France

For a full millennium the entwined stories and peoples of France and England been at the heart of many of the most important events in Western and world history. These adventures will examine a number of these – from Duke William of Normandy’s conquering of England in 1066, to King Henry V’s campaign in 1415 that brought him control of France in the Hundred Years War only to lose it to the French armies led by Joan of Arc, to the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic epoch that shaped the modern world, and on to the Anglo-French partnership in the two World Wars. Visit the beaches, cliffs and fields; and villages, towns and cities where the Greatest Generation made their most indelible mark. In addition, explore several UNESCO World Heritage treasure sites – including London’s Westminster Abbey, Tower of London and Kew Gardens; Normandy’s Bayeux Tapestry, Paris’ banks of the Seine; and the magnificent island abbey of Mont St Michel. After 800 years of often intense struggle, the two countries have spent much of the past 200 as strong allies. These adventures explore the entire tableau.