Cruise France
The trees are in
blossom, and the
river snakes beneath
a blue feathered skyAt the prow is the alfresco
Aquavit Terrace — soft blankets
at the ready in case it turns
nippy — then, above this, the
sun deck, with a cluster of
cool-looking calico-toned
loungers and recliners,
alongside a thriving herb
garden.
This Seine voyage is a first
for me, and even though I’m
only experiencing a four-night
taster of Viking’s planned
eight-day sailings, it is long
enough to appreciate the
river’s many charms.
The curves and bends of the
river come as a surprise; so too
the calm, moss-green waters,
and later, just a short distance
from Paris, rural glimpses of
grey herons and neat blossom-
filled gardens, and then, little
barges bustling along, tricolour
flags flapping at the stern.
It’s also a remarkably
smooth sail — put that down to
diesel-electric hybrid engines
— and at times I’m not alone in
thinking we have come to a
halt. Yet it’s our boarding at
Port de Grenelle, a mere
pétanque roll from the Eiffel
Tower, that really wows. Yes,
there are other riverboats
docked alongside, but not so
they obscure our view of the
tower’s splayed elegance, nor
its night-time magic when
ribbons of light twinkle across
its frame, like disco balls
against a dark velvet sky.
Paris is looking remarkably
pretty, almost as if an army of
devoted cleaners have set to
work with scrubbing brushes.
Continued on page 10→I
f the gardeners of
Giverny had their way,
I would probably be
on a blacklist of tourist
misdemeanours, if such
a thing exists. And all for trying
to battle French bureaucracy.
Giverny, of course, is where
the impressionist artist Claude
Monet lived, and both his
house and gardens are
absolute must-sees. But on
my visit in March, their doors
remain firmly closed, as the
summer season has not yet
started.
I had telephoned ahead,
hoping to charm the officials
into a brief preview. “Mais c’est
impossible!” came the
intractable reply. “You must
wait ten days. Until April 1.”
Was this opening date some
kind of joke? A riff on poisson
d’Avril? So, refusing to give
up, this is how I cause a
stir outside the high walls of
Monet’s house, by jumping up
and down like an overexcited
Jack Russell.
All this happens halfway
through my Viking river cruise
along the Seine; Giverny,
understandably being one
of the voyage’s standout
excursions. I’m almost ready
to admit defeat at achieving
a sneaky look, when two
gentlemen pass by and insist
on helping.
“Put one foot on my hands,
and the other on his and we’ll
lift you,” says one of them, a
sporty, silver-haired gent.
And they do, admittedly in a
precarious fireman’s lift sort of
way. Though a little scratched
by hidden thorns, I manage
not to topple over the hedges.
Monet’s pale pink
farmhouse is revealed: its
green shutters (firmly closed),
and in the foreground, cherry
blossom, neat flowerbeds and
gardeners at work.
And then I am spotted:
“Arrêtez! Vous devez
descendre,” the gardeners
shout, half laughing, half
annoyed at my cheek.
Giverny is an extremely
pretty village. Half-timbered
Normandy houses mix with
cafés (closed during my visit
in March) and gift shops (also
closed), but even better, I’ve
experienced a sense of time
shrinking on our cycle ride
here from Vernon, where ourship, Viking Radgrid, is
docked. Our wheels clicked
over the very same railway
track, now defunct, that once
carried Monet from Paris’s
steam-shrouded Gare Saint-
Lazare.
Back then, trains still had
that whiff of novelty as one of
the modern world’s confusing,
exciting developments.
Certainly they were the
easiest means by which the
impressionists could swap the
city’s bustle for the tranquillity
of plein-air painting along the
banks of the river.
We, too, have a whiff of
novelty, for our 168-passenger
ship is brand new, one of four
purpose-built “longships”
designed specifically to
navigate the Seine. At 125m
— some 10m shorter than
Viking’s standard river vessels
— these are baby longships,
compact enough to dock in the
heart of Paris. Not that there
are many differences to notice
between the new vessels and
their bigger sisters.
Still present is the cruise
line’s trademark Scandi decor
— a cluster of artfully arranged
silver birch branches,
staterooms with blond wood
detailing and riverine tones of
blues and creams throughout.One of Viking’s new
longships on the Seine, in
front of the Eiffel Tower,
right; Château de la
Roche-Guyon, belowPICTURE
Châteaux, cheese tasting and
landscapes that inspired the
impressionists are the stars of
a new itinerary along the Seine,
as Louise Roddon discovers
PRETTY
The garden at Monet’s house in Giverny, below, inspired his famous paintings, above and topROBERT GRIM, PRISMA ARCHIVO, KATHY DEWITT/ALAMY; MONET FOUNDATIONAS A