L'Art de Vivre Hotel Barge Moored On The Nivernais Canal |
|
| Career (France) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | L'Art de Vivre |
| Owner: | European Waterways, LTD |
| Operator: | European Waterways, LTD |
| Port of registry: | Bourdeaux |
| Route: | Nivernais Canal: Auxerre to Clamecy |
| Launched: | 1917 |
| Christened: | Marie Brizzard |
| Status: | In service |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Commercial passenger vessel |
| Tonnage: | 100 tons |
| Length: | 100 ft (30 m) |
| Beam: | 16.5 ft (5.0 m) |
| Height: | 11.5 ft (3.5 m) |
| Draught: | 4.6 ft (1.4 m) |
| Decks: | 1 |
| Installed power: | 2 x 220 volt generators |
| Propulsion: | Main engine 150 HP BAUDOIN |
| Speed: | Maximum 10 knots |
| Capacity: | 8 passengers |
| Crew: | 4 crew |
| Notes: | Holds 10 tons of water, 2 tons of fuel |
The L'Art de Vivre (The Art of Living) was built in 1917 in Deptford, England as a cargo barge. She presently serves as a luxury hotel barge, owned and operated by European Waterways.
Originally christened as Marie Brizzard, her original purpose was to ferry ammunition to the beaches of Normandy to help the Allies fighting in the Somme. She was built particularly strong to resist the English Channel's harsh weather conditions and groundings on a Normandy beach. After the end of the first world war, she was delivered along the north and west coasts of France and taken to Rochefort in the River Charente estuary. Here, she delivered barrels of Cognac from Angoulême to Rochefort. She has had many names during her life, including, Marie Brizzard, Cognac, Royal Cognac, Napoleon, Mark Twain, Magellan and Kir Royal.
In 1975 she was converted into a hotel barge by Florian Waleski. Florian operated the hotel barge until 1997 when she was purchased by European Waterways, and she had an interior refit of the cabins and galley. For the next 10 years L'Art de Vivre was the only hotel barge to navigate the shallow reaches of the upper Nivernais Canal in Burgundy. In 2008 she underwent a third refit and over $200,000 was invested in 4 new cabins.
L'Art de Vivre currently has 4 double cabins allowing her to carry up to 8 passengers. She also has separate crew quarters which house the crew of four. Deck plan The crew consists of the captain and pilot, deck hand and tour guide, housekeeper, and master chef.[1][2][3]