Enhance your experience of drinking fine champagne and tasting the delicious cheeses of the region! Cruise waterways of great beauty and charm. Visit chateaux, historic battlefields and France's largest Cathedral. All on the Ultra-Deluxe and comfortable barge Lone Star, led by France's most experienced captain. Welcome aboard!

Sunday - Paris to Lagny-Sur-Marne
You'll be met at 3:00pm in the lobby of your Paris hotel and chauffeured to Lone Star at anchor in the village of Lagny-sur-Marne. After the traditional Champagne Welcome from Captain Oliver Megret and crew, there is time to unpack and take a stroll around town before enjoying the first of many gourmet dinners on board.

Monday - Lagny-Sur-Marne to St. Jean-les-Doux-Jumeaux...Grand Chateau and Gardens
Begin the day with our breakfast buffet featuring village-baked pastries just warm from the oven! Then relax on deck while cruising on the River Marne to St. Jean-les-Doux-Jumeaux. Lone Star floats through heavily-wooded countryside. Adorable villages hug the shore and patient fisherman wave as we pass. After lunch (served on deck weather permitting), we'll present Chateau Vaux-le-Vicomte, an enormous privately-owned property with grand gardens and an intriguing history. Built by Nicholas Fouquet, Finance Minister to Louis XIV, the chateau became a lightening rod for the jealous king. Fouquet landed in jail for the rest of his life and the king built Versailles in retaliation! Return to Lone Star for dinner aboard.

Tuesday - St. Jean-les-Doux-Jumeau to Chateau Thierry...Cheesetasting and Local Market
After another delicious breakfast, it's off to the Fromagere de la Brie to learn about the making of Brie and other regional cheeses. Purchase cheese right at the factory and also browse the outdoor market in nearby La Ferte-Sous-Jouarre. Then cruise to Chateau Thierry through a gorgeous landscape of villages, vineyards, pastures and forests. Nestled into the champagne-producing slopes, this ancient town is associated with Frankish King Charles Martel whose castle here was built in the 8th century and Joan of Arc who entered through the town gates in 1421. Make a bit of history yourself by strolling the streets after your gourmet dinner on board!

Wednesday - Chateau Thierry to Damery...World War I Sites
A somber excursion to nearby World War I sites begins the day. Belleau Wood was the scene of the Second Battle of the Marne in Spring, 1918, which ended the last German offensive of World War I. The cost was 8,000 American troops killed, missing or wounded. Overlooking Chateau Thierry is the massive French-American Friendship Monument and the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery. Back on board, the mood lightens with another fabulous buffet lunch and an afternoon cruise on the River Marne through scenery that could have been painted by the Impressionists. Vineyards, fields and farmhouses cling to distant hills, while villages and gardens line the river. Our mooring is the attractive stone village of Damery. A gastronomic high point is tonight's dinner ashore at the Michelin 2-star Restaurant Les Creyeres in nearby Reims.

Thursday - Damery to Tours-Sur-Marne...Champagne, Champagne, Champagne!
We're off this morning to visit famed champagne producer Moet et Chandon in Epernay. This elite company was founded in 1793 and was characterized from the beginning by international markets and such high-level contacts as Madame Pompadour and Napoleon. Now it dominates Epernay with a complex of historic buildings and a billion bottles of bubbly stored in eighteen miles of tunnels! We'll tour and then taste! Return to Lone Star for an afternoon cruise leaving the River Marne for the Canal Lateral a la Marne. Just relax - or you can visit Hautviller, a pretty champagne village perched high over the vineyards. Tour the unassuming church of Monk Dom Perignon, credited with inventing the champagne-producing process. Return to Lone Star moored in Tours-sur-Marne for another delicious dinner.

Friday - Tours-sur-Marne to Sillery...Sightseeing in Reims
Cruise this morning onto the Canal Aisne a la Marne. There is time to walk or bicycle on the towpath as Lone Star climbs up a flight of locks. After lunch, drive to Reims, an important city from Roman times on. Tour the Musee de la Reddition which in World War II housed General Eisenhower's Supreme Headquarters and the War Room (the original maps and charts are still up on the walls) where the first unconditional surrender of the Third Reich took place on May 8, 1945. Then visit the great Reims Cathedral, which is even larger than Notre Dame in Paris and where the French kings were crowned. Head back to Lone Star – The Captain's Dinner ends your cruise in style!

Saturday - Sillery to Paris...A Sad Farewell!
You'll depart at 9:00am for your chauffeured transfer, which will take your entire party to either Charles de Gaulle Airport or central Paris. Estimated arrival time is between 11:00am and noon. We hope to see you on Lone Star again!

Note: This is a sample itinerary and is subject to change. It runs in reverse on alternate weeks.