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Romantic Rhone and Seine

May - June 2019
Fly into Barcelona. Three days in Barcelona then a coach to Arles, Southern France. Seven day cruise on the Rhone to Lyon. Fast train from Lyon to Paris. Time in Paris. Seven day cruise on the Seine to Northern France. Fly out of Paris. Read more
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  • Janette and JohnRomantic Rhone and Seine
    Day 14

    Monet's garden

    June 1, 2019 in France ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    30 degrees C today!!!
    Leisurely morning sailing to Vernon where we docked at lunchtime. 1.30, coach to Monet's place at Giverny. We were warned that because it is so popular and it is a public holiday weekend, it might be as busy as Versailles was. It wasn't - it was busier! We did the French tourist shuffle - not a new dance but a way to get around attractions while getting up close and personal with everyone else there.
    Giverny is a pretty little village that Monet noticed from the train one day. He and some other artists moved there and then others did the same. It became an artists' village.
    Monet was as passionate about gardening as he was about painting. Our group's guide today elected to view the garden first and then the house. We were really pleased as it was the garden that we really wanted to see. We joined on to the snake made up of thousands of people and we did the shuffle - but we're so pleased we did. When we got to the house, there was a huge queue, so we elected to go for a wander on our own back into the village.
    The shutters on Monet's house are painted green. This colour has become known as Monet green. It is said that anyone can go into any paintshop in France, ask for Monet green and get that exact colour.
    Monet started off drawing caricatures. One day a painter told him he had talent, put a paintbrush in his hand, and Monet never drew another caricature. When his eyesight was failing he saw with a pink haze. A friend convinced him to try cataract surgery. It was new surgery then, he was sceptical but he tried one eye, it worked so he had the other eye done. However he still had the pink haze. That influenced much of his later painting.
    We now want a garden like his.
    Back to the ship and sailing again by 5.30.
    Dinner, then up on the sun deck till 10.15 - lovely warm night.
    We dock at 5.30am in Caudebec-en-Caux and after breakfast we're going to walk into town for a sticky.    Read more

  • Janette and JohnRomantic Rhone and Seine
    11
    Day 15

    Caudebec-en-caux

    June 2, 2019 in France ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    A very busy, very full day so I'll do three posts to cover morning, afternoon and evening.
    After breakfast, Janette and I went for a walk around this lovely little town. It seems to be one of the few places yet to be fully impacted by tourism. This was highlighted by the fact that there was a car boot sale / flea market along the riverfront. It could be Oz except the toy cars were all left hand drive. If (when) it gets more touristified, I reckon all the Sunday morning stalls will be selling tourist goodies instead of 'garage sale stuff'.
    80% of this town was destroyed by allied bombing in WWII. After the war, when rebuilding started, there were no building materials available so they recycled all they could from the rubble. That's why many of the rebuilds still look old
    The 'en-Caux' part of the town name is quite common in Normandy - it means 'on chalk'.
    Back to the ship for a brunch ready to board coaches again for the next tour.    Read more

  • Janette and JohnRomantic Rhone and Seine
    Day 15

    Back in time - Honfleur

    June 2, 2019 in France ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Honfleur really is like stepping back in time in the old quarter. It is a port town not far from the mouth of the Seine. It wasn't bombed at all during WWII so there are amazing old buildings. We had the usual guided tour to tell us the history and to see the main sites, then plenty of free time to wander around on our own. We had been warned there may be huge crowds again, but there weren't.
    Much of the town was renovated / rebuilt by the vikings. The picture of the church interior shows the roof. The vikings were sailors not church builders, so when they were asked to rebuild the church, they didn't know how to build the roof. The answer? Build a boat and upturn it on top of the walls.    Read more

  • Janette and JohnRomantic Rhone and Seine
    Day 15

    Benedictine - my new favourite drink.

    June 2, 2019 in France ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    Tonight was yet another APT Signature experience - meaning an APT exclusive. A visit to Le Palais Benedictine, a benedictine monastery, for us alone this evening. About an hour to wander around the amazing museum and sample Benedictine liqueur - I could consider giving up guinness - perhaps.
    Google Palace Benedictine to see more.
    Dinner in the massive Abbott hall followed - incredible.
    To top off a wonderful night, we each received a small bottle of Benedictine as a memento.
    Back to the ship at 11. A really early start tomorrow to go to Normandy.    Read more

