Britsburgh Travel Society - World War I Centenary Tour

Starting this year, Britsburgh has introduced a series of Britsburgh Societies around a variety of themes. Current societies include the Britsburgh Art Society, the Britsburgh Beer Society, the Britsburgh History Society, the Britsburgh Performing Arts Society, the Britsburgh Literary Society, the Britsburgh Tea Society and the Britsburgh Travel Society—with more to come! If you are not already a member, I would like to invite you to consider becoming a Britsburgh Society member. MEMBERS RECEIVE $100 OFF THIS TOUR To become a member, visit the Britsburgh membership page.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Britsburgh Travel Society - World War I Centenary Tour

 

Join Britsburgh and Duquesne University students on our World War I Centenary Tour.  We will visit England, Belgium and France during this final year of special commemorations in Europe marking the 100th anniversary of the 1914-1918 conflict.  Highlights include London, the Ypres and Somme battlefields of the infamous Western Front in Belgium and France, and Paris and Versailles.

 

TRIP INCLUDES

Roundtrip airfare from Pittsburgh to London returning from Paris; airport transfers; 17 nights hotel accommodations; hotel taxes; breakfast daily; meals, touring/transportation/Dover-Calais ferry crossing and admissions as per itinerary.

 

Rates from $5,199 per person. BRITSBURGH SOCIETY MEMBERS from $5,099 per person.

 

Based on double/twin occupancy (based on 21 people traveling, subject to change if number is less than 21.) Please call (412 638 0746) or email our British travel agent based here in Pittsburgh at Sharron Battle Travel at Sharon@sharonbattletravel.com for single or triple rates. Non refundable deposit of $350.00 per person by check only due Feb 28, 2018. Balance due by March 19, 2018. Insurance is highly recommended, please call or email for rates.

 

REGISTRATION: Please contact our Travel Society partner and your guide, Sharon Battle Travel. Address: 421 Cavitt Ave, Trafford, PA 15085. Telephone: Office 412 373 2172; Cell 412 638 0746. Email: sharon@sharonbattletravel.com

 

ITINERARY (Printable PDF)

 

 

Wed., May 16  – Fly USA to London.  We’ll fly on Delta via Atlanta arriving London Heathrow late morning local time.

Thurs., May 17  –  London, England

 

• On arrival, transfer to the Millennium Gloucester Hotel, Kensington.

• London 2-hr. guided orientation bus tour en route to the hotel.  Among the sites we may pass are The Tower of London, Tower Bridge, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Trafalgar Square, the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the London Eye, Buckingham Palace, Marble Arch and Hyde Park.

• After check in we’ll have time to freshen up a bit and have lunch (on own) at nearby restaurants.

• Late afternoon we’ll head via Underground to Victoria Station, scene of many a tearful farewell to World War I British troops departing to fight in France.  Here we’ll see the Railways Workers Monument commemorating those who fought and died in both World Wars and the Plaque to the Unknown Warrior on Platform 8, marking the spot where the body of an unknown British soldier arrived from France prior to interment in Westminster Abbey.  Here, too, we’ll meet our Guide for a late afternoon walking tour of Westminster. The theme of the tour is “The Outbreak of World War I.”  The tour will include such sites as Buckingham Palace (exterior); the equestrian statue of Allied Commander-in-Chief, Ferdinand Foch; the St James’s area; the Goring Hotel (exterior) which served as World War I headquarters for the Commander in Chief of the Allied Forces, American General John J. Pershing (and was incidentally the hotel where Kate Middleton stayed the night before her wedding to Prince William); the Royal Horse Guards Parade; the Old War Office Building; Whitehall (a thoroughfare with many UK government ministries and national monuments, including The Cenotaph, originally erected to honor the British servicemen who fought and died in World War I, now honoring those who served in both World Wars; and the new Women’s War Memorial); and, finally, the site of the former home of Sir Edward Grey, who was British Foreign Secretary when World War I began.  We’ll finish up in Parliament Square, passing near the Houses of Parliament.  Dinner will be at the Victorian-era Red Lion Pub, once frequented by Winston Churchill and other British Prime Ministers.

