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.

Wednesday, May 7, 2025 On to France

We are on our way to France. We leave today with Glenda and Jeff arriving from Lincoln to park in front of our house and Abigail arrives to haul the four of us and our attendant luggage to Eppley Airfield for our 10:30 AM flight. We hook up with our other traveling companions, Howie and Lee Needelman and Don and Ann Hosford. We are using American Airlines for this trip. We don’t often fly them, but they had the best options available. We head to Chicago for the initial leg where we “enjoy” a nine hour layover.

 

We all eat lunch together at a very overpriced airport restaurant and have Caesar salad with grilled chicken for six diners, and Jeff and Mark choose a bowl of lobster bisque soup, a veritable bargain at $12.00 per bowl! We find some seats near our Gate 14, and settle in. Some walk, some sit, and some wander or nap. Around 6:00 we split up for dinner, the Needelmans and Hosford’s headed for a Chicago Hot Dog place while the other four choose a cheeseburger and pizza. After dinner wed head back to the Gate 14 to await our 10:00pm overnight flight.

Compared to the first leg crammed into an American miniature plane, on this leg we enjoy Economy Plus seating. What a difference; plenty of room for wide derrières, decent leg room and provided with blankets, pillows and upscale headphones. Since we had already eaten a few hours earlier, we weren’t too tempted by the meal - some picked salad, and some tried the pasta. Nothing too great. The flight time was a little over seven hours, but given the time difference of 7 hours between Central Daylight and European time, we arrived in Paris just at noon.

The flight was uneventful, but about 5 hours out Mark began to feel ill and feverish. He had to make use of a continuing supply of “barf’ bags, making Deb’s flight a bit unnerving. He seemed to be doing better but had developed a horrible rasping cough. We picked up our transfer and checked in at the Hotel Rochester for the next three nights. Mark went to his room to sleep, and the rest of the crew headed out with the Viking Cruises Guide for a quick reconnoiter of our new neighborhood. 

Returning at 4:00, Howie and Deb went to check on Mark and found him sound asleep, sweating profusely and with a cough that sure sounded like pneumonia. Deb and Mark walked two blocks with the Viking Cruise rep to secure an Uber for a trip to the emergency room - the American Hospital of Paris. Like hospitals the world over, this entails a flurry of short activity, be it initial check in, preliminary diagnosis or x-rays, interspersed with hours of waiting.  At 11:00 it was determined that Mark was going to spend the night. Deb headed back to find the rest of the group, and Mark was finally installed in his room by 11:57pm; Mark learned later that Deb didn’t get back to the Hotel until nearly midnight, having problems finding a taxi. Mark was served a bit of dinner, but no wine, even though it was Paris France! Deb arrived at the hotel to find Glenda waiting for her in the lobby with wine, bread and cheese. Finally a heroine in this sad tale!

So much for an exciting first day. 

The Great Adventure, the final week - Friday, September 9, 2022

We awake to more sunshine on this bright Sunday morning. Another travel day coming up, but now we are car sightseeing. We start with a wonderful breakfast served in the garden of our guest house while being studied by the neighborhood cat. Home made (fait maison) yoghurt and marmalades, accompanied by fried bread, fresh baguettes and croissants, orange juice and coffee. We visited with the proprietress for a bit; when we brought up check-out, we learned to our dismay that she could not accept credit cards, only cash. We did not have enough! So, leaving our luggage as collateral, we set off to find a cash machine on a quiet Sunday. A short walk and we found our goal, accessed our account and were soon back to claim our luggage. We had a nice chat considering her low facility for English and our very poor French. We parted friends and she even gifted us a jar of fresh made fig marmalade, the figs from the tree in her garden.

We next drove up the hill to the Citadel to park and walk around. This is a huge property and we wandered only a small bit of this city within a city. Being Sunday, local and foreign tourists, together with their noisy children and truculent teenagers, leashed dogs, and tottering elders were clogging the streets and stepping in our way. Some people are so inconsiderate!

After a long trek to the public toilets for Mark (Deb thought he had fallen somewhere and finally came looking - it was a long distance) we turned back towards the car park to get on the road towards our next stop-the city of Cahors.

