France, Saturday, May 17 & Sunday, May 18,

Saturday, May 17 found us docked in Avignon, our final port. Today, there is an all day tour into Avignon, the lovely city in Provence; Avignon is a very old city, founded by Greeks from Marseilles around 539 BCE. In 1309, the city, still part of the kingdom of Arles was chosen by Pope Clement V as his residence at the time of the Council of Vienne, and until 1377, Avignon rather than Rome, was the seat of the papacy.

Pope John XXII made the it the capital of Christianity and turned the palace into the primary palace of the Popes. Benedict XII built the Old Palace and Clement VI the New Palace. The palace, the most remarkable building in the International gothic style was the result. the papal library in Avignon, with 2,000 volumes, was the largest in Europe.

The Romans also left their mark on Avignon. The Pont du Gard, a magnificent aqueduct over the River Gard, carried drinking water from the mountains to the city of Nimes, some 50 kilometers. A marvel of engineering, it still stands as a monument to the Roman civilization. 

While most of the group was taking in the sites of Avignon, Deb went on a walk-about on her own, stopping in a small cafe’ for a cup of coffee, some quiet time and a biscuit.

Returning to the ship, we had our final meal on board, some offerings from Provence, and for us, a bottle of our favorite wine, a Charpoutier from nearby Crozes. We first became acquainted with this wine on our previous trip to the region. it is the only wine in the world that includes braille on its label, the story being that the vintner’s daughter was blind and could only distinguish the wines they were producing by reading the braille labels. Incidentally, we have found this wine in Omaha; it is exported around the world.

After dinner, we finished packing and had our suitcases set outside our cabins by 7:30 AM the next morning for our departure. We bid adieu to the Viking Heimdal, our home away from home.

We boarded our transportation shuttle to Marseilles airport and said our goodbyes to the Hosfords and the Needelmans at the airport as they were leaving for Madrid and the flight home via Chicago. Glenda, Jeff, Deb and Mark were dropped at the enterprise car rental office to pick up their vehicle for their road trip through southern France.

We piled our luggage into the back of our Renault and Glenda assumed the “pilot’s” seat and Deb took the navigators place, while Jeff and Mark assumed their proper positions in the second seats. We headed south and west to the Camargue region, a marshy area on the Mediterranean coast. Here we drove around the national park area, looking at the flocks of flamingos in their native habitat. so many beautiful birds walking on their long legs through the marshes dabbing their long bills into the water for their food.

Following this we turned west along the coast highway, making our way eventually to the walled City of Carcassonne. Our hotel, just outside the walls of the old city, looked promising. We parked our vehicle, unloaded our suitcases and climbed the steps to the room. One look at the room and Mark said to Deb, “ Text Glenda and tell her not to unpack their suitcases!”  The rooms were horrible. the bathrooms were moldy, and the accommodations felt like a dorm room. Deb quickly logged onto the various websites and secured some rooms in a hotel inside the walled city, we notified management of our immediate departure and cancellation of the rooms and headed out to the old part of the city.

We found the parking lot, the attendant collected our luggage, pointed us to the steps in to the walled city and told us he would take our luggage to the hotel, saving us the trouble of packing it all up the steps. We shouldered our backpacks and started climbing. Once inside the walls, we quickly found our hotel and checked in. Our luggage was already in our rooms and what a difference from our first spot.

Carcassone was a delight. We dined the first night in a small nearby restaurant in a courtyard under a tree. Excellent food for a tired quartet of travelers. Glenda handled all the driving chores and did a yeoman’s job. No speeding tickets, no dents, no scratches, although there was some scary practice runs reversing back down a hill from a wrong turn. the local inhabitants hustled out to move their bikes from possible run-ins, but no other problems.

We snuggled into our new rooms, tired from our adventures but anxious to meet the new day.