• Meals: B & D – Breakfast on board the airplane. Dinner at the Red Lion Pub, Westminster.

 

Fri., May 18 – London

• This morning we’ll head across the River Thames to Lambeth to visit the Imperial War Museum   We’ll tour the IWM’s newly renovated First World War Galleries.

• Next, we’ll head to the Embankment for a walking tour on the topic “Women and the Home Front.”  We’ll see the Belgian Memorial, Cleopatra’s Needle and Sphinx (site of a WWI air raid bombing), the site of the former Charing Cross Hospital (where WWI soldiers were treated), the Nurse Edith Cavell Memorial, and the suffragette Pankhurst Family Memorial.  We’ll have time for lunch (on own) during the tour at the Café in the Crypt in St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church, Trafalgar Square.

• The evening back in London is free.

• Included Meals:  B - Breakfast at the hotel.  Lunch on own at the Café in the Crypt, Trafalgar Square.

 

Sat., May 19 – London; SPECIAL BONUS:  Free Day in London as the city celebrates the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle!!

 

• Today is a free day as the UK celebrates the wedding of HRH Prince Henry of Wales and Meghan Markle in Windsor Castle, not far from London. Join the locals for this once-in-a-lifetime chance to experience all the fanfare and revelry that attends a royal wedding! We’ll keep you apprised of public events.

• In addition, the Football Association Cup Final is taking place today at London’s Wembley Stadium, which will also be widely telecast for those who wish to watch along with local fans in one of the city’s many pubs and restaurants.

• Included Meals: B - Breakfast

 

 

 

 

Sun., May 20  – London/Burghclere (Hampshire)

• Mid-morning, we’ll head via motor coach to Burghclere, Hampshire.  Here, we’ll visit the Sandham Memorial Chapel. On arrival in Burghclere, we’ll enjoy a picnic lunch (weather permitting) on the Chapel grounds from the nearby The Carpenter’s Arms pub before touring the interior of the chapel.  Sandham Memorial Chapel was commissioned in the 1920s by the family of Lieutenant Henry Willoughby Sandham, who died during World War I.  As it says on the National Trust’s website:  “The chapel’s modest red-brick building tucked away in a quiet corner of Hampshire houses an unexpected treasure – an epic series of large-scale murals by the acclaimed war artist Sir Stanley Spencer.  Built to honour the ‘forgotten dead’ of the First World War, the series was inspired by Spencer’s own experiences as a medical orderly and soldier, and is peppered with personal and unexpected details.  The paintings took six years to complete in all, and are considered by many to be the artist’s finest achievement, drawing such praise as ‘Britain’s answer to the Sistine Chapel.”  Many veterans, even today, on viewing the murals have discovered a sense of comfort and catharsis in respect to their own wartime experiences.  After our tour of the murals, we’ll have some time to stroll in the restored garden of reflection behind the chapel and to walk the Stanley Spencer Trail through the small town of Burghclere before returning back to London.

• The evening in London is free.

• Included Meals:  B and L – Breakfast at the hotel and a picnic or pub lunch from The Carpenter’s Arms in Burghclere.

 

Mon., May 21 – London/Greenwich

• Today, we will go via train to Greenwich to see two exhibitions at the National Maritime Museum: “Forgotten Fighters, The First World War at Sea” and “Jutland 1916: WWI’s Greatest Sea Battle.”  After lunch in the area (on own), we’ll also have time to tour the Cutty Sark.

• Optional:  Evening pre-theatre dinner and London Theatre District show.

• Included Meals:  B - Breakfast

 

Tues., May 22 - London

 

• This morning we’ll have another walking tour of Hyde Park and Green Park that focuses on the way World War I has been remembered in Britain through the decades down to the present day.  We’ll start at Marble Arch, then head down Park Lane to see the Animals at War monument; the Cavalry of the Empire Memorial; and the Hyde Park Corner war monuments:  the Australia, Commonwealth, and New Zealand Memorials; the Machine Gun Corps Memorial (a.k.a. ‘The Boy David’) and the famous, once controversial, Royal Artillery Memorial.  Next we’ll head over to Green Park to see the Canada Memorial (commemorates both WWI & WWII) and the RAF Bomber Command Memorial (commemorates mainly the WWII era but the RAF began in WWI).

