore the
secret closet for hiding and playing Radio Orange, the Human Rights wall and
the tolerance test. Taste Swedish liberation bread and old Dutch sweets
together with coffee or tea, as well as see a bird’s eye-view model of Operation
Market Garden and the Diorama of the Waal crossing.
You’ll have the time to visit and attend graves inside Groesbeek’s
Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery, where 2,338 Canadians
killed in the liberation are buried. It is a longstanding tradition on our tours of
European battlefields to give plenty of time for our travellers who’ve come
such long distances to honour members of their families or friends lost in the
campaigns to liberate European towns and cities. Groesbeek is no exception.
Return to Amsterdam. Overnight in Amsterdam.
Day 6 – Thursday, May 7, 2015
BERGEN OP ZOOM / WALCHEREN / NIEUWDORP / DELTA WORKS (B,D)
A long day awaits us. After an early breakfast we will travel southwest through
the area known as the Scheldt Estuary. In order for Allied forces to make use of
the newly captured seaport of Antwerp, Belgium in the last phase of the war
– pushing German forces out of Holland – the various tributaries of the River
Scheldt had to be cleared of German artillery and entrenched infantry. The job
of liberating the north shore of the Scheldt fell to 2nd Canadian Infantry
Division. Among the key battle zones was the region around Bergen op Zoom.
We visit the Bergen op Zoom Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery
to pay our respects to some of the 5,000 Canadians who died in this campaign.
We continue to the west end of the Scheldt across the Causeway (land bridge)
to Walcheren Island, which was flooded in the campaign to literally flush out
the German occupation troops. We’ll stop at the small museum at the western
tip of Walcheren called Westkapelle and then return across the Causeway to
Nieuwdorp, where we’ll meet the curator of the War Museum Infatuate,
commemorating the battle of the Scheldt, and in particular the Canadians’
role liberating this vital district of the Netherlands.
On our way back to Amsterdam we take the seaside route along the North Sea
coast, crossing the historic Dutch Delta Works. Transfer to hotel in Amsterdam.
Dinner in Amsterdam. Overnight in Amsterdam.
Day 7 – Friday, May 8, 2015
APELDOORN (B)
Today we attend the annual VE Day Parade in Apeldoorn, home of the royal
palace and each year the location for this extraordinary outpouring of
gratitude from Dutch citizens. There will be veterans, military organizations,
marching bands and grateful civilians lining the route of the parade in a 70th
anniversary tribute to Holland’s liberators – the Canadians, the British, the
Americans and the Poles among many.
If you wish, an optional visit can be paid to Palace ’t Loo in Apeldoorn. Not only
is the palace the former summer residence of Dutch Royalty, but the Versailleslike gardens with the impressive Garden Gate are well worth a visit! Overnight
in Amsterdam.
see the Houses of Parliament, Palace Noordeinde, the King’s working palace
and Carnegie’s Peace Palace. We pay a visit to the Peace Palace, now the
International Court of Justice (only possible if the Court is not in session).
Otherwise it will be replaced by a visit to the Mauritshuis museum, to see
among others, three famous Vermeer paintings. Then, it’s on to the charming
city of Delft, the birthplace of the painter Vermeer, and we will tour the
Delftware factory.
Back to Amsterdam for dinner on your own. Overnight in Amsterdam.
Day 9 – Sunday, May 10, 2015
HOLTEN & REICHSWALD CEMETERIES (B)
After breakfast we drive north to Holten. Here on the Holterberg is another of
the unique Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries. Following
the Second World War, the Lord Mayor of Holten and the war ministry donated
this piece of land to the Canadian government to be sculpted and dedicated
as an official burial ground for Canadians killed in the northern campaign to
liberate the country. There are 1,355 Canadian gravesites, 36 British, two
Australian and one Belgian gravesites here. It is still Canadian property.
Following our stop at Holten, we continue our tribute to Canada’s fallen by
travelling into western Germany for a visit to the Reichswald Forest cemetery,
commemorating casualties of the air war against Germany. The graves
include members of the air forces of Canada, U.K. Australia, New Zealand and
other aircrew of the British Commonwealth. Return to Amsterdam for dinner
on own. Overnight in Amsterdam.
Day 10 – Monday, May 11 , 2015
AMSTERDAM (B,D)
Morning visit of Rijksmuseum or Van Gogh Museum. Afternoon free time in
Amsterdam. In the evening, our traditional Farewell Dinner.
Overnight in Amsterdam.
Day 8 – Saturday, May 9, 2015
KEUKENHOF / THE HAGUE / DELFT (B)
Day 11 – Tuesday, May 12, 2015
DEPARTURE (B)
Following breakfast in our hotel, the tour takes a decidedly tourist flavour
today as we travel west to the famous Keukenhof Gardens, likely the largest
flower garden facility in the world! Each autumn, this is the garden where over
six million bulbs are planted by the Dutch bulb industry. Lunch on your own at
the Keukenhof. In the afternoon, we continue to The Hague, the seat of the
government and home of the Royal Family. During the orientation tour you’ll
This morning we travel to the airport of Amsterdam for our flight home. KLM
flight 691 departs Amsterdam at 09:35 a.m. and arrives in Toronto on the same
day at 11:45 a.m.
NOTE: DECISIONS BY DUTCH AND CANADIAN OFFICIALS ON DATES AND
PLACES OF OFFICIAL CEREMONIES MAY ALTER THE ITINERARY.
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(A) 90 days or more prior to departure: Loss of total deposit.
(B) 89 – 60 days prior to departure: Loss of 50% of total tour cost.
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