While I was on the ship, I did not update my blog. There was very little internet connectivity and somehow time slipped away every day with no writing getting done. Now here it is nearly 2 months later. I will write about the trip and perhaps my friends can contribute more details.
The cruise was wonderful. It was fun that our trip combined two different kinds of travel. Our time in Paris we were on our own (except the helpful Parisians), finding our way from place to place, living in the city and feeling a part of it, if only for a short time. On the cruise, we were part of a large number of Americans and Brits. Each excursion was with a local tour guide holding up a little wooden sign and we were in a bubble of 40 or so people. Plus we were waited on hand and foot on the ship. Fun experiences, each, and I'm glad we had both.
The first day of the cruise we were supposed to go up the river a bit and tour the town there. That day, though, the water was too high, the ship would not fit under the bridges and we could not move. We were bussed to our excursion. We were concerned we would not get to take the boat down the river. We heard that the previous week some poor cruisers were bussed to every excursion and their ships never left the dock at all.
Fortunately, we were able to move after the second day. Our ship had 2 floors (is that what they're called on a ship?) and a top, open deck. Whenever we sailed down the river, the crew would take everything off they could and collapse whatever was left on the top deck. Even the captain's cabin was sunk down so, according to one of the crew members, you could just see his eyes above the deck. As we passed under the bridges, from our perspective, it looked like there was just a couple feet clearance. But we made it!
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| Our ship |
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| The top deck |
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| Going under a bridge. |
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| One of the many bridges |
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| Barb's and my room |
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| We were on the bottom level, just above the water. |
"This is of us moving. We are moving." "Fast"
https://moonfamily.smugmug.com/Travel/Paris-June-2016/i-kcXbKMZ/A
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| We did not know there were so many locks on the Rhone. I think there were 24 or something like that. |
I had never been on a cruise before. They're pretty amazing. The crew took great care of us. The food was delicious, and the service couldn't have been better. We got to know some of the waiters and they made sure we had special treatment at each dinner. On my trip to England with Cori I lost 8 lbs. with all the walking we did. On this trip there was plenty of walking, but I gained 2 lbs.
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| Escargot! |
Sometimes in the evenings we would relax on the top deck. We kept trying to see the moon rise and when we did see the moon, I tried some photos, but none turned out good.
