Combine passion and the good life with art, culture, and brilliant landscapes, and you will have Northern France, with the grand "City of Lights," Paris, being at its epicenter. Paris provides the perfect start and end to your Northern France journey. The city offers legendary surprises at every turn - from the iconic Eiffel Tower to the famed Champs Elysee to the grand Notre Dame Cathedral.

Small towns, beaches and fishing boats provide the perfect backdrop to inspire great art

From the charming French village of Conflans Ste Honorine we take you to a favored region for artists of the Impressionist Period - Cezanne, Degas, and especially Van Gogh. The village of Auvers-sur-Oise is the site that Van Gogh immortalized on his canvases: Auberge Ravoux, Church of Auvers-sur-Oise, and Wheat Fields. While in Rouen, you'll visit the stunning gothic cathedral of Rouen, and the countryside - all immortalized so vividly by Monet on his canvases. You'll travel to Honfleur, a charming French harbor town favored by artists such as Gustave Courbet and Claude Monet, who painted its fishing boats and slate-covered houses. And of course, you'll experience Monet's home in his beloved village of Giverny, where you'll see the familiar Japanese bridge and water garden shaded by weeping willows, with its pond still full of water lilies that so inspired this Master's work.

You'll walk the beaches of Normandy where the Allied forces landed during World War II's D-Day Invasion-a day crucial to victory, and you'll see the site where Joan of Arc was martyred. All of this and so much more, on one unforgettable, all-inspiring journey that you won't want to miss.

Who will enjoy this cruise: Art lovers will thrill at visiting villages and homes of the Impressionists, so inspirational and often represented in their works. Students of history will be awestruck by the D-Day memorial sites, and the site of Joan of Arc's martyrdom. Nature lovers will marvel at the scenery of Northern France's countryside.

Special Event: Armada Rouen 2008

Armada Rouen, the largest ship festival in the world, will be held from July 5 to July 14, 2008 in Rouen. With the entry into service of the 6th bridge on the Seine River in the spring of 2008, forming its own Arc de Triomphe for the Armada Rouen, Rouen will be in the media spotlight as well.