Viking-France’s Finest

May - June 2022
We will be arriving in the south of France and traveling up the Orne River to Lyon then a bullet train to Paris and down the Seine to Normandy and back to Paris for three additional days.
  • 21footprints
  • 2countries
  • 22days
  • 186photos
  • 1videos
  • 5.9kmiles
  • 5.0kmiles
  • Day 5

    Ancient Arles on the Rhône River

    May 17, 2022 in France ⋅ ☀️ 81 °F

    Arles was a little settlement that was concurred and settled by the Roman Empire for defense and trade purposes. It became a thriving city with an arena and theater and all venues are still being used today. Also Van Gogh painted here for some time and it was in this town he painted Starry Night and the Yellow Cafe and the garden in front of the hospital his brother put him in after he cut his ear off. So colorful town all around.Read more

  • Day 5

    Ancient city of Arles

    May 17, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 72 °F

    The city of Arles on the Rhône River not too far from the.Mediterranean Sea was built up by the Romans. This city was very important for the empire for defense and trade. They built an arena that is still used today for bull fights twice a year and also an outdoor theater. The city is fun and interesting and trendy. This is also the town where Van Gogh painted the Starry Night and the yellow cafe which I have a picture of and the garden in front of the hospital where he was sent because he cut off his ear.Read more

  • Day 7

    Carrieres des Lumieres

    May 19, 2022 in France ⋅ ⛅ 79 °F

    Inside a big complex of caves there is this special exhibition that runs continuously all day. The presentation of modern and classical art with amazing music is so moving. I have many beautiful pictures but I’m upload a movie so limited. This place has to be experienced in person to get the full impact. Enjoy.Read more

  • Day 7

    Amazing Avignon and the popes palace

    May 19, 2022 in France ⋅ ⛅ 81 °F

    Ancient Avignon has an amazing history as does so many of the towns of the Rhône Valley we have been traveling. In the early 1300s the politics and squabbling of Italian city states got so bad that the papacy decided to move its capital. The thriving fortress town of Avignon France was chosen. From 1304 to 1377 the popes built a beautiful cathedral complex with several smaller cathedrals inside the town. The architect over the years was spared from the major destruction of European wars including WW11. The move to France angered the English and German Catholics who often had wars with France. Finally it was decided to move back to the Vatican in Italy in 1377 and a new pope was elected and the rest is church history. Enjoy the pictures.Read more

  • Day 9

    The hard luck little town of Viviers

    May 21, 2022 in France ⋅ ⛅ 66 °F

    The little ancient town of Viviers is known in France as the town most flooded. It is also, as it turns out, the last place Joseph and I will visit on our trip. But more about that later. Viviers has the bad luck to be on a low point of the river Rhône. This wild river that is now partially tamed by a series of dams and locks, occasionally is the victim of “controlled” water release. In order to save other communities up and below stream, water is released during wet years sometimes twice a year. The town is given about a two hour warning so that people can run and move their cars up hill. The water can come shoulder high and little boats come out for the people to be able to get around. Each time this happens it takes a couple of months to clean up. So come this winter if you hear about severe flooding in parts of France, chances are Viviers is mentioned. Also, for whatever reason, the Nazis took a particular delight in causing atrocities here during the war, especially to those who hid Jews from being rounded up. You will see some little arches between buildings. That is not for decoration but to keep the building from collapsing in on one another especially when foundations are compromised by flooding. Each year the townspeople are assessed a tax and every few years that money is used to restore one of the buildings. Many people wonder why the townspeople just don’t abandon this place of hardships but if you visit there you will meet a stubborn people who are very attached to their family history and are willing to fight for the place they live in and love. They are attached to their castle cathedral and all who live there.
    After visiting Viviers we came back to the boat and got a call to our stateroom that Jeannette had tested positive for Covid. So as of that moment we were considered “unclean” as people were called in ancient times. We were not the only ones in this most unhappy of predicaments. Come the following morning after everyone else had left the boat for excursions in Toulon, the unlucky 14 walked the plank for the last time to a group of private taxis and were whisked away on a six hour journey to the Charles de Gaulle airport to be sequestered in the Marriott hotel. We will remain there until we test negative and then unceremoniously and gently we will be kicked out of France. No ands, ifs or buts. So our trip ends with a whimper instead of a victorious drum beat. Stay tuned, I plan to report some on our lament. And thanks for following along with our first and only leg of our adventure.
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  • Day 10

