Day 6   Seine River, St. Andyles, and Conflans

Early in the morning, we left Rouen heading up the river.  The weather had changed.  Up to this time, we had clear skies with low wind speed and hot daytime temperatures.  This morning, the sky was lightly overcast with a stronger Northeast wind and cool temperatures.  We passed the same scenery that we had been by on the way down the river, but it  seemed fresh and new.  Perhaps we had passed some of it at night the first time.  Anyway, we enjoyed the Seine River and the hills and villages alongside it.  There were a number of birds that vied for attention:  gulls, swans, ducks, and a host of others.  There were boats and barges carrying loads down the river.  There were fishermen, kayakers, rowers, and even water skiers.  This was also a time of leisurely sitting and visiting with fellow travelers.  After several days, we had gotten to know a number of people and come to enjoy being with them, learning about their work, their homes, their families, their other travel experiences.  There were a surprising number of links and commonalities among the people we met.

At about noon, we reached the village of St. Andyles.  This was a quaint town that had roots back to the 11th century and structures in town to prove it.  But it had another interesting structure sititing on the hill above the town.  That structure was a castle that had been built by Richard the Lionhearted in the 11th century to help keep his hold on this section of France.  We walked up the very steep hill to the castle ruins.  We saw partial walls of the various buildings of the castle.  The main structure was being restored, but had not progressed far.  The view from the hill was spectacular.  The castle had been strategically located to be able to see enemies and fend them off the hill, but we had the same view.  We could see down and over the village of St. Andyles with its large church.  We could see over a wide expanse of the Seine River valley, and we could see the next hill behind the castle ruins.  The climb was difficult, but the sights and the view were worth it.  After looking the ruins for a time, we went back doen the hill (still just as steep as ever) and explored along some of the quaint stores an shops. 

We had to get back to the boat for a departure for Conflans.  A light shower fell just after we reached the boat.  Then it rained during the night.  So far, the weather has been perfect.  Conflans was an interesting town whose history was based on trade on the Seine and Oise Rivers that met at this place.  The Oise River provided a connection with Belgium, so Conflans was a center for trade for several centuries.  There, we would spend the night.  All meals were on the boat.  Again we saw the scenes of the river as we travelled.  We saw more factories and business along the river banck.  We saw a fair amount of agriculture along and near the river.  We saw hundreds of boats of all sizes tied up at docks.  Most appeared to be permanent homes.

This was an interesting and relaxing day, although the climb up to the castle required a significant expenditure of energy, we found the day slow and pleasant.

Day 5  Normandy Beaches and back to Rouen

After breakfast on the boat, we loaded buses at 8:00 a.m. for a trip to the Normandy Beaches.  This was about a 2-hour ride through rolling hills and agricultural land.  We saw fields of wheat, sugar beets, canola, corn, soybeans, and hay that had been cut and baled.  The agriculture looked modern; we saw tractors of various sizes, combines, and balers.  Some of the rural houses looked old, but many were newer and some had features such as solar collectors.  We passed through Caens, which is a fairly major city with factories and businesses.



We arrived at Juno Beach late in the morning.   Juno Beach is the principle location where British troops landed in France.  At Juno Beach, after D-Day, the British built a harbor to facilitate troop and equipment landing.  The harbor was built with sunken ships (old ships sank on purpose at strategic locations) and concrete structures that were floated from England and placed across the water to enclose a section of the coastline so that landing could take place protected from the waves and currents of the English Channel.  In addition, floating bridges were built from the shore out to where ships could unload.  We could see remnants of the harbor still in place.  There was also a museum that explained with exhibits and films how the harbor was envisioned, constructed, and used to help the Allied forces succeed in the war.  Following our tour of the museum and the beach, we had lunch in the town of Arromanches adjacent to the museum.  This was our first time to have a meal off the boat, so theoretically, this was our first exposure to real French food.  It was chicken (with a sauce), green beans, and potatoes, with a chocolate mousse for dessert.

Allied Countries involved in D-Day

Remnants of Harbor built at Juno Beach after D-Day (British)

German Bunker on Hill overlooking Juno Beach

Next we drove to the Omaha Beach American Cemetery.  Here, a Memorial has been built to honor the Americans who died on Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944.  The Memorial lists the names of all of those who died, has maps that illustrate how the battle was waged, and has a memorial statue to represent the valor of those who fought and died.  The Memorial opens onto the American Military Cemetery where those who died were buried.  Rows and rows of crosses or stars define the graves.  At the Memorial, we were part of a ceremony to honor those who died -- we sang the Star Spangled Banner, listened to Taps, Recognized the Veterans in our group, and observed a moment of silence.  Following the ceremony, each of us was given a rose to place on a grave.  We searched for an Oklahoman's grave and found one, where we placed one of our roses.  We placed the other on a grave marked "Known only to God."  The ceremony, the cemetery, and placing flowers on the graves reminded us of the sacrifices that Americans have made throughout our history and especially in World War II to protect freedom in our country and around the world.  We looked around the cemetery, especially down the hill to Omaha Beach.  The cemetery and the beach were beautiful, but the setting reminded us that a battle that had been fought there and lives had been lost or changed forever.

