Sunday, Sep 4. Tour of Arles (”Arl”) home of several Roman ruins, including one of the most complete [partially reconstructed] colosseums. Tour guide was a firecracker. (It’s an observation that French guides like to laugh at their own jokes, even when they’re not that funny. This guide’s jokes were funny.) Our tour was filled with asides about people passing by or drivers being impolite. It really made the city seem more real.

The colosseum was all one could expect. It’s still in use. The amphitheater was less interesting. As the home of Van Gogh for 18 months, the town was filled with references to the artist. The gift shops echoed this. If it had surface area, the item had some image of a Van Gogh painting.

Being Sunday, the chief cathedral had services so we couldn’t enter. But our guide went over (in detail) the meaning of the facade sculptures. With several amusing opinions. She especially liked that the images of people headed to Hell only showed men.

By lunchtime the ship had arrived in Arles and we had lunch. Afterwards, our optional tour was to a limestone cave quarry which presented an incredible show of ever-changing multiple images of Venice. The concept has now been reproduced worldwide, but apparently most of the shows originate in this quarry. I personally think watching the show inside a quarry mined a thousand years ago made it more impressive.

Next was a short tour of an old town at the top of a rocky cliff. Nice town, but we’d seen one before. Nice view, but the haze of a hot day spoiled the quality.

It was a hot day, which is how the entire week has gone. It’s beginning to get to me. Spending time with my pals at the bar helps me recover each evening.

Saturday, September 3.

Morning tour began with a bus ride to nearly the top of famous hill, where a tired old crusader lived as a hermit. Hence came Hermitage, one of the more famous wine areas along the Rhone River. Walked up to the little chapel near the top (just below an ugly microwave tower), then began descending through the vineyard. Our guide was very entertaining, sharing facts, stories and jokes. Though hot, a nice walk. A woman in a group ahead of us decided she wanted to beat her own path down (“I want to go THIS way!”) , but was called back. Americans, what are you gonna do? Ended at a winery. Had another briefing on how to taste wine. France serves one ounce pours, barely enough for a serious attempt to evaluate the wine. Three wines, two pieces of chocolate. A visit to a very large shop follow.

Next was a well-regarded and crowded chocolate shop. Enjoyed a leisurely walk back to the ship, including crossing a reproduction of the first cable suspension bridge. The original had to be demolished because it was too low. Nearby is a statue of the designer of the original (Marc Seguin). Guide claimed that during the demolition, the town blindfolded the statue so he couldn’t watch.

The afternoon was spent cruising down the river. Bikers on the accompanying trail went faster than the boat. Passed a nuke power plant. Several locks, none remotely as high as the ones in Portugal.

The boat’s scheduled evening docking at a quaint and entertaining town was scrubbed due to lock problems, Moreover, the morning tours in Arles was altered to begin with a bus ride to Arles from Avignon, while the boat caught up. Late at night I was up for a call of nature and glanced out the window. We were passing a four-stack nuke plant. I got a very nice photo. The secret to great photos is being there.

Friday, Sep 2.

Friday, September 2. Vienne’s claim to fame is that it’s where the Knights Templar was officially disbanded. We went on the city tour, involving an old church with new stained glass windows, very old Roman temple, other Roman ruins everywhere, Roman Amphitheater, and a tough walk to a scenic outlook just above the amphitheater. Nice little town. (It’s become apparent that France loves tattoos. Their studios are mainstream and well decorated.)

The tour group was hampered by a larger than expected number of participants. There were three groups, divided by how fast and how far people wanted to go (up). Clearly, our ship has some hardy soles. Our tour guide wasn’t aware that she’d lead the “active” group and wore sandals. Inconceivably, all three groups left the meeting point at the same time. Havoc crossing the street and at the first few stops.

The weather has, on each day, been far off the forecast. Today was clear skies. In the afternoon we cruised down the river, passing through several locks. The scenery is much flatter than a “valley” has a right to be. Vineyards are only on the western side.

Thursday, Sep 1. Visited a Beaujolais winery. Very nice drive with a briefing on the history of the grape. Echoed my own readings. Very pretty winery, with both a barrel room and cask room, connected by a claustrophobic tunnel. Why there was a tunnel wasn’t explained. Vineyard was odd in that there were bare spaces. Head trained vines. Where the vines weren’t producing, they were simply pulled out. Tasting was Virginia style, I.E.  one ounce pours, vice California’s two (or more) ounce pours. White wine was good, one red wine was very good. Interestingly, the last Beaujolais tasted very much like a Pinot. (We were told several times about the good and bad regarding the history of marketing Beaujolais Nouveau.) 

Visited the village from which Beaujolais got its name. Nothing special. Lunch on the ship listed many odd options. I went with old faithful cheeseburger. With pickles: ugh.

We spent the afternoon on a food walk around Lyon. Very good fun. (I decided to leave my camera behind. Pastry, Cheese, Chocolate, and beef.) Mostly good: the goat cheese was horrible to me. The chocolate was very interesting and different. While we were walking, the ship repositioned to Veinne. Slept during the drive. 

Wednesday, Aug 31. Rather than join a group bus/walking tour of Lyon, we took off on our own, using Rick Steve’s Tour book. We saw many interesting sights, though I wouldn’t call any of them remarkable. I’ve become blasé I fear.

Ran into one VIking group after another, so we seemed to hit all their stops, though we missed the guide’s commentary. I’m sure we had several experiences they missed. Very hot. Sadly for Lyon, extremely hot weather has not been a common occurance, so the city is not air conditioned. It was remarkable that no window displayed an AC unit.

Lots of bicycles. Plus scooters. Transportation is cheap and easy. The waterfront had at least two workout stations, in use. Everyone looked very fit. Traffic was heavy, but amazingly orderly. No speeding, no horns, no screeching tires. As one would expect, small cars and smaller streets. One way is the norm.

Tuesday, Aug 30. Air travel, on a scale of 10, goes from terrible to tolerable. There are too few flights that rank above tolerable, so that’s the top end. Our trip rates a 5. A delayed connection in Montreal got us to Lyon at 4:30, rather than noon. Hot hot hot. Subsequently, we didn’t get off the ship at all. But on arrival there was no hint of the forecast rain. Hope it holds through tomorrow.

But the ship is fine. The crew seems fun. The people are rocking, literally. At 10:00 there were 15+ dancing! (I was told that 90 people had done a cruise just before this one, so they had already melded.) The bar is busy. Our first meal was fantastic. I had a steak with lightly flavored blue cheese, which was surprisingly quite good. Sweet potato soup. The first two house wines were very pedestrian, but the third (2020 Hermitage) was very acceptable. We’ll do some shopping tomorrow for better.

Sunday, Aug 28. Tomorrow we depart on a 20 day journey in France. We have had only a little experience in France, so this will be our first real immersion in the culture. We’re booked on two Viking river cruises, the first down the Rhone River from Lyon to Arles, the second in the area of Bordeaux. In between we’ll spend four nights in Paris. (Yes, we should have booked a south to north river cruise on the Rhone, but the original plan was to visit San Sebastian between cruises. Plans change. And yes, in hindsight a cruise in the Bordeaux region probably was a questionable choice. The ship doesn’t go anywhere we can’t ride a bicycle to from the city. We’ll see how it goes.) We’re going by train, which should be fun.

We’ve made extensive plans for Lyon and Paris. I’ve booked several excursions at the other stops on each cruise, leaving us little free time. We’ll just wander when we have the chance. Obviously, a key objective is to taste the foods and wines. No McDonald’s Royale with Cheese for us!