We arrived in Cahors around 5:00 and quickly found our room for the night in a building right on the Main Street of town. Deb rang the bell, and after a wait, the landlord, Patrice, arrived. She quickly found the reason for the delay. Four flights of steps! She almost cancelled then and there. However he convinced us to take a look and offered to help with our luggage. He, too, is semi-retired, but up and down four flights of steps six to eight times per day evidently keeps one healthy. The accommodation was exquisite, nicely decorated and included a sleeping room, a dinette with kitchen area and a wonderful bath. There was even an air-conditioner in the bedroom!

We enjoyed our half-bottle of wine we had left over from the night before (yes there are times when we don’t consume the entire bottle,) and then struck out to find a place for our evening meal. We were skeptical, as we had not seen anything open on our drive in. No cafés, no retail establishments, nothing. There must be some strong blue laws in France. For our mid afternoon break, we were forced to stop at Chez McDo, as the Golden Arches seemed to be the only establishment allowed to be open. It was packed!

Our proprietor, Patrice, had recommended a sidewalk café Le Bistro d’ l’Isa up the street some blocks so we walked along. We found it open but, as it was only 6:45, we could only order a drink. Dinner service in France does not start until 7:00, anywhere. We sat at a sidewalk table, looked at the menu and found what we wanted to eat, we then ordered a bottle of Cahors area wine to start and soon were happy we had arrived early, as the tables quickly filled up. We enjoyed a huge cheeseburger with frites and a large cheese omelette. We skipped dessert this time but did stroll up the street away to a small local market where we picked up two more bottles of wine, some local cheese and some Perrier for provisions for the next few days. We climbed the Mt. Everest of staircases, ensconced ourselves in the air conditioning and read until our eyelids dropped. Note their is no talk of television watching while in France - finding English language television has become impossible.

Monday morning, we awoke to another lovely breakfast, this one delivered to our door by our proprietor, who also lives in the apartment next door. He owns the floor and has converted our small area to a B&B, He may also own another unit in the building, although our translation is a bit unclear on that fact. Anyway, the breakfast this day was a selection of cheeses, orange juice, croissants, baguettes and jams, together with the requisite cafe au lait and cafe noir. This delightful accommodation with so much food and so much room, was only $89 per night!  We told him he needs to charge more but from the next guy!

We lugged our two small cases back down the mountain, with another courteous assist from Patrice, plugged the meter for our vehicle parked on the street out front overnight, and struck out to explore Cahors. This city, surrounded by a meander of the Lot river, with steep limestone cliffs on all sides, was originally a Celtic settlement, prior to the Roman conquest around 50 BC. Their are remains of the Roman fortifications, and we walked the old city area, adjacent to our guest house, taking in the small medieval streets and then across the main square (which is conveniently a huge underground parking garage) to the covered historic bridge over the Rive Lot. The bridge now is only for pedestrian traffic, but is properly dramatic. By the time we returned to the car we were drenched in sweat as the temperature had risen to 32º C (90ºF) and the humidity wasn’t far behind. We cranked up the AC in the car and drove out of town, glad we hadn’t wilted, but also happy to have gotten the exercise and seen the marvelous town.

Our goal today is the city of Brantome, but first we needed to stop in the city of Sarlat, a medieval city, one that Deb had visited some eleven years previous on a trip with dear friend Glenda. We found a car park, and some public toilets, complete with an attendant and a 1€ Per person fee - beautifully clean and well worth the price. We began our wander around the old city, still a very hot day, and we eventually stopped at a sidewalk café for a noon meal. Another croque monsieur and another omelette, this time a mushroom one - not nearly as good as the cheese omelettes of days before. Accompanied by a glass of wine, and a huge carafe of ice cold water.

We returned to the car and then headed into the heart of the Perigord region towards Brantome. We typed the final exact destination into Google-Maps and ended up on a small country road at a large old farmhouse with the sign saying Escapade. This was our B&B- not what we were expecting. Our proprietress was out the door to meet and greet us before we could drive away to search for something different. She is Isabelle and she is a fortyish woman originally from Belgium. She has always wanted to run a B&B and looked at over 22 properties before she found this one. It is really amazing, very ecologically friendly and quite the setting. There is even a pond out front with decking and chaise lounge chairs - “the pool” as she says, with a pumped waterfall. We decided to stay and hauled our luggage up the single staircase to our lovely room with en suite for the next two days.