• After lunch (on own), we’ll head up to Parliament Square and meet outside the visitor entrance to Westminster Abbey.  Our tour leaders will guide us on this visit.  Among the WWI-related sites we’ll see here are:  The Tomb of the Unknown Warrior and the World War I Poets Memorial (Robert Graves, Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen, etc.).

• NOTE:  Your Westminster Abbey ticket includes a headset and recorded guide to the entire Abbey – repository of more than 1000 years of history and the place where British monarchs are crowned!  Upon conclusion of the World War I site visits, those who so wish are free to tour the remainder of the Abbey (closes 4:30 p.m.) with their headsets on their own.

• The evening is free.

• Included Meals:  B - Breakfast at the hotel.

 

Wed., May 23 – London/Transfer to Ypres, Belgium via Dover and Calais (France)

• This morning we’ll travel via motor coach to Dover harbor, where we’ll catch the ferry for Calais, France. On our motor coach ride we will stop for a visit at Dover Castle to see its WWI exhibition and view the White Cliffs of Dover, before boarding the ferry for France.

• On arrival in Calais, we’ll board our motor coach and transfer to Belgium.  Upon arrival in Ypres (“Ieper” in Flemish, pronounced “Wipers” by British soldiers who served in the Salient), we’ll check into the Ypres Novotel Centrum Hotel in the center of town.

• After settling in at our hotel, we’ll walk over to the In Flanders Fields Museum, located in the rebuilt medieval Cloth Hall in the center of Ypres.  We’ll spend about 2 hours exploring the Museum’s exhibits and shop.  Your admission ticket includes both the permanent and temporary exhibitions as well as a visit to the Bell Tower (no elevator, 231 steps!) for a spectacular panoramic view over the Ypres Salient.

• The evening is free.  (For dinner, there are many moderately priced restaurants in the Grote Markt (“Grand Place” in French) or town square in Ypres.  We can make suggestions.

• Included Meals:  B and L – Breakfast at the London hotel, lunch at the Dover Castle’s café.

 

 

Thurs., May 24 – Ypres, Belgium

• All day Tour of Ypres Salient by motor coach with an expert local guide. Among the highlights of the Salient we will see are the Bayernwald Trenches and German Dressing Station at Messines, where a certain young lance corporal, Adolph Hitler, was treated for wounds received;  the site of the famous “Christmas Truce” of 1914 near Ploegsteert Wood when British and German troops temporarily laid down their arms and fraternized, exchanging small gifts from home and even sharing a game of football!; the Ploegsteert Memorial; Langenmarck German Military Cemetery; the dressing station at Essex Farm, where Canadian John McCrae wrote his moving and well known poem, “In Flanders Fields”; the site of the first en masse use of poison gas as a weapon of war during the Second Battle of Ypres in April 1915, the American War Memorial and Tyne Cot Cemetery, with nearly 12,000 burials and its Cross of Remembrance commemorating the approximately 35,000 servicemen from the United Kingdom and New Zealand who died in the Ypres Salient after 16 August 1917 and whose graves are not known.  It is the largest Commonwealth military cemetery in the world, for any war.

• Included Meals:  B and L – Breakfast at the hotel and lunch on the tour.

 

Fri., May 25 – Ypres/Poperinge/Lijssenthoek

• This morning, we’ll do a brief walking tour led by our professors to explore the World War I highlights of Ypres town: the Belgian War Memorial, Menin Gate, St. George’s Memorial Church, the Little Eton School (exterior), and the rebuilt Ypres Cathedral.

• After lunch (on own) in Ypres, we’ll head early afternoon to the nearby town of Poperinge (“Poperinghe” in Flemish), during WWI the so-called “Paris of the Western Front” because it was the place where British troops went to spend their leaves.  Located a relatively safe distance from the fighting, about 8 miles behind the front lines, Poperinge suffered far less damage in WWI than Ypres.  It had its darker side as well:  Its Stadhuis (Town Hall) was the unhappy place where those convicted of serious military crimes were jailed prior to execution by firing squad at a wooden post in its courtyard.  Here we’ll have an early afternoon walking tour  to see highlights of the town with our tour leaders, including the Execution Cells in the Stadhuis; several still surviving estaminets (bars) from the World War I era:  La Poupée (a.k.a. “Ginger’s”) and Café de l’Esperance (a.k.a.  “Café No ‘ope”) as well as St. Bertinus Church.  Poperinge has some nice shops, too, and there will be a little extra time to shop for gifts and souvenirs.

