The Seine: Paris to Normandy (2012)

Depart today on your flight to Paris, France. Please refer to your individual air itinerary for exact departure and arrival times.

Arrive this morning or afternoon in Paris. You are met at the airport and transferred to your river ship.

You have the balance of the day to relax after your overseas flight. Unpack, settle in, and explore your ship, or just rest up in your cabin.

Celebrate your arrival in France with a Welcome Drink. Then join your fellow travelers for a Welcome Dinner tonight in the dining room.

After breakfast this morning, enjoy a half-day panoramic tour introducing you to the city's classic highlights. You'll see the Eiffel Tower from different perspectives as you travel along the famed Champs Elysees. View the Arc de Triomphe (commissioned by Napoleon in 1806 and completed in 1836) standing at the end of the Champs Elysees at the large central roundabout where twelve elegant, tree-lined avenues converge. You'll also drive by the magnificent Gothic Cathedral of Notre Dame and the Place de la Concorde. Back onboard, enjoy a lunch buffet.

Explore on your own this afternoon.

Or, join us for an optional tour to the renowned Louvre Museum. Your first glimpse of the Louvre will be the I.M. Pei-designed entrance, which created a great deal of controversy when it was built in 1989. Called the Pyramide du Louvre, the steel rod, cable, and glass pyramids at the three main Louvre entrances are today considered a fine example of the blending of modern with classic architecture. The treasures inside the museum are world-famous, and the collection of sculptures and paintings by the Great Masters unrivaled. Stroll through gallery after gallery, marveling at works by the likes of Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Rubens, Michelangelo, Van Gogh, Renoir, and Matisse.

This evening before dinner, savor a scenic cruise through the heart of Paris. You’ll enjoy views of the city’s renowned landmarks as you pass under UNESCO classified bridges.

Enjoy the morning at leisure to continue exploring Paris.

Or, embark on a half-day optional excursion to the Palace of Versailles—the former home of 3,000 princes, ministers, and servants. Your guided tour will take you through the palace's Grand Chambers, the Hall of Mirrors (where the Treaty of Versailles, ending World War I, was signed in 1919), and the Royal Chapel. You'll marvel at the luminous decor in marble, chased bronze, and gold leaf, as well as Rococo-style woodwork and Italian-style painted ceilings. As you explore, you'll discover how much the palace has been expanded and embellished since Louis XIII first built a modest hunting lodge at Versailles in 1623. You'll also have time to visit the magnificent French gardens at your leisure. Please note: Due to limited space, this optional tour must be reserved at least 10 days prior to departure and cannot be booked on-site. Versailles is the most-visited attraction in France. To ensure that all guests are able to view the exhibits, the time you spend in each room is limited by palace staff. Expect lines at the entrance in peak season, even for groups with reservations.

Following lunch, board your river ship and begin sailing towards Conflans.

In the coming days, you'll be exploring sites where Impressionism thrived. Before dinner onboard tonight, you'll have the chance to get some background information during an onboard presentation on The Impressionists.

This morning, disembark for an excursion through Van Gogh Country. The Seine, the Epte, and the Oise are the three French rivers referred to as the "Rivers of Light". It was to the areas around these three rivers (which neighbor each other in this vicinity) that the Impressionist artists flocked to paint the landscapes and scenes that are so recognizable throughout the world.

You'll have a guided walking tour of Auvers-sur-Oise, the village where Vincent van Gogh came to live after his release from the asylum in nearby Saint-Remy. He and his brother, Theo, agreed it would be best for him to remain close to his physician, Dr. Gachet, who was the subject of several of his portraits during this time. For three months, Van Gogh remained here until his suicide in 1890, creating some of his most brilliant pieces. Remarkably, he produced almost 80 paintings in this short time, including the turbulent Wheat Field With Crows—one of his last works. See the house where he lived and visit his grave. This picturesque village also welcomed Corot, Pissarro, and Cezanne, among others.

Later, as you cruise towards Vernon, you can join a Discovery Series cooking demonstration onboard, as our chef explores the delights of French cuisine. Each region of France has its own distinct cooking methods, and you’ll learn a variety of techniques from all over the country. You'll also have the opportunity to enjoy a lesson in the French language.

Disembark for an excursion into the countryside to see the lovely landscapes that inspired Claude Monet. The unique light of the area’s Seine Valley in Normandy kept Claude Monet in residence for 43 years after he “discovered” the village of Giverny while looking out a train window in 1883. He stayed here until his death in 1926, and you’ll find his grave in the family vault at the town’s Romanesque church.

Explore the artist’s home and gardens, left by his son Michel to the Academie des Beaux-Arts in 1966 and now a museum dedicated to the great painter. The house is furnished as it was when the leader of the Impressionist School lived here, including his precious collection of Japanese engravings.

The gardens have been replanted, and as you stroll through them, you’ll see with your own eyes the landscapes that have graced countless Monet paintings. Here are the familiar Japanese bridge and water garden shaded by weeping willows, with its pond still full of the water lilies that so permeated his work. "I want to paint like the birds sing,” Monet said. Perhaps you’ll agree that the idyllic setting in Giverny would lend itself to his dream. Please note: This tour is available on April through mid-October departures only. On March and November departures, we offer a walking tour of Vernon instead.

While in Vernon, make new friends as you visit the home of a local family.

Dinner is onboard ship this evening.

This morning, enjoy some time to explore the sleepy village of Les Andelys on your own. You'll enjoy views of Chateau Gaillard, an imposing fortress from the era of Richard the Lionhearted. Then you might decide to join a tasting of French delicacies onboard the ship.