It had been a long day’s drive, so rather than walk the 20 minutes into town to a restaurant or drive and risk getting lost in the dark on the return, we settled for our cheese and wine on the front portico, overlooking the pond and studying the sunset. Beautiful.

The next morning we were up for our 8:00 breakfast of croissants, baguettes, fait maison yoghurt, a fried egg and coffee with apple juice on the side. Delectable. WE then loaded ourselves and our backpack into the DZ for a drive around the Perigord. First stop was the Grottes de Villars, the caves of Villars. The Perigord is famous for its caves, within which are Paleolithic drawings, Lascaux being the most famous. Lascaux however is now closed to tourists and the French government has created a facsimile of the drawings within a modern building. the reason being that the lights and the carbon dioxide from all the visitors was destroying the drawings. Villars however is not that visited, so we were able to spend an amazing hour plus underground viewing the stalactites, stalagmites and the columnar formations. At the end of the tour we entered a chamber with some drawings, one of which depicted a man. This, we believe, is the only extant drawing of a human figure in all the cave art discovered so far.

Next is is on to the small village of S. Jean du Cole, or St. Jean on the river Cole. Here we parked and walked the village, locating a wonderful cafe for our afternoon meal of a Salad du chef with salmon, a casserole en croute with squab or chicken (we’re not sure which) and a carafe de van rouge. We enjoyed the meal, the scenery and the setting. Next we drove through a few more small villages before heading back to our “farm house” for a glass of wine before heading back into the village of Brantome for our 7:00 PM dinner reservation.

We were seated in a stunning outside garden area and presented with the menu by the Chef de Cuisine, who spoke excellent English and even knew, or claimed to know, where Nebraska was located. After an amuse Bouche of gazpacho, we started with a shared appetizer of fois gras, followed by roast duck for Deb and a cold roast veal with garlic aioli for Mark. Yes, yes, we know!  All bad and inhumane choices but that calf and goose died for us!  It was an honor to eat them.  We shared a bottle of scrumptious St. Emilion wine and enjoyed a pair of desserts - a millefleure of strawberries with basil inflected cream, and a selection of fromage. One of the best meals we have ever enjoyed in France, unhurried, unpretentious and excellently prepared. We motored home in the descending darkness and retired for the evening, resting for our final driving day of the Great Adventure.

Wednesday morning we were up, packed, showered and down to our croissant, yoghurt and coffee by 7:45. We took leave of Isabelle and her beautiful home and drove off toward Bordeaux, an approximately 3 hour drive. We returned to the Gare St. Jean, turned in the rental car and then had a coffee while we waited for our TGV high speed train to Paris and our final two nights away from our kids and friends and our own charming little cottage.

The TGV high speed train to Paris was quick and easy, especially as we had 1st class seats and plenty of space to wrangle our luggage. Deb had a small scare when reading about our hotel in Paris.  All indications were that it had no lift and no A/C and sounded like a youth hostel!  Upon closer examination, it turns out there are TWO La Perle Hotels, one near the station which is indeed a 2 star hotel and OUR La Perle, a very nice four star with A/C and and elevator.  Upon arrival in Gare Montparnasse, we stood in the taxi line and eventually loaded the luggage and headed into town towards our destination, Hotel Perle, in the 6th Arrondissement. Our hotel is very nice, has a lift, is relatively small and excellently located just 1/2 block off the Place Suplice , with its huge fountain and the Eglis Suplice  lurking overhead in the background.  It is on the Rue de Canettes and is a very short stroll from everywhere and many, many restaurants and bars.  Turns out, quite a LOT of bars as we are very near the Sorbonne and there are beautiful young people everywhere. It was really fun to watch all the goings-on.

As the clock neared 7:00, we took the lift down and walked around a bit to find a cafe and a place to eat. We ended up at the Cafe Mabillion for an Omelette and a “Minced Beef” with a fried egg, essentially a large hamburger, accompanied by some vin rouge and frites for all.We walked back and retired by 10:30, having had a long travel day.