• Next, we’ll visit military chaplain Rev. Philip “Tubby” Clayton’s Talbot House (house, chapel, concert hall and garden), said during WWI, perhaps with some exaggeration, to have been the only place in Poperinge that soldiers could go for recreation and comfort that was not a brothel!  The house is still used as a bed-and-breakfast and contains a number of original art works by WWI war artists who visited, including Eric Kennington, a friend of T.E. Lawrence (“Lawrence of Arabia:”) and illustrator of Lawrence’s book about his WWI Arabian exploits, The Seven Pillars of Wisdom.  Our ticket includes a warden’s tour of the house and a cup of tea and piece of cake in either the house or garden afterwards.

• Late afternoon we’ll travel by motor coach to Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, site of a casualty clearing station (field hospital) during  the First World War, where the wounded arrived for preliminary triage prior to transfer to more permanent base hospitals in France and Belgium or home hospitals in Britain.  We’ll have a guided tour of the cemetery and time to explore the exhibition in its Visitors Centre.

• Dinner tonight at the historic Café de la Paix in Poperinge.  This café was in operation during and long before the First World War.

• Included Meals:  B and D – Breakfast at the hotel in Ypres.  Dinner at the Café de la Paix in Poperinge.

 

Sat., May 26 – Ypres

• Free day in Ypres for independent activities. You can ride bicycles, walk the medieval ramparts, sample the Belgian fries, beers, and waffles, shop for chocolates and souvenirs, or otherwise explore the area on your own.  We can provide additional suggestions for sightseeing and activities for those who wish.

• Optional:  Consider a brewery tour and beer tasting at Brewery Kazematten van het Houten Paard (“Casemates at the Wooden Horse”) near the Lille Gate.  This authentic brewery, where beers such as Wipers Times and Grotten Santé are brewed, is open to the public for tours today from 3:00 - 5:00 p.m. and you can sample 3 beers for just 10 euros!  Near this location was the site of the printing press used to publish The Wipers Times, the WWI British Tommy’s darkly humorous, morale-boosting newspaper.

• Evening Last Post ceremony at 8:00 p.m. with wreath-laying (optional, 3 volunteers) at the Menin Gate.  We must head to the Menin Gate no later than 7:15 p.m. to take our places, whether observing or participating.

• Immediately after the Last Post, we’ll enjoy a 3-course Belgian dinner with beer at ‘t Klein Stadhuis, in the Grote Markt.

• Included Meals:  B and D – Breakfast at the hotel in Ypres.   Dinner at ‘t Klein Stadhuis in Ypres.

 

Sun., May 27 – Ypres/Waregem

• Optional:  Catholic Mass at 11:00 a.m. in the historic St. Maarten’s Cathedral in Ypres. 

• This afternoon we’ll attend the U.S. Memorial Day Ceremony at the Flanders Fields American Cemetery in Waregem.  Local citizens, including area school children, will join American officials in participating in the ceremonies.

• Optional: Anglican Evensong at 6:00 p.m. at the historic St. George’s Memorial Church, Ypres.

• The evening is free in Ypres.

• Included Meals:  B – Breakfast at the hotel.

 

Mon., May 28 - Ypres, Belgium/Somme Battlefield area, France

• All day tour of the Somme Battlefield sites by bus and on foot.  The Battle of the Somme, from July 1-November 18, 1916, was one of the most horrific of the First World War, claiming approximately one million British, French and German lives, including 60,000 British casualties (20,000 fatalities) on the very first day, the worst losses on a single day in the history of British Army.  Our tour includes the Delville Wood South African Memorial and Visitors Center; Lochnagar mine crater; Beaumont Hamel Newfoundland Memorial Park; and The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, the architect, who also designed London’s Cenotaph war memorial.  The Thiepval Memorial commemorates 72,246 British and South African troops killed in the Battle of the Somme for whom no grave is known.