 

France, May 15-16, 2025

 

The weather in the Rhone valley continues to border on marvellous. Blue skies with the occasional wispy clouds in the morning, larger pillowy clouds drifting in during the afternoon and early evening. As with each port, there are a number of excursions available; from Tournon sur Rhone there are three trips available. Don & Ann chose the nine hour optional excursion to the Ardeche. They are gone the entire day. The ship departs Tournon sur Rhone after lunch, so they will be picked up at a stop at Pouzin. The rest of the group takes the two and one-half hour steam train up the Doux River gorge to Colombier-le-Vieux village. This is a very steep narrow gauge rail line that makes two runs a day, morning and afternoon. Although there is a winding road up to the village of 600 people, the steam train serves tourists. An engaging trip with scenery that is breathtaking. The forested hillsides are covered with acacia trees, and the hilltops feature chestnut trees, which are harvested for their nuts; then made into spread, butter, liqueur, and nuts for roasting.

The train returns shortly after noon and we take the coach back to the Viking Heimdal for the noon meal and a relaxing afternoon. The ship casts off at 1:00 PM for the next port - Viviers. There is an evening shore excursion walk into the town of Viviers. this is one of the best preserved medieval towns in southern France. It serves as the administrative and religious capital of Vivarais and is situated on a hill overlooking the river. It features narrow, winding cobblestone streets. In the center of Old Town sits St. Vincent Cathedral, the smallest active cathedral in France.

The cathedral is a blend of Romanesque style, its tower dates back to the previous century. In the 16th century, Bishop Claude de Tournon led the construction of the flamboyant Gothic apse.

The town of Viviers was founded in the 5th century. the former Roman settlement became the bishop’s seat and conflicts during the ensuing centuries required the town to be fortified. During the renaissance ca more stable period of wealth allowed many new houses to be built. some buildings date back to the Middle Ages, and time seems to stand still along the cobblestone streets of the Old Town.

Dinner this evening featured Quiche Lorraine as a starter, Potage Garbare, a soup of mixed vegetables, potato and croutons, and a main course of Marinated Rack of Lamb. Dessert was a Layered Coconut Mango Cake or a Creme Brulee. Outstanding as usual. Following dinner most of the team headed to the Viviers Walk and others stayed behind, retiring to their staterooms.

The ship sailed over night and  arrived in the early morning in Arles, of Vincent Van Gogh fame. Morning featured a walking tour of Arles, including to the hospital and the Café de Nuit, of the famous painting. Many of his paintings are displayed in the Old Arles Hospital, now renamed the L’Espace de Van Gogh. 

Arles is also home to Les Arenes Amphitheater, a roman era structure, part of a UNESCO World heritage site. the arena was built in the 1st Century to seat 21,000 people. Wild beasts old be run into the center of the arena to battle gladiators. there were also chariot races and hand-to-hand battles of gladiators. It is now primarily a venue for the traditional spectacle of corridors, bullfights. This less bloodthirsty form of local bullfighting is called Course Carmarguaise, in which the bull is not killed. 

In the afternoon, most of the members took an optional excursion to Les Baux & Carrier es de Lumieres. Les Baux is a small village located in the Alpiles mountains northeast of Arles. It sits atop a rocky outcrop that is crowned with a ruined castle. From the village name the word bauxite was coined for the aluminum ore when first discovered there by geologist Pierre Berthier in 1821. The village has over 1.5 million visitors per year, although it has only about 20 residents in the upper part of the commune and 315 for the whole commune.

The Carrier es les Lumieres is a light show projected on the walls of the old quarry. Beautiful colors and images of the impressionist and post-impressionist painters famous to the region of Provence. If you look closely at the photo below, you will see Ann & Don Hosford n the bottom of the photo.

May 12-14, 2025, Rhône River

Tuesday and we are sailing through the Rhône river valley.We start our morning with eggs, coffee, croissant and an offering of other pastries. Sausage (chicken, beef and pork), bacon and oatmeal are also available.  At 9:00 AM, we set out on a motorcoach panoramic tour of Lyon. We walk through the old town shopping area, in 1466, Louis XI set up Lyon’s first silk manufactory. Due to the roads and rivers,  Lyon, emerged as the largest French producer of silk cloth. In 1540 Lyon was granted a monopoly on silk manufacture by Francois 1, and by 1620, there were over 10,000 looms in the city. At the height of Lyon’s silk production during the 18th century, it is estimated that more than 15,000 workers were involved in the industry. Lyon based designer Phillip de Lasalle invented a device called the semple, a key part of the mechanism that controlled the pattern woven on an individual loom; this led to the development of the Jacquard loom in 1801, which could be programmed to weave even more complex patterned textiles.

