Saturday

Sip an aperitif as we welcome you on board and introduce you to the crew. (Meanwhile, your luggage is quietly taken to your cabin.) Enjoy your first gourmet dinner on board this evening.

Sunday

After breakfast we cruise the peaceful Canal du Rhône au Rhin, a beautiful waterway that has seen little use since the building of the Grand Canal d"Alsace in the 1950's. Then we take the air conditioned coach to Colmar, renowned for its magnificent medieval and Renaissance buildings, 13th-century collegiate church, and the waterside Little Venice district.

Monday

We cast off early and cruise over breakfast and through the morning toward Strasbourg. During lunch we enter the heart of Strasbourg and pass through the commercial docks before leaving the city to the north.Afternoon guided walking tour of the principal sights of Strasbourg.Free time to explore this capital of Alsace

Tuesday

 This morning we begin cruising after breakfast passing several typical Alsatian villages where ancient documents prove there was a brewery as early as 870 A.D. We will visit a small local brewery. Walking and cycling. Later, a delightful afternoon cruise brings us to the picturesque small town of Lutzelbourg nestled in the Vosges mountains...

Wednesday 

After breakfast we make a short drive to visit a unique crystal factory to see the most famous products of this area. Back on board, cruise into Lorraine, where the canal follows the steep-sided valley of the River Zorn to the famous inclined plane of Arzwiller. We then cruise through a cutting and two tunnels under the peak of the Vosges Mountains before mooring at a quiet spot near the village of Hess.

Thursday

We begin a morning along the summit pound, the highest section, of the Marne to Rhine canal. This section of some thirty kilometres with no locks passes through the regional park of Lorraine, a nature reserve with numerous lakes and vast areas of woodland. The canal then begins its descent towards the plain of Lorraine through a series of locks.This afternoon we will take the coach for a drive to Sarrebourg and visit the chapel of the Cordelieres.We return to Lorraine for our farewell gala dinner.

Friday

Leave the Lorraine after breakfast and coach transfer to the train station in Nancy for the return to Paris. Our services end at Gare De L'Est in Paris for those on the transfers. The above is for westbound cruises. On alternate weeks the eastbound itinerary has a meeting place of the Nancy railroad station by the exit at 1 p.m. (1300) The return will be from Strasbourg on Friday. People who choose the optional Paris transfers meet in Paris at the same place and same time for either direction