Thursday morning we had a lovely breakfast in the hotel garden room and then stepped out for exploration. It had been raining yesterday, and more was forecast for today; luckily we had packed our rain jackets in our carry on bags and so were prepared. We wandered down to Notre Dame, site of our last shenanigans in 2019 when the Cathedral burned (not our fault, really!) We attempted to take a photo from the same spot as in 2019, and after a number of attempts (selfies are hard for short armed people), we think we succeeded. Next we walked along the Ile de la Cite  streets and finally back towards our home base.

Of course we stopped twice during the day for a glass of wine and some major people watching at the cafes along the way. After all, it was our last full day of vacation and who knows when we will back to Paris!  Back in our room, to reorganize all the luggage and grab some cat naps before going back around the corner for our last meal in Paris. Nothing special, except for our memories, another Omelette and a Salade Parisien with a lot of ham & cheese on top. Vin Rouge, baguettes and a toast to the City of Lights. While eating our supper, we learned of the death of Queen Elizabeth II. So in our years of travel, we have experienced earthquakes, the death of 2 Popes, the burning of a national landmark and the death of the longest serving monarch in British history, again none of it our fault!! Home to Hotel Perle for a last check of luggage and then to sleep.

Friday morning we were up and showered and ready to go in the Lobby for our 7:30 AM pick up, which was actually 20 minutes early! We arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport by 8:40 and commenced the check-in process, divesting ourselves of four large bags and then taking the long walk through security and down the walk to our gate. Almost there when Deb realized that she had left her watch and bracelet back at security, so we backtracked and retrieved the articles.  As we are traveling Business Class this time, we found the lounge and enjoyed a cup of coffee, a croissant and a cream puff, before boarding the big bird and heading home to Omaha. 

We have visited three countries, Ireland, England and France,  driven three vehicles, two on the “wrong side” of the road and logged well over 2,000 miles with nary an accident nor  ticket. Lots of wrong turns and u-turns, but that is part of the fun. Lots of bickering but also lots of laughs and some new found insights into each other. Loads of great food and wine, as you no doubt have noticed. This Great Adventure was truly a trip of a lifetime for us. We are, however, very happy to be home.

France, Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Bonjour. Happy Birthday to EBC III . Today is our last day in Paris and in France. We are up for our final breakfast and then out into the streets on a stunning day. We catch an Uber and ride to Sacre Cour, at the end taking the Funicular to the top. Howie and Lee tour the Church while Deb and Mark stroll the square, looking at people, pigeons and other assorted sites. After the church tour, we wander the horrifically crowded streets, stopping in the small shops to gaze at the merchandise. Eventually we settle in a cafe for a glass of wine and some pomme frites for our lunch.

We then start the trek down the steps, and split up for the afternoon. Howie and Lee go to explore Pigalle and a look at Moulin Rouge, following which they head for the long walk back towards the hotel and a nice stop for a sandwich and then a pleasant hour and a half at the Picasso Museum. The museum was showing a combination of Picasso works and Alexander Calder works; most interesting, but somewhere along the line, Howie misplaced his hat. That makes a hat and a wallet swallowed up by the City of Light.

Mark and Deb went on to the Metro stop at Abbesses to catch a subterranean ride to the Left Bank and our destination of Le Bien Aimee - a yarn shop, to pick up Abigail’s requested order of hand dyed yarn. After three train line changes, we arrive and step out into the sunshine for the amble to the cute little shop where we make our purchases and visit for a bit; then back towards Place d’Italie for the metro.

We take a break for another rest stop and then board the metro again to head back to the Bastille and a walk to our hotel. We arrive around 4:45 and head upstairs to pack and rest.

We meet back up with Howie and Lee to hear of their adventurous afternoon and plan for our last meal in Paris. We walk to Place du Marché St. Catherine, the small square near our hotel lined with small cafes - tres romantic. We choose the restaurant Le Marché, took a seat outside and dined on a crepe caramel, omelettes and tagliatellia followed by a creme brûlée dessert shared by all. A fitting end to our Parisian experience. We walked a few blocks to clear our digestive tracts and then to bed for our early morning wake-up.

France, Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Bonjour mes amis. Today starts with a drizzle outside, but we troopers suffer through our fruit compote, ham, cheese, baguettes and croissants with our normal stoicism and plot a day of museum trekking.

