7 day locally hosted
50 passenger hotel barge
Ile de France and Normandy
St Mammès to Rouen

The Anacoluthe travels down the romantic Seine River from Paris to the seaport of Le Havre. Admire spectacular scenery while relaxing on the large sundeck as your cruise takes you to medieval towns and through the delightful countryside of Normandy. Visits are made to the region's most famous artistic sites, including Monet's home and garden at Giverny and the American Museum. Explore historic buildings, representing a variety of architectural periods.

Saturday, St Mammès
We meet at the appointed time and place in Paris and transfer by coach to the Anacoluthe moored in St Mammès, a drive of about an hour and a half , depending on traffic conditions. This village at the confluence of the river Loing with the Seine, has been a centre of commercial traffic on the waterways of the Isle de France for centuries and 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. The crew welcome us aboard with apéritis as the bags are carried down to the cabins, after which there will be time to relax and settle in or stroll into the village before dinner on board.

Sunday, St Mammès - Paris
We cast off early this morning and cruise downstream during breakfast as the river meanders through the edge of the forest of Fontainebleau, passing some impressive waterfront properties and a number of affluent riverside villages. After breakfast we moor in the historic town of Melun, where the kings of France had a fortified palace in the Middle Ages, before Fontainebleau became their preferred residence. From here we take the coach for a short drive 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 catch up with the boat in time for lunch and cruise through the afternoon to Paris, arriving in the early evening at Bercy, near the Ministry of Finance. After dinner there will be a night cruise through the heart of Paris, with unforgettable views of the floodlit monuments and decorative bridges before we moor at the quai de Grenelle, close to the Eiffel Tower.

Monday, Paris - Bougival
We cast off during breakfast and cruise through the vast meanders of the Seine as it leaves Paris. We pass the Bois de Boulogne, the chic suburbs around Neuilly and the skyscrapers of the ultra-modern business area of la Défense. Later we pass the bustling rive port of Gennevilliers before mooring during lunch 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 lunch 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 Anacoluthe at Bougival.

Tuesday, Bougival - Vernon
We cast off early, during breakfast cruising through Conflans Sainte Honorine, at the confluence of the river Oise with the Seine and traditionally a centre of waterway freight transport. A long morning cruise takes us some sixty 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 disembark at or near Mantes after lunch and take the coach for a drive of little over half an hour to the village of Giverny. 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 meet the Anacoluthe at our mooring for the night at Vernon, a town of some 25 000 inhabitants with an attractive medieval centre surrounding the 11th century collegiate church of Notre Dame.

Wednesday, Vernon - Les Andelys
After breakfast along a particularly attractive, meandering stretch of river at the base of chalk cliffs. We moor after lunch at Les Andelys, a picturesque town at the foot of the imposing fortress of Richard the Lionheart, Château Gaillard. From here there will be an excursion 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.

Thursday, Les Andelys - Rouen
(all day excursion to Caen and Normandy landing beaches OR relax on board and explore Rouen)
We cast off early and cruise through breakfast to the last lock on the river at Amfreville. 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 in Rouen. There will be a gala farewell dinner on board this evening.

Friday, Rouen
After breakfast, return coach transfer to Paris, estimated arrival around noon, depending on traffic conditions.

Note: Itinerary operates in reverse on alternate weeks.