• Included Meals:  B and L:  Breakfast at the hotel in Ypres. Lunch at a local restaurant in France during Somme tour.

• The evening is free in Ypres to rest and pack for France.

 

Tues., May 29 – Ypres, Belgium and Compiègne and Paris, France

• Transfer this morning by motor coach to Paris.  On the way, we’ll have a guided tour of the Museum of the Armistice in Compiègne, Including the forest clearing/railway car where the November 11, 1918 Armistice was signed.  We’ll also see the statue of Marshal Foch.  We’ll have a guide.

• We’ll have an included lunch at Le Bistrot de Flandre restaurant in Compiègne following the Armistice Museum visit.

• On arrival in Paris we’ll check into the Hotel Le Littré located between Montparnasse and St. Germain des Prés.

• The rest of the evening is free to start your Paris explorations on your own.

• Included Meals:  B and L - Breakfast at the hotel in Ypres.  Lunch in Compiègne at Le Bistrot de Flandre.  Dinner on your own this evening in Paris.  The hotel can provide suggestions.

 

Wed., May 30 – Paris

• Late morning we’ll visit the Arc de Triomphe beneath which is France’s WWI-era Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

• This afternoon we’ll visit The Eiffel Tower – used as a radio transmitter during World War I.  First, we’ll go up to the first floor restaurant, 58 Tour Eiffel, for lunch, a “chic picnic” with choice of 3 dishes.  After lunch, we’ll ride to the top and have some time to browse the shops on the second floor.

• After lunch, we’ll visit the Dome des Invalides where French World War I Generals Ferdinand Foch, Charles Lanrezac and Robert Nivelle are buried.  (Napoléon Bonaparte, too!, but that’s another story . . .)  Our ticket also includes the First World War gallery of the National Army Museum (where you can see one of the “Taxis of the Marne” famously requisitioned in 1914 to transport French soldiers to the Battle of the Marne, so halting a German invasion of Paris).

• The evening is free.

• Included Meals:  B and L - Breakfast at the hotel.  Lunch at 58 Tour Eiffel, Eiffel Tower.

 

Thurs., May 31 – Paris/Auteuil/Versailles

• This morning we’ll travel via coach for a visit to the Chapel of St. Thérèse of Lisieux in the Paris suburb of Auteuil. This chapel, the first ever dedicated to “The Little Flower,” was founded by Spiritan Father Bl. Daniel Brottier, who served in Flanders during World War I as a military chaplain and accredited his survival to the saint’s intercession. Duquesne University’s Brottier Hall is named for this priest.  If time and traffic conditions allow, we’ll do a brief photo stop at the Lafayette Escadrille Memorial, honoring the famous WWI American volunteer fighter pilots who fought with the French Air Service.

• Next, after a brief lunch stop (at own expense) we’ll continue on to Versailles for an afternoon visit to the Palace of Versailles, which housed the courts of the “Sun King” Louis XIV and later of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, and where the post-WWI 1919 Paris Peace Conference was held.  Our visit will include the famous Hall of Mirrors where the Treaty of Versailles was signed.  We’ve asked our guide to emphasize the Peace Conference and Versailles Treaty during the tour but we’ll see other parts of the palace, too.  Your ticket includes the Gardens of Versailles.

• Group farewell dinner tonight at a Paris restaurant.

• Included Meals:  B and D - Breakfast at the hotel and dinner in Paris.

 

Fri., June 1 – Paris

• Free day for independent activities and to pack for home. We can give you tips for Paris sightseeing.

• Included Meals:   B - Breakfast at the hotel.

 

Sat., June 2 – Paris/Return to USA

• Transfer mid- morning by motor coach to Charles DeGaulle Airport for our Delta Airlines flight bound directly for Pittsburgh International (arrives back in Pittsburgh the same day).

• Included Meals:  B and L - Breakfast at the hotel.  Lunch on board the airplane.

 

Itinerary is subject to change according to circumstances.