Canals and crocuses. Bicycles and bluebells. With more canals than Venice (and more flower merchants than perhaps any other city in the world), downtown Amsterdam is an explosion of color and light reflecting off the water. Take a glass-topped canal boat ride—the best way to see the gabled houses and nearly 1200 bridges. Visit a diamond factory to see how the stones are cut. And see Anne Frank's historic home.

Take a glass-topped canal boat ride down the flower-lined canals of Amsterdam for an amazing view of the gabled houses and nearly 1,200 bridges.

Take a tour of Anne Frank's house, where three different Jewish families hid for more than two years during World War II and where Anne’s famous diaries were discovered. See where she and her family lived before being betrayed to the Nazi’s and deported to concentration camps.

Situated in the heart of the former Jewish Quarter of Amsterdam, the Jewish Historical Museum stands as a symbol of times both troubling and triumphant. Housed in a grand 17th century synagogue complex, the museum documents the 400-year history of the Jewish people in the region. With a permanent collection that includes an 18th century Sephardic Torah Mantle and a carved wood Ark dating from 1791, visitors will be awed and inspired by the various photographs, artworks, interactive displays and other insights into the Jewish way of life.

Enjoy a traditional Dutch dinner of pannenkoeken, a large thin pancake similar to a crepe, that can be topped with anything from bacon to apples or raisins and finished with a drizzle of stroop, which is a dark thick syrup.

Visit the cemetery where 1,118 Commonwealth soldiers were laid to rest. Most of the men buried at Bergen-Op-Zoom lost their lives in Antwerp while during the Battle of the Scheldt, where Canadian troops were clearing the Scheldt estuary of German forces.

Tour the area of Northern Belgium and Southwestern Netherlands that Canadian forces cleared of German troops in the fall of 1944. Learn why the Port of Antwerp was so important to the Allied cause and how the Canadians fought for a second port to speed up supply lines to troops at the front.

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.

In 1915, this large family home was opened as an “every man’s club,” a place for men of any rank to have some rest and relaxation during the Battle of Ypres. To the Senior Army Chaplain Neville Talbot’s protestations, this club was named after his brother Gilbert who was killed in action in July of 1915.

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.

At 8pm traffic is stopped while buglers from the Ypres Fire Brigade play the Last Post and Reveille. Since 1929, this nightly ceremony has commemorated the almost 55,000 British Commonwealth soldiers who died nearby that could not be identified or found. The only time this Ceremony has not taken place was during the Second World War.

Visit Vimy Ridge and the World War I trenches. View the endless graves made famous in the poem 'In Flanders Fields'. The Canadian War Monument is the largest monument from World War I honouring the Canadian soliders who lost their lives.

Visit the Grange Tunnel at Vimy Memorial Battlefield Park. Over six miles of tunnel were either newly built or created from existing caves and medieval mine works. Learn how these tunnels helped the Canadian Corps plan their military strategy and win the Battle of Vimy Ridge.

Learn the meaning of trench warfare at the reconstructed trench line at Vimy Ridge. Stand where Canadian troops fought in the spring of 1917, and see the view of how little land stood between them and their German enemies. See the frontlines of the Canadian Corps victory that helped shape Canada’s national identity.

Felled by bad luck and bad timing, the Royal Regiment of Canada lost about 80% of its attacking force to enemy fire and capture on "Blue Beach," in Dieppe. Their mission had been to take out the cliff-top German artillery guarding the beach to allow other Canadian and British forces to land, but their boats were spotted and the men trapped. The military failure led to a push for vast improvements in military communication and tactics later in the war to prevent another such tragedy.

The innovative Juno Beach Centre is one of the first museums dedicated solely to chronicling Canada's extensive role in World War II. The museum takes advantage of its setting near the D-Day Beaches to show visitors how the landings were accomplished, as well as detailing Canada's contributions to the entire war, both at home and abroad.

Pouring onto the beaches of Normandy, Canada's 3rd Division and 2nd Armoured Brigade represented the entire nation, with regiments from Ontario, Manitoba, and Quebec. They secured the beachhead and held on against six days of counterattacks, when more troops were able to come ashore at the secured sight. The Beny-sur-mer Canadian War Cemetery contains more than 2,000 graves of the soldiers from the 3rd Division and the 15 airmen lost during these attacks.

See the D-Day beaches where on June 6, 1944, thousands of Allied troops landed in an effort to recapture the coast from Germany. All along the beaches, deserted German bunkers have been turned into memorials and the stark white crosses and stars that mark the cemeteries are grim reminders of the war.

Ingenious military engineering allowed the Allied forces to land at Arromanches on D-Day. Barges towed 600,000 tons of concrete across the English Channel, sinking them to create an artificial harbor, and then 33 jetties and 10 miles of floating roadways allowed the troops to land in France. Learn about this feat and other at the Arromanches Museum, where dioramas, interactive displays, and models detail the Allied landing.

Before the amphibious assault on the beaches of Normandy, Allied paratroopers landed behind enemy lines to take out the guns firing on the approaching troops. The Merville Battery was taken out by 150 brave British paratroopers, with protection from the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion. Now, it stands a tribute to paratroops everywhere, and through the exhibit students can even experience the lights and sounds seen and heard on the early hours of June 6th 1944.

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.

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).