Return to Vimy 2012: Paris & Vimy

This city was made for walking. Stroll grand boulevards with sweeping views of the city, pristine parks with trees planted in perfect rows, and narrow streets crowded with vendors selling flowers, pastries and cheese. Then head to the Île de la Cité, a small island in the Seine, to see Notre Dame Cathedral. Look up at the great stone buttresses, grotesque gargoyles, and massive stained-glass windows.

Visit one of the original college towns. The famous Sorbonne is the first and most illustrious of French universities. It was originally founded by Robert de Sorbon in 1253 and was actually one of the smallest colleges, but became the richest and most respected of the colleges of the university of Paris. Since the Sorbonne’s founding in the 1100s, the Left Bank has attracted not only intellectuals but also the cafés, bookstores, and cinemas that tend to accompany them. It’s also attracted its fair share of famous residents like Ernest Hemingway.

What's that huge white arch at the end of the Champs-Élysées? The Arc de Triomphe, commissioned by Napoleon in 1806 after his victory at Austerlitz. Your licensed local guide will elaborate on this, and other Parisian landmarks. See some of the most famous sites, including the ornate, 19th-century Opera, the Presidential residence, the ultra-chic shops of the Rue du Faubourg St-Honoré, and the gardens of the Tuileries. You'll pass the Place de la Concorde, where in the center you’ll find the Obelisk of Luxor, a gift from Egypt in 1836, and the Place Vendôme, a huge square surrounded by 17th-century buildings. Spot chic locals (and tons of tourists) strolling the Champs-Élysées. Look up at the iron girders of the Eiffel Tower, built for the 1889 World's Fair to commemorate the centenary of the French Revolution. See Les Invalides (a refuge for war wounded), the École Militaire (Napoleon's alma mater), and the Conciergerie (the prison where Marie Antoinette was kept during the French Revolution).

German soldiers fighting on the Western Front first used mustard gas during the Battle of Ypres, and the St Julien Memorial marks the spot where Canadian soldiers first confronted this new weapon of war.

Three major World War I battles were fought outside Ypres. The First Battle of Ypres allowed the British to capture the town from the Germans in 1914. Five months later the Germans used point gas for the first time on the Western Front and were able to capture the high ground nearby; in the famous Battle of Passchendaele in 1916, the British, Canadian, and ANZAC forces recaptured the area. During this last battle, one of the bloodiest in history, the British forces lost 300,000 soldiers, and the Germans lost 250,000.

Before joining the Battle of the Somme, Canadian troops fought hard to defend this area, a small part of Belgium still controlled by the Allies. The advances made by these troops were an unqualified success, according the official British historical reports, but Canada suffered 8,430 casualties in the process.

In 1917, the Allies slogged through the swampy, rain-soaked, mud-drenched ground of Passchendaele toward heavily armed German troops, losing many lives and tanks in the process. Canadian troops were brought in at the end due to the difficult conditions -- their earlier victories had conferred an elite status -- and with their efforts the high ground was finally won. The battle was ultimately meaningless, however; the corridor opened by the action later proved unnecessary. Because of the horror of the Battle of Passchendaele, the name has come to symbolize the idea of war in its most brutal and senseless form.

See the city from the water on an hour-long cruise along the River Seine. The Seine cuts right through Paris, dividing the city in half. See the Eiffel tower rising up on the Left Bank, the walls of the Louvre on the Right Bank. A guide will point out other monuments and architectural marvels as you pass, many of which are illuminated by clear white light at night.