    Boring room

    May 22, 2022 in France ⋅ ☁️ 70 °F

    So here we are in our second day of isolation in the most boring room in Paris. There is literally a village of modern hotels built near the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. Two things make it bearable, the BBC which is the only English language game in town and the fact that I’m so miserable with this sinus infection that rest is all I want to do. I spoke with a Viking representative this afternoon and to boil down all that she said is that we are in the Bastille until they say otherwise. So we wait until Tuesday to be tested again to learn our fate. Joseph is hanging in there reading mostly and trying not to say that his wife is an idiot for getting Covid. If he tests negative on Tuesday and I don’t he will head home. I truly hope he doesn’t get this worthless omicron. I received many concerning messages and thank you all. Please keep us in your prayers and I’ll keep you posted.Read more

  • Day 11

    Still in Paris lockdown

    May 23, 2022 in France ⋅ 🌧 63 °F

    Got a call this morning saying they will be here tomorrow morning between 8:00am and 9:00am to do a throat swab. Supposedly within an hour or so we should have the verdict. Dum de de dum…Our immediate future hangs on the tip of a Q-tip. I am still battling my sinus infection but pressure and pain has lessened but still going through a box of tissues and taking some interesting cough syrup they bought for me. We should have been visiting Versailles today. Boo hoo. But as it turns out being sick has changed my perspective on my trip. Except for 2007 when I had a collapsed vertebra, I have always been very healthy during all my travels. So I shan’t weep and realize how blessed I’ve been and continue to be and look forward to going home and getting well.
    I decided to explore my view and discovered a nice little shrub rose bush outside my window. I’ve been watching the BBC’s coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show so even though this little bush wouldn’t make it into that august event, it is appreciated by me. So until tomorrow, prisoner 174 (room number) signing off.
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  • Day 12

    Free at last

    May 24, 2022 in France ⋅ ⛅ 57 °F

    We both tested negative this morning and will be flying home. We are taking Air Canada. It was nice to have a civilized breakfast and then we went out to a huge mall to walk and see what there was to see. We’re sorry about getting only one week of a three week vacation but it is what it is. We will be filing lots of claims with Viking for sure. So many people had a bad vacation because of the exorbitant redundant Covid rules by France and America and especially Viking. Our first disappointment with them. We will post when we get home. Thanks everyone for following our abbreviated trip. It was fun while it lasted.Read more

  • Day 13

    At the Charles de Gaulle airport in PARI

    May 25, 2022 in France ⋅ ☀️ 48 °F

    Paris is the most visited city in the world. That has been the case for a very long time. On this trip, however, we saw very little of her. We visited one of the largest malls in the Paris outskirts right next to Disney Paris. It doesn’t take long to conclude that Paris is a girls city. Out of say 200 stores most were clothes designers great and small, shoes, perfumes, bags, coats, jewelry and other similar vendors. All for women or and a few for children. There are a few mens stores and exactly two men’s sports shops. Sitting in the airport the shops here have the same bias for sure. You look at the designs in the upscale stores and then some African women walk by and designers disappear into mediocrity. The beauty of the designs and colors are striking especially compared to those of the old designer houses. Then a couple walks by and she is walking behind her husband all in black from head to toe. Other than maybe coming to visit a family member, one can’t imagine way such a woman would be brought to Paris. What could Paris offer her. No clothes, shoes, bags, perfume or jewelry could be afforded her. Something to wonder about. As you can see by the pictures, This airport is big, well kept and stuck in the 70s. That’s fine. Shabby 70s is miserable, fun, bright 70s is somehow stylish again, or maybe we should say “still”. So we are ending our time in France, not by choice, but by law. We are just one couple of thousands who are going through this most unwanted ordeal. Will we be back to complete our trip interruptis? Unlikely. Joseph will not be up to it and I may not want to bother. BUT perhaps a grandchild, curious about the Parisian culture and allure, may coax me back. Who knows. So friends and family, we will wing our way to Montreal and then onto Philadelphia for an evening arrival. So until another adventure, this is an intrepid adventurer signing off. Au Revoir.Read more