Posts in Category: France
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Ranville War Cemetery – Learn How to Find a Specific Grave
This morning we visited Pegasus Bridge and learned about the advance parachute, glider and commando operations that spearheaded the June 6, 1944 D-Day landings in Europe. While the operations were largely successful, they were not without significant casualties and many of these are interred at nearby Ranville War Cemetery. This is the first of many […]
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Pegasus Bridge – The Beginning of D-Day and the Allied Invasion
In the previous post I described why I had chosen Liberation Tours for a tour of Canadian WWI and WWII sites in France, Belgium and Holland. We broke camp early on day two of the Liberation Tour 2015 and departed Paris on an overcast morning heading for Normandy and the coast where we would spend three […]
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Pere Lachaise Cemetery – A Walking Tour with David Burke
A few days ago I filed a post on a self-guided walk in Montmartre Cemetery and that visit spurred me to want to visit Pere Lachaise Cemetery, its much better known big sister. While Montmartre is reasonably compact with only one way in and out, Pere Lachaise is massive with considerable elevation change and multiple entry points. […]
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Liberation Tour 2015 Kicks Off with Our First Briefing and a Seine Boat Ride
In 1963 I became a very fortunate young lad as I was asked by my grandfather William Campbell Dunlop to join him on a tour of the European battlefields that he had fought in as a veteran of WWI. We visited not only WWI sites, but also the Normandy D-Day beaches and Canadian liberation sites […]
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Montmartre Cemetery – How to Enjoy A Self-Guided Tour
Montmartre Cemetery Montmartre Cemetery is one of the reasons we chose to stay in the Montmartre area on a recent trip to Paris. Here’s the view we had from our apartment. While Pere Lachaise cemetery gets all the publicity, Montmartre cemetery can more than hold its own in terms of famous burials, moody atmosphere and […]
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Saint Denis Basilica – The Best Way to Visit in the Other Paris
Prior to its terrible fire in 2019 everyone who went to Paris wanted to visit Notre Dame Cathedral, arguably the most famous church in the world, which also made it the most visited. While it was unquestionably beautiful to look at, there were simply too many people inside the church to really appreciate the interior. […]
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Hemingway in Paris – A Search with David Burke
It’s a a beautiful Spring day and I’m off in search of Ernest Hemingway in Paris with guide David Burke. Won’t you join us? Ernest Hemingway treated his children badly, his friends worse and his wives abominably, but he was one hell of a writer which is why I’ve been an admirer of his (well […]
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Montmartre – A Great Place to Chill Out in Paris. Here’s Why.
Our trip to Paris via the overnight Air Canada flight could not have gone smoother. Clearing customs was a breeze – France does not require entrants to fill out any advance documentation and apparently relies on the information encoded on your passport. I wish other countries would follow suit – who the hell knows the […]
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How to Find A Great Apartment in Paris Without Breaking the Bank
In the previous post I gave my reasons for returning to Paris after a fifty year absence and the things I hoped to see and do before joining the Liberation Tours journey from Paris to Amsterdam. In this post I’ll describe how I found a great apartment in Paris at a cost that was reasonable. […]