After lunch, enjoy a Discovery Series event as put brush to canvas during an onboard watercolor painting class. Perhaps the scenery along the Seine will be your inspiration.

Savor dinner onboard this evening as you cruise toward Rouen.

After breakfast, disembark for a walking tour of Rouen. The capital of Normandy, Rouen is an important French commercial city with a distinguished history dating to pre-Roman times. But it is more "infamous" as the city where Joan of Arc was imprisoned, tried for heresy, and burned at the stake. Here you'll see the 14th-century abbey where she was sentenced to death, and visit the Market Square where her execution took place in 1431. On your own, you might visit the Joan of Arc Museum, containing a fascinating history of the French heroine of the Hundred Years' War.

After lunch onboard, return to the city for time at leisure. Perhaps you'll visit Rouen's wonderful Gothic Notre Dame Cathedral, whose facade has graced more than 30 Monet paintings. The great painter had rented rooms across from the cathedral in 1892, and he painted several canvases simultaneously, capturing nuances of light and weather that played across its Gothic facade.

Or, join an optional tour to Normandy’s Abbey St. Wandrille in the quaint village of the same name. The Romanesque abbey, named after the monk Wandrille who founded it in 649 AD, began as a missionary and spiritual center and has stayed true to that cause over its 13 centuries of history. Learn about the bishops and saints who spent time at the famous abbey, as well as the fascinating background of its founder.

Savor dinner onboard this evening.

Spend time relaxing on the ship this morning, or enjoy leisure time to visit the town of Caudebec.

Or, join a half-day optional excursion to Fecamp and the beautiful cliffs on the Normandy coast at Etretat. Enjoy a scenic drive along the coast to take in the Etretat Cliffs. The cliffs, with their needles and natural arches, are sufficiently entrancing to have moved the brushes of Courbet and Monet, and to continue attracting visitors. You’ll also visit the Benedictine Order Castle at Fecamp and savor a taste of the famous Benedictine liqueur—made from 27 different herbs and spices. Finally, enjoy free time in town for your own explorations.

Spend your afternoon at leisure and early this evening, you’ll begin your cruise to Honfleur, your final port-of-call. En route, you’ll pass under Honfleur’s 90-foot tall Tancarville Bridge. You’ll also sample some local cheeses during an onboard tasting. Dinner tonight will coincide approximately with your arrival in Honfleur.

Today is sure to be a moving experience as you set out to explore the beaches that turned the tide of war, and to honor those who fell. Begin your D-Day beach tour with a visit to the Battery at Longues Sur Mer. One of the most formidable gun emplacements the Allies faced, the four guns here could fire on either Gold or Omaha beaches, and at 215 feet above sea level, were ideally placed to confront the D-Day forces. Heavily bombed before the invasion began, these guns were only silenced by the combined firepower of the attacking ships.

After a box lunch at the village of Arromanche, continue to the American Military Cemetery. You’ll see the monument that honors the fallen, and visit the cemetery of Colleville sur Mer, where 9,386 American soldiers rest.

The D-Day landings, code-named “Operation Overlord,” were the largest military operation in recorded history. The beaches of Normandy bore the brunt of the invasion. Beginning at 6:30am on June 6, 1944, nearly 7,000 boats hit the beaches along the coast of Normandy. Those vessels carried tens of thousands of soldiers from the United States, Great Britain, Canada, and many other Allied nations, all of whom arrived determined to carry out General Eisenhower’s order, “Full victory—nothing else.”

When they arrived on the beaches that day, the Allies were met with a deafening barrage of German gunfire. As the Nazis fired from secure pillboxes dug in high above the open beach, Allied soldiers were mowed down while exiting the boats and wading to shore. In time, some doggedly made it to the ridge overlooking the beach, finding shelter from the hail of enemy bullets. More than a thousand Allied troops died on Omaha Beach alone. You’ll have the opportunity to stand on the cliffs overlooking Omaha Beach and see the sand and breakers where the first Allied footing was achieved in German-occupied France.

Then continue on to Pointe du Hoc—a place all Normandy veterans know well—where Allied forces scaled 328-foot cliffs as they sought to silence German artillery

After returning to the ship, your evening is at leisure.

After breakfast, you’ll enjoy a walking tour of this well-preserved port town of Honfleur, founded in the eleventh century. Situated on a Seine estuary opposite Le Havre, the town was once one of the most important ports in France. It was from here that many voyages of discovery were launched, including the journey of native son Samuel de Champlain—founder of Port Royal in Nova Scotia and the settlement of Quebec in Canada.

The port changed hands frequently between France and England during the Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453) and was finally won back by France in 1450. In the 1800s, Le Havre displaced Honfleur as a major port.

Spend additional time exploring Honfleur on your own.

Or, join an optional visit to the Tapestry Museum of Bayeux, which showcases a remarkable piece of embroidered fabric—230 feet in length—depicting events of the 1066 Normandy invasion of England. Study the elaborate scenes created with wool yarn of russet and gold, and learn the history that inspired such a fascinating work of art.

Gather with your new friends and memories to toast your enriching journey at the Captain’s Farewell Dinner. The ship remains in port tonight.

This morning, disembark your ship and transfer to the Peace Memorial Museum in Caen, a state-of-the-art facility that does an outstanding job of presenting the events of World War II, including D-Day, very vividly. It’s an excellent way to put into context what you saw at the Normandy beaches.

After time for lunch on your own here, transfer to Charles de Gaulle Airport located 18 miles from the Paris city center for a final night in France before your return flight. Or, if you've chosen our post-trip extension to Brittany, transfer by motorcoach to St. Malo.

Dinner is on your own this evening.

After breakfast, transfer to the airport for your flight home.