Day 7 - Les Andelys France

Around 7AM I woke and opened the curtains a little the sun was rising, and we were still sailing, I opened  only the curtains and the French balcony doors to enjoy the marvelous morning air. We lay in bed, under the duvet and blanket, watching mist on the Seine and listening to the water lapping against the boat as we slowly sailed towards Les Andelys.

Soon we saw the rosy fingers of dawn painting the sky.

After breakfast, we have the morning to ourselves to explore the town. Or you could take the walking tour of town or else a walk up to Richard the Lion-Heart's castle which we had passed on our sail to Rouen.

Les Andelys is a small river town that was home to King Richard the Lionheart in the 12th century. On top of the hill in town are the remains of the fortress that King Richard had built in one year to protect that portion of Normandy from French attack. It’s amazing after 800 years what still remains, but even more amazing to me was the view from that fortress. It was almost storybook perfect, with the winding river, the 12th century church and quaint timber houses on narrow twisting streets of cobblestone.

 We saw Orlando, our chef, going for his groceries.

We meandered back to the boat around 11AM as we set sail at 11:45AM for Paris.


Back onboard and I am writing this as I again have the curtains and the balcony door wide open. The sun glitters on the water in between clouds as we glide out of the lock and on towards Paris. 

This afternoon there are tours of the watch house and the kitchen. We toured the kitchen with Orlando the head chef as our guide.

The kitchen is small and there are six cooks including Orlando. Menus are dictated by the Corporate Chef and remain the same all season.
Everything is loaded at the beginning of the week and he will pick up fresh produce as we sail. Nothing is saved for safety reasons.

At 4PM we went to the lounge for freshly made crepes, snacks and cakes with coffee or tea.

Time to loll about until our farewell dinner!

Amuse Bouche - mousse of selected French cheeses

Salmon variation

Cappacino of forest mushrooms

Pan fried scallop with creamy green asparagus

Kir Royale sorbet

Filet of halibut with galic scampi on red and yellow pepper sauce with champagne risotto and mixed vegetables.

And dessert was baked Alaska!