First off towards Notre Dame to survey the damage from the previous evening. The entire area is cordoned off, but we are able to take a picture from the bridge. People everywhere! We stop at a pharmacy for some ibuprofen to restock our supply and then head towards our first destination of Musee L’Orangerie, a long trek through the Tuileries garden to near the Place de la Concorde. We arrive around 11:30 and there are no lines! Because, of course, it is closed on Tuesdays, which we knew a day ago, but then forgot. Next we tromp back across the Seine to the Musee D’Orsay. Here lines snaked around the blocks.

As we sit to reorganize, realizing that with the Musee L’Orangerie and the Louvre closed on Tuesdays and now Notre Dame closed, the crowds of tourists must go somewhere. We opt not to stand in this queue as 3 of our 4 had been to the museum on previous trips. So, off we go towards the Musee Rodin. The lines here are not so long, and we enter. As we have now logged nearly 9,000 steps, and having visited this museum three previous times, Deb opts to sit in the coffee shop while the other three of us tour the grounds viewing the marvellous sculpture. We return to Deb at 1:30.

Disaster has occurred; Deb discovers that her wallet is missing. Our only choices for recovery are that it was left at the pharmacy or left in the Hotel this morning. The other possibility is that, when accosted for signatures to a petition near the bridge over the Seine, her pocket was picked. Deb and Mark head back to the pharmacy while Howie and Lee continue their tour of the Museum.

The pharmacy had not seen the missing wallet, so on back to the hotel. The wallet was not at the hotel, hence the arduous effort to cancel the credit cards and plan anew. Being good travelers, Mark, held a credit card not in Deb’s wallet and money was evenly split between the two. We will get by for the next few days, but a story to tell to all future clients with even more power.

Howie and Lee return after undertaking a further death march, going to Champs Élysées, Place de la Concorde, Palais Royale, and then back past Notre Dame for a final few pictures. They returned to the hotel shortly after 6:00, having logged a total of 25,000 steps. Mark and Deb’s 18,000 was a mere pittance. All 8 feet were in protest.

We finished the evening with an 8:00 dinner reservation at the Metropolitan Restaurant. We picked up this recommendation from Rick Steves’ book and this was easily the best meal of the trip so far. Appetizers of gnocchi, asparagus with a panko dipped, fried coddled egg, and a ceviche. Main courses of duck or veal and desserts of chocolate mousse, a flan, and a cheese platter. All washed down by and excellent Loire Valley wine. Lovely end to a somewhat crappy day.

France, Monday, April 15, 2019

Bonjour. We are down to breakfast this morning at 8:30. A more complete breakfast today with fruit compote, juice, coffee, ham, Brie, and the usual assortment of breads and croissants. The only drawback is that we were only offered one cup of coffee and were unable to gain our servers’ attention for a second round.

Off we head for the Shoah Memorial, France’s Holocaust Museum. Although the literature said we should allow an hour for the tour of the permanent exhibition, we were in the Memorial for over three hours. A moving experience taking a timeline of anti-semitism and Nazi cooperation through to the discussion of 76,000 French Jews deported and only 2,500 of them returning after WWII. We toured the attached bookstore and then journeyed on for a rest stop of wine and beer at a sidewalk cafe. Then on to The Saint Chapelle for a tour of this 12th century chapel developed by King Louis IX, the first and only French king to be awarded sainthood - St. Louis.

The stained glass windows are amazing, outlining the life of the church from Genesis through the death of Jesus. The chapel sits on the Ille de la Citie, on one end of the Island shared with Norte Dame Cathedral. This island in the middle of the Seine was first colonized by a Gallic tripe called the Parissi in the 1st century and became renamed as Paris in the 5th century. Such history makes the 243 year old USA seem childlike.

Next we cross to the Left Bank to search out the famous Shakespeare & Co. Bookstore. This store, established in the 1920s carries English language books and has been a staple of the expatriate family of English and Americans ever since. The owner was the first person to publish Ulysses, the home away from home for Hemingway and Gertrude Stein. Now, expanding to the surrounding buildings adjoining, it is still selling books to the English language readers, and just tourists. As we approached, the line to enter the store stretched out and through to the street.

