We went on a Viking river cruise called France's Finest which is actually two cruises put together. The first started in Nice and ended in Paris. Then we switched ships from the Heimdal to the Fjorgyn and went from Paris to Normandy and back to Paris. Overall a fairly long cruise -- 15 dyas plus a pre-cruise extension in Nice. In the Heimdal we were in cabin 341, again one of the explorer suites that we have become accustomed to, and on the Forgyn in cabin 337, again an explorer suite in a slightly smalleer ship (8 fewer cabins). We are pretty much hooked on explorer suites. These ships are pretty much identical to the ships we have been on in earlier cruises. The cruise started with an extension in Nice.
We visited the Chagall museum in Nice many years ago when we were at a W3C
meeting in Nice. Unfortunately this time quite a bit of the museum was closed
for renovation. It still had some good stuff, of course.
The cruise went up the Rhone to Avignon, which was the site in 1309 to 1377 of the "Avignon captivity" during which seven consecutive popes lived in Avignon rather than Rome.
Viviers is a village known for its medieval cathedral, views of the Rhone, and artist community. The last photo, a fairly extreme telephoto shot, shows a nuclear power plant in the distance.
An evening cruise to the next stop. The second photo accidentally looks like a somewhat impressionistic painting.
We took a pretty long bus ride to get to the Gare de Saint Barthélemy le Plain, from which one takes the Train of Ardèche high above the Doux Gorge, At the end of the trip the locomotive is detatched, turned around, and re-attached to the other end of the carriages for the return trip, This way each side of the carriage get the same views of the gorge.
We visited several farms and wineries. The first couple photos are grape vines. Mile after mile of fields with nothing but vines. An underground wine tasting. Then a truffle-dog. The scruffy lookiing terrier (or whatever) searched around a grove of trees and would suddenly start digging in the dirt. The owner would swoop in and pick out a truffle.
On to Lyon
And Paris. Here's where we change ships and go North on the Seine. There will be a lot more photos of Paris when we return from Normandy. Note that Paris has its own copy of the statue of Liberty, somewhat smaller than ours, near the Eiffel Tower.
A foggy morning North of Paris, the castle of La Roche-Guyon
And now Monet's house in Giverny. Actually, we've seen the house before so we skipped it and spent the whole time there in the magnificent gardens. For more photos see our 2022 Prague to Paris Cruise.
The Notre Dame cathedral in Rouen, and a typical scene docked in Rouen, two ships rafted behind us on the other side of the bridge, which if you are curious is the Pont Boieldieu. Stiff wind.
On to Omaha Beach in Normandy, one of two beaches the Americans landed at in 1946. There was supposed to be bombing of the defenses, but the planes missed the beach and bombed five miles away. As you can see from the pictures the beach is wide and flat, then there is a very steep bluff. It was a terrible slaughter, but the American troops prevailed and established a beachhead. There was a brief ceremony laying a wreath, and all the veterans present, myself included, were called up before the crowd. There were a lot of people there in several tour groups -- maybe 150 or so -- and I was a bit surprised there were so few veterans, but then I realized that you've got to be pretty old to have been drafted, as I was. The draft ended in 1973, I served 69-71. Many of the veterans I spoke to were volunteers.
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South of Rouen, on our way to Paris, Les Andelys. The ruins are the Château Gaillard.
Château de la Petite Malmaison. Home of Napoleon's wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais
Finally, back to Paris and a night river cruise on a small vessel. Starting with the third photo: 3-A night river cruise with lots of people. Our boat had soomething like 20 people on board; 4-The Pavillon de Flore of the Louvre; 5-Pont de Neuf; 6-Notre Dame with people sitting by the Seine; 7-Institute de France. Finally, a video of the Eiffel Tower twinkling. The Louvre is absolutely immense. Just the part with displays that the public walks through is huge, let alone however much more there is in storehouses, workshops, and so on. Apparently the Pavillon de Flore has apartments for the museum director and other senior personnel. Reminds me a bit of the lavish apartment Roy Hofheinz, owner of the Houston Astros, had behind the Astrodome scoreboard.
