Benelux, Paris & London

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 canal boat ride and enjoy the best way to see the gabled houses and nearly 1200 bridges. Note that the cruise may be guided by a local guide or by pre-recorded audioguides.

Welcome to Amsterdam! Take time to unwind with other convention participants and the Explorica staff at a dinner to celebrate your arrival.

Amsterdam's most popular art museum opened in 1885 to house William V's personal art collection. It now holds an unbelievable collection of Rembrandts, Vermeers, and other Dutch masters, plus an extensive collection of Asian and decorative arts. Upstairs there's a collection of 17th and 18th century dollhouses, furnished just as real houses of the time would have been.

See old-fashioned Holland, well-preserved. Visit the tiny fishing town of Volendam, a short trip away from Amsterdam, where you will find old-style Dutch houses, narrow streets, and villagers who still dress in traditional Dutch costumes. Then visit nearby Zaanse Schans, and see miles of the windmills for which Holland is famous. Experience the quaint, quintessentially Dutch neighborhood, learning about clog-making, cheese-making, and other Dutch cultural traditions along the way.

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 colour 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 the historic home where Anne Frank and her family hid for more than two years during WWII.

Experience the Van Gogh Museum that houses the largest collection of paintings by Vincent van Gogh in the world. Witness the artist's developments and compare his paintings to works by other artists from the 19th century in the collection.

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.

Line up to climb to the top floor of this iconic landmark for a spectacular birds-eye view of the glittering City of Light.

The ultimate palace, Versailles was built by Louis XIII, and housed the royal family and its groveling court from 1682, when Louis XIV the Sun King moved in, to the French Revolution. Everything in Versailles is worth a look, from the 250-foot-long Hall of Mirrors, with themed salons- "war" and "peace" -on either side, to Marie Antoinette's faux country hamlet. When being a queen became too much to bear, she would pretend to be a commoner, tending her sheep and wearing peasant clothes. (Please note Versailles is closed on Mondays.)

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 and the Place de la Concorde, where in the center you’ll find the Obelisk of Luxor, a gift from Egypt in 1836. 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) and the École Militaire (Napoleon's alma mater).

The world's largest art museum, the Louvre is housed in a Medieval fortress-turned-castle so grand it's worth a tour itself. You walk through the 71-foot glass pyramid designed by I.M. Pei and added in 1989, and step into another world--one with carved ceilings, deep-set windows, and so many architectural details you could spend a week just admiring the rooms. The Mona Lisa is here, as well as the Venus de Milo and Winged Victory (the headless statue, circa 200 BC, discovered at Samothrace). The Louvre has seven different departments of paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures and antiquities. Don't miss the Egyptian collection, complete with creepy sarcophagi, or the collection of Greek ceramics, one of the largest in the world. (Please note the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays.)

View the Notre-Dame Cathedral. Work began in 1163 on a spot that had been a holy shrine since Roman times. Over the centuries, the cathedral has been the scene of some of France's most momentous occasions, including the coronation of Napoleon.

You're so close, why not continue to London? Take the Eurostar under the English Channel. Faster than you can say...anything, in French, you'll whiz through a tunnel and arrive in London.

Walk along the Thames river in one of London's most popular and vibrant neighborhoods: the South Bank. Spot the National Theatre and the historic pubs, stop to view the London Eye from the tree-lined walkway, and pause to watch one of the area’s famous street performers.

Step outside your hotel for a stroll through the heart of the English-speaking world. In this city of nearly seven million, you'll see everything from 12th-century fortifications to modern skyscrapers, royal parks to street art. Your Tour Director will lead you to some of the most famous sites. Walk along the Thames River. Cross Trafalgar Square. See bustling Piccadilly Circus. Pass trendy shops and cafés in Bohemian Soho on your way to Covent Garden, a 13th-century fruit and vegetable garden transformed into a maze of narrow streets and pedestrian walkways burgeoning with street performers, open-air markets and boutiques

See Trafalgar Square, often used for community gatherings and political demonstrations.

