You'll depart the United States today for London, England.

Upon arrival in London, you'll transfer to Copthorne for a two-night stay in the Copthorne Hotel in West Sussex. Savor the picturesque landscape and marvelous coastline of this county, located on the coast of central southern England. West Sussex is a different world from London in terms of beauty and quiet charm. Enjoy the sights of rolling hills and the lovely small villages tucked away within them.

Journey through the rich orchards, thatch barns, and beautiful gardens of the Kent countryside. You'll join an included excursion that visits Hever Castle and Gardens. The childhood home of Anne Boleyn, the castle dates back to the 13th century. The grounds surrounding this castle include splendid gardens and lakes. Don't miss the magnificent Italian Garden, designed to display William Waldorf Astor's extensive collection of Italian sculpture. Explore the colorful walled Rose Garden, which contains more than 3,000 plants.

After enjoying a pub lunch, you'll stroll through numerous acres of charming woodland at Nymans Gardens, which includes a variety of international plant collections.

Join an included tour of Leeds Castle, one of the world's most beautiful castles. It stands on two small islands in a peaceful lake surrounded by rolling wooded hills. The stronghold originated as a fortress in the ninth century, but Henry VIII converted it to a palace. The current structure contains a fine collection of paintings and furniture, a maze and grotto, and an aviary.

Next, experience the magnificent Canterbury Cathedral, a prominent medieval pilgrimage site for the past 800 years. Archbishop Thomas Becket was martyred here in 1170, which inaugurated one of the most important pilgrimages in Europe. Immortalized in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, it is one of the most impressive cathedrals in Europe. While inside, you'll visit "Becket's Crown," which contains a serene chapel dedicated to the "Martyrs and Saints of Our Own Time." The cathedral's foundation dates back to the coming of the first archbishop, Augustine, from Rome in A.D. 597. The evocative structure that stands today was constructed in the late 12th century.

Transfer to Dover, where you'll embark the Clipper Adventurer this afternoon. Enjoy the view of the famous White Cliffs of Dover as we sail for Honfleur.

We arrive early this morning in the rustic port of Honfleur, which dates back to the 10th century. Writers and painters such as Flaubert, Baudelaire, and Monet flocked to this city at the mouth of the Seine. With its visions of shimmering water and light, Honfleur is labeled the birthplace of Impressionism. You may explore this charming town on your own, including the colorful harbor, brimming with fishing boats and red-slate-roofed houses. Don't miss the wooden Eglise Ste.-Catherine, built by the townspeople in 1453 to express their gratitude towards the departure of the English at the conclusion of the Hundred Years' War.

Alternatively, you may disembark in Honfleur for your choice of the following optional tours. Join an all-day excursion visiting numerous historic D-Day sites - Mulberry Harbor at Arromanches, Omaha Beach, the American Military Cemetery, and Point du Hoc, a protected site preserved since the Rangers arrived on June 8, 1944. Or you may choose to visit Bayeaux, home of the world-famous Bayeaux Tapestry - one of the most important pictorial works surviving from the Middle Ages.

Guernsey's natural beauty shines amid its coastline of high granite cliffs, picturesque coves, and sandy beaches. The westernmost of the Channel Islands, Guernsey features beautiful gardens, hidden valleys, hundreds of acres of greenhouses, and herds of golden Guernsey cows.

This morning, you'll arrive in St. Peter Port, a charming small town and the capital of Guernsey. Spend the day exploring this attractive harbor on an optional excursion. Visit Caadie Gardens, situated on a slope overlooking the harbor at St. Peter Port, with wonderful views over the islands of Herm and Sark. While you're there, see the Guernsey Museum and Art Gallery, built around an original Victorian bandstand and dedicated to the history and customs of the island.

Arrive this morning in St.-Malo, founded in the sixth century as a monastic settlement and medieval shipbuilding center with a great seafaring tradition. Jacques Cartier set sail on his first voyage to Canada from here in 1534.

A short drive takes you to the rocky isle of Mont-St.-Michel, site of one of the greatest religious buildings in Europe, fit to rank with St. Peter's in Rome, Chartres, and Durham. On an optional excursion, you'll visit the three-story Benedictine abbey that represents 500 years of work, from the 11th to the 16th centuries. Commanding the summit of a huge granite rock 250 feet above the sea, the abbey has functioned as a place of religious meditation and hermitage from time immemorial. Savor the sounds of the winds off the Atlantic as you gaze down at the foaming sea stretching across the quicksands and up at the great brooding structure of the Hall of the Knights. Experience the uniqueness of this austere place and understand why it has commanded the attention of peasant and prince alike from the Middle Ages onward.

Explore St. Michael's Mount, an impressive English counterpart to Mont-St.-Michel, on an optional tour. Built by the same monks, it acted as an important site for medieval pilgrimage.

Cruise this afternoon to Tresco, one of more than 140 islands that comprise the Isles of Scilly off the southwestern tip of England. An optional tour takes you to Abbey Gardens, the lifetime achievement of botanical enthusiast Augustus Smith, whose descendents still hold the lease on the island. The gardens contain a staggering variety of plants - between 3,000 and 4,000 - many of them subtropical specimens that have thrived thanks to the influence of the Gulf Stream and to windbreaks originally constructed by Smith.

Today, we anchor in Glengarriff Harbor, an oasis of greenery sheltered by rugged mountains. We'll board Zodiacs and journey to Ilnacullin, a small island that is one of Ireland's gardening jewels. The elaborate gardens were begun in the early 1900s. Explore the Casita, an Italianate garden with reflecting pool, designed by Harold Peto, that s one of the most popular attractions.

This afternoon, you'll enter the deep, blue waters of Bantry Bay and arrive t the wonderful fishing port and market town of Bantry. Visit attractive Bantry House, a stately mansion wonderfully decorated and filled with treasures collected by various generations of earls from all corners of the world. Behind the house, you'll view the "staircase to the sky" overlooking the sea from ordered landscaped gardens.

This morning, we'll dock in Fishguard, the ferry port for the shortest sea crossing to Ireland. Join an included tour to Pembroke Castle, a structure that had remained in use until 1945. You'll marvel at the massive castle walls and the magnificent round keep that rises more than 70 feet above the ground with a remarkable domed roof. This central keep dominates the surrounding countryside and is the largest in Wales. View a plaque inside the castle passages that marks the birthplace of Harry Tudor, who defeated Richard III to become Henry VII. Arnulph de Montgomery established a fort at Pembroke in 1093, but the current buildings mainly date from the 13th century.

North Wales is rich in attractions of all kinds, but perhaps its most celebrated spring from this area's troubled medieval past. Wales' reputation as a "land of castles" is particularly strong in the north, and the mountain-backed shore from Llandudno to Caernarfon boasts some of the finest historic sites in Britain.

We'll dock in Holyhead today, where you may join an included tour to one of North Wales' most celebrated castles - Caernarfon, castle of crowns famous as the site of investiture for the Princes of Wales. You'll also visit the Garden of Bodnant, one of the finest in the country. Bodnant is known not only for the magnificent collections of rhododendrons, camellias, and magnolias, but also for its beautiful setting above the River Conwy and the extensive views of the Snowdon Range.