  • Janette and JohnRomantic Rhone and Seine
    Day 16

    Normandy D-Day landing sites and graves

    June 3, 2019 in France ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    8am departure for a two hour coach ride to the D-Day landing sites. En route, our guide gave us some history of the build up and the day itself. The 75th anniversary of D-Day, June 6th, is a few days away. The first thing that strikes you as you get closer is the obvious feeling the french have for their liberators. In every town and village most of the houses had flags out - mainly French, English and American. Most light poles had a picture of one of their heroes - some of them looked no more than seventeen.
    Les vrais heros ne meurant jamais - real heroes never die, is what they say.
    The thing we're having trouble coming to terms with are all the people dressed in WWII army gear and driving around in WWII army vehicles. It looks like half the people there are playing dress-up.
    There are preparations going on everywhere for Thursday - the 75th anniversary of the landing.
    We drove to Sword Beach and along to Juno Beach. Our first stop was at Arromanches, at Gold beach.There is a little cinema there - 9 screens forming a complete circle, no seats, just rows of rails to hold on to, and the 'action' and the noise is all around you. The film showed German occupation, allied bombing, paratroopers on D-Day, troops landing, street to street fighting, relieved local people, children, troops with the children... It was very loud and very emotional. I suspect most people were OK till they showed little children and a kitten...
    A little further along we stopped at Longes sur Mer. Here the row of pill boxes, still containing canons, looks out across the English Channel. We had a picnic lunch at one of these. The French, quite understandably, don't like the name, 'English Channel'. They refer to it as La Manche - The Sleeve, because of its shape.
    Then on to Omaha Beach and a chance to walk along the sand.
    There is a huge cemetery at Omaha - 90,000+ graves. This is where the 75th anniversary commemorations will take place. I spoke to a pommy veteran of 1944, shook his hand and said 'thanks'.
    Bayeux is the biggest of the 18 commonwealth cemeteries in Normandy with 4,600+ graves.    Read more

  • Janette and JohnRomantic Rhone and Seine
    Day 17

    The Somme - sheer bloody madness!

    June 4, 2019 in France ⋅ 🌧 17 °C

    First stop, the Australian War Memorial at Villers Bretonneux. This is the location for the Anzac Day dawn service each year. APT had organised a wreath and four people who had relatives who had fought here, laid it at the cross of sacrifice in front of the memorial. Our two guides sang La Marseillaise and then we sang Advance Australia Fair. One guide then played a recording of the last post through our earpieces. A very moving touch. The weather was appropriately sombre.
    A close look at the tower of the memorial shows lots of bullet marks - seems the germans were peed off with us so shot at it during WWII.
    At the rear of the war memorial is the Sir John Monash Centre. Open for a year, it's a modern museum of the Somme campaigns. Through an app, it uses digital technology to show and tell the stories and battles.
    Like all military cemeteries, there are rows and rows of headstones. Occasionally there are two close together signifying they are buried together. There's no set order - the graves are totally random - those with names, those unknown - sailors, soldiers and airmen. There are 2,100+ buried here of whom 600 are unidentified.
    As you drive around there are small cemeteries with their rows of white headstones everywhere among the fields of crops. Besides this, there are many servicemen buried in church graveyards.
    Farmers are still finding bombs and shells in their paddocks. When the war finished, the government didn't want the farmers to return to their land because of the danger of unexploded bombs. The famers did return and, indeed, some were killed - some not that long ago.
    In 2016, while widening a road, workers found the bodies of three soldiers. Their remains have been moved to a small cemetery near where they were found.
    Next, into Villers Bretonneux town to eat our lunchpacks provided off the ship.    Read more

  • Janette and JohnRomantic Rhone and Seine
    Day 17

    The town that won't forget Australia

    June 4, 2019 in France ⋅ 🌧 19 °C

    As we approached the town, there was a sign saying Robinvale - it is a suburb of Villers Bretonneux. Robinvale, Victoria and Villers Bertonneux are sister cities.
    Visited the museum located above the school in the Victoria School building. Many of the exhibits were donated by people in Australia. Australians help with donations towards ongoing upkeep. The museum, like the town, has very strong connections to Australia. We had a bit of a walk around and back on the coach.
    The town was just about obliterated during the fighting. Because of this, there are hardly any historic buildings now.    Read more

  • Janette and JohnRomantic Rhone and Seine
    Day 17

    Still more cemeteries

    June 4, 2019 in France ⋅ 🌧 24 °C

    On to Longueval to visit a New Zealand cemetery. As we have some Kiwis in our group, another small ceremony - our guide recited 'In Flanders Fields'.
    A stop to hear about the men who tunnelled, sometimes 1000 metres, to get under enemy trenches and set explosives.
    Last stop was Thiepval, a British cemetery. There are the names of 72,000 men, whose bodies were never found, on the walls here...

     The battle of the Somme lasted 141 days. Including Germans, there were well over one million casualties, including 57,000 on the first day, with over 19,000 killed. In total there were over 300,000 killed...    Read more

  • Janette and JohnRomantic Rhone and Seine
    Day 17

    Rouen light show

    June 4, 2019 in France ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Rouen is the town where The Maid of Orleans, Joan of Arc, was burned at the stake, 30th May, 1431, at the age of nineteen.
    At tonight's briefing, Anja, our cruise director gave us the heads up about a sound and light show in town each night at 11pm on the front of the cathedral. As I've said before, and I hope to say again, when the cruise director suggests something is worth seeing, it's definitely worth seeing.
    From where we were docked, it was a short walk into town. The show lasted thirty minutes. All I can say is, if you find yourself in Rouen, don't miss this show.
    Back on board, a cuppa and in bed not long after midnight.    Read more

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