We stood in line and finally entered. There was no pressure and we spent a few fine minutes browsing as we do in any bookstore. However the crowds and the heat became over powering. We worked our way out without purchases, but glad for the experience. We then stepped down the block for our afternoon snack. Wine, beer, and Aperol Spritzer not accompany our Cheeseburgers and Hot Dog - French style. At least they were accompanied by the standard frites.

The cheeseburgers were very loosely formed patties, topped by a very runny cheese sauce. Also on the plate, together with the frites, was a small cup of guacamole and 4 tortilla chips. The Hot Dog was a baguette, split, with a foot long and grated Swiss Emmantel cheese, then cut in half. Not unflavorful but strange. We then head back towards our hotel, walking along the Seine, passing Notre Dame and stopping for an obligatory selfie from the bridge, and then on across the Îles St. Louis and back onto the right bank.

We arrive back around 6:30 and go to our rooms for a rest and to gather again for a plan for the balance of the evening. Lee finds a bucket of ice to cool down the champagne she had received as a Birthday gift from our landlady in Dinan and we decide to gather in our room to open. At 7:30, our phones start erupting with bulletins, and we gather in front of CNN to watch the unbelievable fire consuming the icon we had just spent hours skirting and walking around - Notre Dame. We watched, transfixed and astonished as the flames consumed and the spire came down. With that piece of news culminating our first day, we determined that we should call it a night around 10:00 and regroup for a plan for tomorrow.

France, Sunday, April 14, 2019

Fitting that this morning, Palm Sunday, we arise to look out over the square of Rouen Cathedral and see palm sellers lining the courtyard entry to the church, huddling in 32F chill. We pack our bags and head down to a wonderful breakfast, cereal, fruit, toast, yogurt, juice, coffee and the obligatory croissant. All while a grey long haired cat, almost a twin of our Sushi, wanders around the dining room looking for a scratch or rub.

We struggle with the bags to our car park and load up for the days run. Our only stop today before Paris is Giverney, the village of the home of Claude Monet, and the site of his home and gardens. We arrive at 10:30 and secure a parking place. Deb had, the night before, secured online prepaid tickets which allowed us to skip the entry queue and head for the group entrance where, after fumbling with the technology of tickets on a cell phone, we were through the gate.

There are two gardens, the famous lily pond gardens, which are across the road from the main grounds and then the beautiful beds surrounding the home. We start with the lily garden. If you never visit another garden, this is the one you must see - put it on your bucket list. Monet planned and planted this by painting with plants and then he famously painted the plants. The colors are wonderful, and blooming all year long as the early hyacinth, daffodils and tulips give way to the azaleas and rhododendrons, giving way to the roses and summer bloomers. All underplanted with a verdure that provides a base. All this surrounds a pond and stream crisscrossed with bridges and paths.

Next we stroll through the tunnel under the roadway to the house garden. Again painted with plants, but in a more orderly fashion. Row upon row of solid colors of tulips today, which will give way in a few weeks to the next wave of color. We eventually make our way into the house to walk through his gallery, studded with his own paintings and the hallways and other rooms hung with those of his friends, Pissarro, Renoir, Manet. All are reproductions, as otherwise there would be armed guards everywhere, but the illusion is masterful. The background of the yellow walls or the blue walls makes the home itself a work of art. Once arriving at the obligatory gift shop, we end up spending as much time as in the home itself.

We next stop at a nearby restaurant for our afternoon meal; memorable only in that the servings of quiche were nearly two inches thick and as large as a piece of pizza. Only that the flavor would have matched the size. The omelette on offer was also large and as tasteless as a 1/2 inch thick piece of fried cardboard.

Onto the highway and heading to Paris. As we are required to return the vehicle fully fuelled up, we stop on the outskirts and top off with €100.02 ($112.00) of diesel fuel. Sticker Shock!

We fight our way around Charles DeGaulle airport, at least twice until we discover our rental car drop off sight. Unloaded we walk to the nearest taxi stand for the long ride into Paris proper. Even on a Sunday, traffic is heavy, but we finally arrive at our hotel, Les Tournelles, around 6:00. We leave the bags in our rooms, rest for a few minutes and then off to explore the area of the Marais. By 8:30 we are ready to eat and so head back to the hotel and a nearby brasserie for a bite. Soup, crepes and sandwich with some wine and beer. Then to bed for our next days’ exploration of the City of Light.

