VDH 2024

Victor Davis Hanson

Historical Tours

ITINERARY
Chantilly to Versailles

2024 Tour

​

Friday, May 24

Depart the United States on individual flights for Paris.

Saturday, May 25 - Chantilly

Welcome to Chantilly. Tonight, join your fellow travelers for welcome cocktails and an exquisite dinner at the hotel.

Sunday, May 26 - Chantilly

Breakfast and morning lectures. In the afternoon, we will visit the Chateau de Chantilly and the Grand Ecuries (Great Horse Stable) as well as an exclusive equestrian performance.

Monday, May 27 - Chantilly & Reims

Breakfast and morning lectures. Depart the hotel for sightseeing in Reims where the unconditional surrender of the German Third Reich was signed in the early morning hours of Monday, May 7, 1945, at Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force. Afternoon tasting and tour at one of Reims famous Champagne Cellars.

​

Tuesday, May 28 - Chantilly to Normandy

Breakfast and morning lectures. Depart the hotel and stop at Rouen for lunch. Rouen was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy during the Middle Ages. It was one of the capitals of the Anglo-Norman dynasties, which ruled both England and large parts of modern France from the 11th to the 15th centuries. Joan of Arc, who supported a return to French rule, was burned there at the stake on May 30, 1431.

Wednesday, May 29 - Normandy Landing Beaches

Breakfast and morning lectures. Depart and travel to St Mere Eglise, founded in the 11th century and a prominent place of position during the morning of June 6, 1944. It became one of the first towns to be liberated in the invasion. In the afternoon we will also visit Utah Beach.

​

Thursday, May 30 - Normandy Landing Beaches

Breakfast and morning lectures. Today we will visit Bayeux, a small city only four miles from the English Channel with a long history since it was founded as a Gallo-Roman settlement in the 1st century BC. After our visit to this quaint town, we will make our way to the coast to see WWII gun batteries that still sit on the shoreline today.

Friday, May 31 - Normandy Landing Beaches

Breakfast and morning lectures. In the afternoon, we will visit Point du Hoc, a promontory with a 110-foot cliff overlooking the English Channel. Later that afternoon, we also will visit Omaha Beach, the bloodiest beach on D-day.

​

Saturday, June 1 - Normandy to Versailles

Breakfast and morning lectures. Visit le Château de La Roche-Guyon. During World War II, the château served as headquarters for German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. Arrive in the evening at Versailles and check into the hotel.

Sunday, June 2 - Versailles

Breakfast and morning lectures. Depart and visit the Mont Valérien fortress located in a western Paris neighborhood, overlooking the Bois de Boulogne. This fortress was used by the Nazi occupiers as a prison and place of executions, where many resistance fighters and hostages were brought in and killed.

Monday, June 3 - Versailles

Breakfast and morning lectures. Afternoon visit to the Royal Palace in Versailles. In the evening, have a farewell dinner with final words by Victor Davis Hanson.

​

Monday, June 4

Private transfers to the airport for individual flights back to the United States.