After the cemetery, we drove to Omaha Beach, where we walked along the beach thinking of the battle.  There is another statue on the beach to honor those who died there.  We were told that most of the time, the beach is deserted, but on this sunny and hot day, the beach was full of people enjoying the beach just as at any other beach.

Omaha Beach

We drove the two hours back to our boat at Rouen, had dinner, and rested after a long day.

 

Day 4  The Seine River to Rouen

We had breakfast on the boat an settled into a day of cruising down the river.  Our destination was Rouen, and we were expected to arrive at 1:00 p.m.  We were in one of the most scenic parts of the Seine River valley, so we settled on the upper deck and spent the morning watching the scenery go by and visiting with fellow travelers.  After a hectic Day 3, we were glad for the leisurely pace.

The Seine River flows quietly.  The water is not clear, but it is not muddy and doesn't show signs of heavy pollution.  We saw an abundance of water fowl along the river -- ducks, swans, terns, and many other birds.  We saw people fishing and even swimming and water skiing in the river.  The river banks are vegetated in most places; we saw no muddy banks anywhere.  This part of France has rolling wooded hills, which provided a lush, verdant landscape for us to look at.  Occasionally there were outcrops of white limestone on the hillsides.

We saw several small towns near the river. These were picturesque with old churches and other buildings, but they also had an assortment of newer houses and other structures.  In the vicinity of these towns, there were many houses that faced the river providing scenery that sometimes looked as though it was a painting by a good landscape artist.  Some of the houses could be called "chateaus" in that they were massive houses with many architectural features.

We saw some industrial operations along the river, but these were not ugly or even intrusive on the beauty of the landscape.  There was a substantial amount of river traffic -- barges, tankers, and container boats that passed by silently.

At 10:00, we met out appointment with the Captain of the boat for a tour of his wheelhouse and an explanation of how he "drives" the boat.  The boat uses radar to see other boats and obstructions and the configuration of the river bottom.  He has controls that allow him to maneuver the boat through narrow channels, locks, and by other boats with hardly more than the touch of his fingers.  The Captain was a young man (32) who had grown up on his parents freight-hauling boat.  He said he had been "driving" boats since he was 5 and had been Captain of a boat since he was 21.

Judy and Dwight with Captain Davy

At noon, we had a "Taste of Normandy" lunch on the upper deck.  We had samples of pastries, cheeses, and a host of other offerings that were representative of the foods of that part of France.

After we arrived at Rouen, we went on a guided walking tour of the central city.  Rouen is a city of about 400,000 and is highly industrialized.  But the city is also very old and has retained more old buildings than I have seen anywhere else.  We saw blocks of structures housing businesses on the lower floors and  residents on upper floors that had been originally built in the 14th Century and every century up to  today.  Many of these buildings were half-timber buildings.  These are build of a framework of heavy wood that is filled in with rocks, mud, and plaster.  These are usually painted with the wood being one color and the plaster another.  These were even somewhat color-coded, because in some centuries, only certain colors were available.  For example, ones with the wooden beams painted red were indicative of those built in the 14th and 15th centuries.

Note the lower floor business in a 16th Century Building

On our tour, we visited another cathedral.  This one is also known as Notre Dame and is considered Rouen's most significant architectural feature.  It was built from the 1200's to the 1700's as is the case of many of Europe's cathedrals -- they weren't built with cranes and prefabricated materials.   It is a large gothic structure and has the tallest spire in France (490 feet).  The spire is made of cast iron that is woven into intricate but structural designs.  The inside of this cathedral was spacious with the area behind the altar being almost as large as the nave.  It has many small and two large chapels in this area behind the altar.  This church was well-lighted with many window (that were possible because of the design of the flying buttresses provided wall support that allowed openings in the walls for windows without weakening the building).  Many of the windows had beautiful stained glass designs, but some of the windows were only a frosted glass.  This church had been damaged during World War II and some of the original stained glass windows had been destroyed and had not been replaced. 

Rouen is also the place where Joan of Arc had been tried and burned at the stake.  There was a very modern church that had been built to honor her.  The church was built on the ruins of an old church that had been destroyed and looked strangely out-of-place among the buildings from the middle ages.  But it had one complete wall of stained glass that was from a variety of other churches that no longer existed.  Seeing this wall eased my feeling that this church did not belong in Rouen.