France, Saturday, April 13, 2019

Mes Amis, today we are up and packed and at the breakfast table by 8:30. As today is another travel day, we put our belongings in the big blue beast and head out to look for a last museum in Bayeux. Alas, it doesn’t open until 10:00 and we have to get down the road. By the time we find our way out of the byzantine one-way streets and road construction zones we could have probably made the visit! Shades of Omaha during road construction season - lots of orange cones.

Finally on the highway and headed east to our eventual destination of Rouen. We take a slight detour to check out the village of Cabourg and its hotels along the beach. After negotiating a pedestrians only road along the beach and escaping before the Gendarmerie find us to issue a ticket, we are back on the road. We make a pitstop for coffee at a roadside restaurant called Flunch (not a typo) and pull into Rouen around 12:30. Again, we encounter construction and pedestrians.

Rouen is a nearly 2,000 year old city that has been ruled by Romans, Normans, English and French over the ages. It is famous as the death spot for Jean D’Arc and for its cathedral. After finding the cathedral parking garage and squeezing the beast into a very tight spot on the first underground level, we abandon our luggage and go looking for our hotel, The Cardinal Hotel. Amazingly, we have found the nearest parking spot to the hotel, as the place is directly across the square from the Cathedral. However the square is under reconstruction , so there are some twists and turns to be navigated on foot.

Rouen, in the old central city, is pretty much confined to pedestrian ways so we will not need the car during the visit. We check into our hotel and solicit a recommendation for lunch. We walk a few blocks and alight at The Studio cafe. Pictures of French and American movie stars adorn the walls. We have an excellent lunch of andouille sausage with apples, or sea bass and salmon over cheesy risotto, or braised pork cheek with mashed potatoes. Dessert is cheese or a shared creme brûlée. All accompanied by some wine and beer. A most satisfying luncheon.

We make haste back to the car park and unload our luggage, dragging it through the construction zones back to the hotel for a quick unload and break, then off to explore this city. We are first looking for the Ossiary of the Church of St. Maclou. This is an area were they have excavated bones from the early Middle Ages, which were buried under the church. Unfortunately the display is closed on the weekends, so we strike out. As we wander the little streets around the cathedral and environments, we pop in and out of little shops, finding items that we nearly purchase, but nothing sticks.

We wander into the Cathedral, which is huge, under reconstruction and apparently all set up for the throngs of people expected tomorrow for Palm Sunday. Very nice but, our taste for cathedrals is waning. this is our fourth, or maybe fifth on this trip. They tend to blur together.

Our next quest is the site of the burning at the stake of Jean D’Arc. We find it via our tourist map, next to the ugliest church imaginable. This Eglise Jean D’Arc is an upswept modern structure covered in what appear to be imitation slate tiles. The church was not open, so there is no way to report on its interior, although, given the large number of stained windows apparent from the exterior, it may have looked much better from the inside. The actual burning site is marked by a large cross outside the church entry and is surrounded by a park, under construction.

Next we want to find the Couronne Restaurant, reputed to be France’s oldest, founded in 1345. (Jean D’Arc was brûlée in 1431, so this restaurant, if dated actually, was not playing off her notoriety.) We google it and set off, finding that we are taken around the block and back to our starting point. We had already passed it and didn’t know it! It faces the Jean D’Arc church. This restaurant is the one that Julia Child first dined in the day she arrived in France, and it awakened her to French food and her entire career, setting the stage for TV stardom and millions of American aspiring cooks and chefs. There was one reservation available for 8:00, but this seems too late for us. We have had enough of getting up from the dinner table at 10:00 and struggling back to fall asleep.

We split into couples and head back separately exploring for awhile. The Coverts find a supermarket and secure a bottle of wine, a baguette and some cheese and crackers to share in their hotel room. Needelman’s shop a bit and then find a creperie for an omelette crepe and a glass of beer.

An early evening for all as we wind down this penultimate day of driving around France. Tomorrow, we go to Giverny and then to Paris to drop the car.