Visit the National Gallery, which contains an unrivaled collection of Western art spanning seven centuries, from the late 13th to the early 20th. The largest portion of the collection is devoted to the Italians, including works by da Vinci, Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto and Botticelli; but the collection also features works by the Spanish giants El Greco, Goya and Velázquez. The Flemish-Dutch school is represented by Brueghel, Jan van Eyck, Vermeer, Rubens and Rembrandt; and there is also an immense French impressionist and post-impressionist collection that includes works by Manet, Monet, Degas, Renoir and Cézanne.

Visit Piccadilly Circus, a shopping and entertainment area brightly lit with video displays and neon signs.

Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and with the Royal Opera House, which itself may be referred to as "Covent Garden". The district is divided by the main thoroughfare of Long Acre, north of which is given over to independent shops centered on Neal's Yard and Seven Dials, while the south contains the central square with its street performers and most of the historical buildings, theatres and entertainment facilities, including the London Transport Museum and the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.

Leicester Square is perfectly situated in the heart of London's West End, with Trafalgar Square to the south, Piccadilly Circus to the west, Covent Garden to the east, and China Town to the north.

Nothing's more British than fish and chips-there are eight fish and chips shops ("chippies") for every McDonald's in the county. Head to an authentic pub with your Tour Director for a taste of this national food, generally served with malt vinegar.

Join a licensed local guide for an in-depth look at London, from the royal haunt of Buckingham Palace (the official London residence of King Charles III) to the slightly more democratic Speakers’ Corner of Hyde Park, where anyone can pull up a soapbox and orate to his heart’s content. You’ll see the changing of the guard (season permitting), the clock tower of Big Ben with its 14-ton bell, and Westminster Abbey, where almost every English king and queen since William the Conqueror has been crowned. After a stop at the Houses of Parliament, continue on to the magnificent St. Paul’s Cathedral, the masterpiece of London architect Christopher Wren. See how the King relaxes on this guided tour of the royal weekend estate, originally built as a fortress in the 11th century under William the Conqueror. Tiptoe through the flowers in the East Terrace Gardens, marvel at the Gothic St. George's Chapel, or peek into the rooms of Queen Mary's doll house with its gallery of pint-size perfect furniture. Get decorating tips for your own country estate (or dorm room, as it may be).

Visit Windsor Castle, the world's largest inhabited castle, and one of the official residencies of the British monarch. Our visit will include the richly decorated State Apartments and St. George's Chapel, a pantheon of English Monarchs.

Visit St. Paul's Cathedral, Sir Christopher Wren's Renaissance-style masterpiece and yet another home to a stunning resident choir. Our visit will include an ascent to the Whispering Gallery, an acoustic marvel in which the faintest whisper can be heard clearly on the opposite side. We also will visit the American Memorial Chapel. If we are lucky, we will be present when the organ is being played.

End with a night at the theater. You'll see a play in the West End, the British version of Broadway, with London's 40-or-so professional theaters, as well as restaurants, shops and cafés. Please note that theater performances may be moved to alternate days due to availability.

Explore the British Museum, one of the most comprehensive collections of art and artifacts in the world. Highlights of our visit will include the Rosetta Stone, the Parthenon Marbles, and the Sutton Hoo Treasure.

Get up close and personal with the Tower of London. Towers, rather. Twenty stone towers, as well as tunnels, winding staircases and narrow passageways comprise this huge fortress covering 18 acres on the banks of the Thames. A royal residence from the 11th - 16th centuries, the Tower also served as a jewel safe and a prison. The headless skeletons of Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard (Henry VIII's former wives who were executed here) are believed to be buried here. The Crown Jewels are housed here, including the largest cut diamond in the world (530-carats). Beefeaters (guards) lead tours through the Tower.

Soar 450 feet over London in the world's highest ferris wheel. The London Eye, the fourth tallest structure in London, whisks visitors up up and away above the River Thames for spectacular views of the city and its surrounds. The unique, futuristic passenger "capsules" allow unobstructed, 180-degree views. On a clear day visitors can see as far as the King's residence at Windsor Castle -- 25 miles away.