We wandered out of old town and after the tour, we stopped at a sidewalk cafe for a coffee and a glass of wine. then back to the ship for another sumptuous dinner. As there is a lot of food on this trip, we will try not to bore our readers with pictures and descriptions of food at every stop. Trust us to say that the food has been amazing. We will continue to feature some special highlights.

Lyon lies just to the south of the province of Beaujolais, divided into 12 appellations and further subdivided into three categories of wine; Beaujolais, Beaujolais Villages and Beaujolais cru. The wine making region is larger than any single district in Burgundy, with more than 55,000 acres of vines planted in a 34 mile stretch of land 7-9 miles wide along the Rhone. Beaujolais and Beaujolais Noveau wines are from the southern half of the region and the none of Noveau wines can be made using grapes from the cru regions. Wines from the Beaujolais Villages appellation are higher quality and represent 25% of the total production. Beaujolais cru wines are the highest quality available.

Lyon has a great culinary history stemming from the 16th century marriage of French king Henry II to Italian Catherine de’ Medici. Catherine brought her own cooks from Florence who began using local ingredients for the royal food. Bringing such traditional dishes as potatoes Lyonnaise, coq au vin and any number of specialty sausages. the fruity Beaujolais wines or a bold Rhone red augment all of these foods.

The Viking Heimdal casts off from Lyon at 2:30 PM and heads down river to our next port, Vienne. 

Wednesday morning we are docked in Vienne,  having arrived around 6:00 PM the previous evening. The offering today is a walking tour of the town of Vienne, one of the oldest towns in France. There were two types of walks, the easy one and the gruelling one.  Everyone but Don, Deb and Mark took the gruelling one because they like to show-off their senior agility skills.  Don took the easier walk but, as he has a bum knee, that was to be expected.  Mark also has a good excuse, as he spent 4 nights in hospital with pneumonia.  Deb, on the other hand, is just lazy but used Mark’s illness as a reason to skip the walk.  Somethings never change!

There are still Roman artefacts dating from the 1st century, and it is considered the gateway to the French countryside. Its Roman amphitheater, nestled in the hills of Mont Pipet is one of the best preserved in the nation. Other landmarks include the Abbey of Saint Pierre and the Church of Saint-Andre’-le-Bas.

The St. Maurice Cathedral, also known at the Cathedral Saint-Maurice occupies a spot where a church has stood since the 4th century. The current cathedral, begun around 1130, rises majestically from a terrace overhanging the Rhone; it is a national monument of France. It took almost 500 years to construct the entire cathedral, but was damaged by the Protestants in the French wars of religion (1562-1578.) 

In 1312, Pope Clement V organized the council of Vienne, whose principal outcome was a papal edict abolishing the Knights Templar. the Pope was strongly pressured to do this by Philip IV of France who owed the Templars money and coveted their land. during the first centuries of the current era, the city embraced Christianity; its first Bishop is said to have been a disciples of the Apostle Paul.

After learning all of the above, we were exhausted (the wine at lunch did not help) so we all went our separate ways which included Mark wandering around, Howie for a nap, Lee wandering around, Glenda rounding up the passengers for a sing-a-long and then, possibly, for a mutiny due to only marginally good food.  Don was napping (but not with Howie), Ann was on another tour or looking for another tour and Deb was trying to find a quiet spot to put her feet up.  This did not happen and she ended up talking to a woman from New Jersey who wanted to tell her how wonderful her entire life is non-stop.  Where was Glenda when Deb needed her??  She showed up and made a comment about Trump.  That stopped the tirade. 

Dinner this evening included Coq au Vin, Cream of Chestnut soup, Pike Perch with a parsnip purée, and a delicious Potato & Chanterelle mixture in a pastry wrap, with a creamy mushroom sauce. The dessert of favor was a Cassis Bavarois - moist sponge cake with layers of black currant jam and mousse.   

