Friday   
Depart USA for Paris.

Saturday

Arrive in Paris.   Meet at the Hotel Meridien Etoile nr Porte Maillot in Paris at 3.30pm. Transfer by coach to the Anacoluthe moored in Rouen, a drive of about two hours, depending on traffic conditions. The crew welcome us aboard with aperitifs as the bags are carried to the cabins, after which there will be time to settle in before dinner is served on board.

Sunday                                          Rouen – les Andelys

 (all day excursion to Caen and Normandy landing beaches OR relax on board and explore Rouen)

After breakfast we take the coach to drive about an hour and a half to Caen. Once the main residence of William the Conqueror and today the capital of Lower Normandy, the city was at the centre of the battle of Normandy in June and July 1944, one of the biggest and fiercest battles ever to have taken place. We visit the Mémorial de Caen (known as the museum for Peace). Fittingly built on the site of a bunker that served as the German command headquarters , the museum displays an instructive and moving collection of documents, films and artefacts tracing the events leading up to, during and after World War 2  as well a gallery of Nobel prize winners, bearing witness to the hope of peace in the future. We partake of a buffet lunch at  the Mémorial de Caen before driving about  an hour North West to the coast to visit the vast American cemetery at Colleville sur Mer overlooking Omaha Beach and finally La Pointe du Hoc, site of the raid of Colonel Rudder and his 225 Rangers who succeeded one of the most audacious attacks in history. At the end of the afternoon we take the main roads back past Caen for a fairly long drive (making a break midway) to meet the Anacoluthe just above the first river lock at Amfreville and make an pleasant evening cruise along a most attractive, meandering stretch of river at the foot of chalk cliffs to les Andelys, a picturesque town at the foot of Richard the Lionheart’s famous fortress, château Gaillard.

Monday                           les Andelys - Vernon               

After breakfast a drive of a little over half an hour brings us to Rouen. The city  boasts the fourth largest commercial port in France and is the capital of Upper-Normandy. A guided walking tour of Rouen’s medieval city centre of half timbered houses takes in the remarkable gothic cathedral of Notre Dame, the Renaissance law courts and the Jewish quarter to end at the site of the martyrdom of Saint Joan of Arc. Afterwards there will be free time to explore, take advantage of the excellent shops or visit  the modern church of Jeanne d’ Arc before returning to the boat at Les Andelys.  A relaxing afternoon cruise brings us to Vernon, a town of some 25 000 inhabitants with an attractive centre surrounding the 11^th century collegiate church

Tuesday                        Vernon- Conflans St Honorine.

After breakfast a drive of barely ten minutes brings us to the village of  Giverny on the other side of the river. Here we visit the house and garden where Claude Monet lived from 1883 to his death in 1926. The property, subject of many of Monet’s famous canvasses, was left by his family in 1966 to the French Academy of Fine Arts and subsequently restored with grants made by American benefactors. We board the Anacoluthe again for lunch near the lock of Méricourt. A long afternoon cruise takes us some fifty kilometres past  a number of villages and towns including Mantes la Jolie, where William the Conqueror received his mortal wound whilst assailing the town. We moor in the early evening at  Conflans Sainte Honorine, an attractive small town that stands at the confluence of the river Oise with the Seine and which has been  a centre of waterway freight transport for centuries

Wednesday          Conflans St Honorine-Bougival-Paris

We cast off early this morning and cruise for a couple of hours before mooring at Bougival, a quiet residential town that was home to several Romantic writers and which was immortalised by Guy de Maupassant in his short stories. Later the Ginguette here became a favourite haunt of the Impressionists. After breakfast we take the coach to Auvers sur Oise, village whose picturesque surroundings attracted a number of artists including Cézanne, Pissarro and later Vincent van Gogh, who spent the last months of his life here. After visiting the Auberge Ravoux, and the churchyard, we return to the boat in time for lunch at Bougival and cruise during the afternoon through the vast meanders of the Seine as we enter Paris.  We pass the bustling river port of Gennevilliers, the Stade de France sports stadium, then the skyscrapers of the ultra-modern business area of la Défense before cruising close to the chic suburbs around Neuilly and the foliage of the Bois de Boulogne. We  moor in the early evening in the city centre close to the Eiffel tower. Just dinner is coming to an end, we cast off and make a memorable evening cruise through the heart of Paris, with remarkable opportunities to get close-up views of the splendidly decorated bridges, floodlit statues and historic edifices as our guide gives explanations regarding the history of the city and each of its architectural monuments.

Thursday                                           Paris-St Mammès

We cast off early this morning and cruise upstream out of Paris, passing the confluence with the Marne at Alfortville.

In the early afternoon , we disembark at the Coudray lock near the new town of Evry and make a short journey in the coach to the picturesque town of Moret sur Loing. Made famous by the impressionist painter, Alfred Sisley, who lived here and frequently used the town as a subject, Moret was a fortified stronghold at the border of the domain of the King of France with those of his neighbours, the count of Champagne and the Duke of Burgundy. There will be time to stroll around the ramparts and through the narrow streets of Moret before we drive through the forest of Fontainebleau , making a brief visit to the village of Barbizon, home and workplace of several artists during the nineteenth century, especially Millet, whose workshop remains almost unchanged to this day and is open to visit.  We return to meet Anacoluthe at the historic town of Melun, where the kings of France had a fortified palace in the Middle Ages, before Fontainebleau became their preferred residence. We then cruise through the evening to St Mammès, village at the confluence of the river Loing with the Seine, that has been a centre of commercial traffic on the  waterways of the Isle de France for centuries. A large number of retired bargees live here, either on board their vessels or in attractive riverside cottages typical of the area built of flint and brick. that make picturesque surroundings for this evening’s gala farewell dinner.

Friday                                                                 Paris

Saturday  
Depart Paris for USA.