LEAP encompasses the best practices of student-centered learning. Your Tour Director will get to know you and your group, will push you to think deeply, and will prepare thoughtful, hands-on opportunities to display your learning. LEAP is exclusive to WorldStrides and is what makes our Tour Directors unique and our programs transformative.

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.

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.

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 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.)

See the city from the water on an hour-long cruise along the River Seine. The Seine cuts right through Paris, dividing the city in half. See the Eiffel tower rising up on the Left Bank, the walls of the Louvre on the Right Bank. A guide will point out other monuments and architectural marvels as you pass, many of which are illuminated by clear white light at night.

Guten Tag and bonjour. The capital of Alsace-Lorraine, Strasbourg embodies the best of the German and French cultures once battling to control the area. Join a local licensed guide for a walking tour of Petite France, Strasbourg’s medieval quarter. The magnificently Gothic Notre Dame cathedral is the city’s spiritual center, while in the adjoining square the elaborately carved Maison Kammerzell, once a wealthy merchant’s house, gives evidence of Strasbourg’s healthy economic history.

Although construction began in the 11th century, this cathedral was completed in 1439. This sandstone structure is a combination of Romanesque (the choir) and Gothic (the nave) architecture.

Explore a portion of the immense Maginot Line, a system of fortifications extending along France’s eastern borders. Designed with the slow-moving trench warfare of World War I in mind, the fortifications could not repel the bombs and tanks of the German army during World War II and therefore ultimately failed to protect France from invasion. Your Tour Director will show you the inner workings of the largest fort, Hackenberg, whose underground vaults included hospitals, trains for moving ammunition and soldiers, kitchens, barracks, and more. Then continue on to Colmar, a well-preserved 16th-century trading town where flowered bridges, half-timbered houses, and picturesque canals will make thoughts of war seem very far away.

Hidden beneath the hills near Lembach, the Four a Chaux is a vast fortress shaped by the fears and tensions of pre-WWII Europe. Built with thick stone and steel, it was once a secret world of soldiers and strategy, with long passageways and heavy doors protecting its inner workings. Walking through it today feels like stepping into a moment frozen in time, where echoes of duty and resilience still linger in the underground quiet.

Set along the Neckar River and framed by forested hills, Heidelberg is the classic German university town. From the lively Marktplatz, you’ll spot Germany’s oldest university, founded in 1386, before heading up to the hilltop Heidelberg Castle. Damaged over centuries by war and even a lightning strike, the castle remains a romantic landmark, home to the enormous Great Vat, the largest wine barrel in the world.

Head up to Heidelberg Castle, which is still a little wobbly from its partial destruction during the Thirty Years’ War, a 17th-century attack by the French, and a major lightning hit in 1764. The castle is considered to be one of the most important Renaissance structures north of the Alps, and the castle’s courtyard is home to the largest wine barrel in world!

Visit the town's historical Marktplatz, the Market Square.

Christmas reigns all year round in Rothenburg, a jewel of a town on Germany’s picturesque Romantic Road. Beyond the year-round Christmas markets, the town boasts one of the most intact medieval city walls in Europe and a fairly unique clock. During the Thirty Years’ War, a former Rothenburg mayor was offered the chance to save the city by chugging close to a gallon of wine; he succeeded (and then slept for three days straight), and his accomplishment is reenacted seven times daily by mechanical figures on the clock in the Marktplatz -- adding a new twist to the concept of “cuckoo clock.” The enormous Gothic St. Jacob’s Church watches over the exploits from across the square.

Meet six influential figures from Germany's history. Join a debate and argue their accomplishments to decide who the greatest German is.