During the afternoon, we had cast off and by the early evening, we were docked at our next destination, Tournon sur Rhone.

May 8-11, 2025; Paris France

While Mark was testing the medical practices of the American Hospital of Paris (excellent by the way,) the rest of the party was enjoying the City of Light. What can be better than Springtime in Paris? Sounds like a great song title. Since Glenda and Deb had been to Paris some 20 times, they were on their own, although Deb, a saint in the making, kept close to the hospital area. Glenda went wandering in the morning while Jeff joined the other four on a Paris bus tour, hitting the highlights. Jeff had been once before, Howie and Lee had accompanied Deb and Mark and “participated” in the infamous burning of the Notre Dame a few years back (see previous Paris posts of prior years) Ann had not been since she was 15 years old and probably had other things on her mind than tagging with her parents. Don was a Paris virgin! 

The bus tour was very enlightening, hitting all the landmarks and a few of the lesser known spots.

The Sorbonne University of Paris for example is not necessarily on every tourists list of top sites. However the Arc de Triomphe, Tour Eiffel, and Shakespeare & Company books almost always make the list and do not disappoint. The restoration of Notre Dame, while still underway, has brought back the amazing nature and artistry of this iconic Paris landmark.

Dinner at the restaurant recommended to Howie by the hotel Concierge did not disappoint all diners, particularly those who chose flaming duck or sirloin beefsteak. However the chopped sea bass and mashed potatoes stuffed into a pita, although different, was not such a big hit. The wine was good, some may have over indulged but a great and grand time was enjoyed by all.  The dessert sorta of made up for it as did the free open bottle of Calvados the waiter left on the table.

The next day Glenda and Jeff struck out on their own for a self guided tour, taking in the famous Metro underground system while visiting the Parc Monceau with Deb before she headed to the hospital. This park was lovely and picturesque in every direction.  Ann, Don, Lee and Howie headed for the Musée d’Orsay for a day of Impressionism and lunch at the museum. Everyone compared distance walked the evening while waiting for the UBER to show up and take the group (minus Mark who had been coerced into another day at the hospital) to the Bateaux Parisian Dinner Cruise at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.  It was a late dinner for all but everyone came through in their own way and we had a ball.  Lots of champagne and wine and great desserts.  The scenery was wonderful too!

Saturday night was also “set out the luggage” night for our crew, as the luggage truck was leaving at 6:00 AM. Our group was due in the Rochester Hotel dining room Sunday morning for pick up of a box breakfast, universally reviewed as tasteless both in style and ingredient. Onward to the coaches for a head count and trip to the TGV. The headcount was a bit disjointed as two (Mark & Deb) were missing, and two names from another group were not on the list. Finally sorted, they were off to the Gare de Lyon train station for the two and one-half hour trip to Lyon. Scenic countryside at upwards of 225 kph through rolling French farms and villages before arriving at the gourmet center of France - Lyon. ( Recently un-seated by Marseille, Lyon had been the second most populous city of France.)

The troops were herded onto another coach for what they were told would be a 45 minute ride to the ship. Luckily the driver was not a native English speaker and, 4 to 5 minutes later the coach arrived at the dock. All were piped on board and assigned their cabins. While luggage was distributed to the cabins, lunch was served in the dining room. In the afternoon, the Hosfords and the Needelmans took an offered walking tour of the Lyon area where the docks were located, while Glenda and Jeff struck out for the Resistance Museum and an in-depth look at the French Resistance movement during WW II.

Back from their strolls all repaired to the lounge for a beverage and a rest. Meanwhile, Mark & Deb had arrived and the now intact group of eight joined the rest of the passengers for an hour long mandatory safety and discussion with the ship crew. Then on to Dinner, and what a dinner it turned out to be. There was plenty of wine available, multiple bottles on sample, and an amazing chef’s special for this evening that 7 of the 8 chose, a Salade Lyonaise followed by braised boneless beef ribs and swirled potato cakes with asparagus. For dessert a cherry filled clafute. Mark, still a bit on the mend, chose a sweet potato soup spiced with curry and followed by a mushroom ragout and puréed potatoes. The evening ended on a quiet and filling note. All crept into their cabins for a well earned rest.