After the tour, we walked some more looking at the city and then made our way back to the boat for dinner.

Day 3  Vernon, Giverny, and the Monet Gardens

We left Paris during the evening of Day 2 and began our trip down the Seine River.  The river winds around Paris so it seemed a long time before we were out of Paris and its suburbs.  We arrived at Vernon at 6:30 a.m.  The trip had been so smooth, even going through two locks, that we had hardly noticed that we were moving.  We could see Paris and its suburbs go by, but after dark, which was not until 10:00 p.m., we only noticed movement when the occasional light from a house or small town went by.

We had breakfast on the boat and boarded buses for the short trip to Giverny for a visit to Monet's house and gardens.  This was another clear sunny day rising from the lower 60's into the lower 80's (F)) -- absolutely perfect weather.  We arrived at Giverny by 9:30 a.m. and found that there were already several bus loads of people ahead of us.

First we, and several hundred other people, walked around the water lily pond that was so famously portrayed in a number of Monet's paintings and was instrumental in inspiring Monet in many of his other paintings -- perhaps in his role in developing the impressionist style of painting.  The water lily pond was about 30 meters long and about 10 meters wide in the midst of willow trees with a clear stream flowing into and out of the pond.  It had patches of water lilies floating and blooming throughout the pond.  There were a number of other water plants growing in the pond, but it has been maintained as a pond of water lilies (we saw a man in a small boat maintaining the pond).  There were some smaller water birds in the pond, swimming and walking on the water lily pads.  These birds had webbed feet, but they were not ducks such as I had seen before.

The trail around the pond crossed the stream with two picturesque bridges and wound among carefully landscaped grounds.  There were hundreds of kinds of flowers blooming along the trail, some of which we were familiar with and others that we had never seen before.

Next we toured the gardens that are adjacent to the pond area.  In these gardens, it seemed that thousands of kinds of flowers were blooming.  Here again, we saw workers maintaining the gardens.  Although the plants were generally in wide rows with walkways in between, they were not perfectly orderly.  The plants were mixed together and generally  looked almost wild.

Then we toured Monet's house.  it was an old house with many rooms that ran on from one to another.  Each room was decorated in a specific color and was furnished with items characteristic of the late 1800's and early 1900's.  Monet lived there from 1883 until his death in 1926.  One room was had a number of his paintings hanging and leaning around the walls.  None of these looked familiar, so these must have been his less famous works.  This trip was interesting in that it provided insight into the life of a man whose work has helped shape the art world.

We returned to our boat for a late lunch and a walking tour of the town of Vernon.  This town had a number of half-timbered houses and stores that had been built as early as 900 (most were several hundred years later, but that means 1500's.)  Some were leaning so much that they appeared to be slowly falling over, but they had stood for a long time and probably will stand a while longer.  We went into a grocery store to look around and find out how the French in a smaller town lived.  I was just like a mid-sized store we could find at home.  It had foods, clothing, and other goods from around the world as well as from the local area.  We were given a taste of a pastry that had been freshly baked in a local bakery.  It was flaky and very sweet, but had no filling.

We went into the local church, Stiftskirche Notre Dame (Our Lady Collegiate Church).  It was fairly large and built in late Romanesque and early gothic, built between the 11th and early 17th centuries.  It was relatively plain, but had some ornate statuary and stained glass windows.  It had stone floors, walls, and pillars and had been extensively repaired after being bombed during World War II.  It looked like a working church, not just a tourist exhibition as some other cathedrals had appeared.

We returned to our boat for dinner and visiting with fellow travelers.  By now we know a number of people and have become comfortable on the boat.  Our boat remained docked in Vernon overnight.

Day 2   Bus Tour of Paris and Travel on the Seine River

After breakfast on the boat, we boarded a bus at 9:00 a.m. for a tour of Paris.  The guide pointed out places along the route and provided a discourse on the history and significance of the various buildings, monuments, and plazas.  We saw the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the historic miliary complex (Les Invalides and Ecole Militaire), the Opera Palace, Paris Town Hall, the Orsay Museum, Grand and Petit Palais, Madeline Cathedral, Latin Quarter with its collection of universities, Assembly (Parliament), the Louvre, and Notre Dame Cathedral and drove down the Champs Elysees.  Most of what we saw had been built in the 1800's.   We learned that this building boom was caused by Napoleon III's leveling much of Paris and having a newly designed city layed out with orderly streets, plazas, and parks.  This order is shown at the Arc de Triomphe, which is a surrounded by a massive traffic circle with 13 streets, including the Champs Elysee, radiating from it.  Most of the buildings, including the palaces and government buildings are 5-storied with ornate decorative facades and rooflines.  Newer modern buildings are on the outskirts or in the suburbs of Paris.

Arc de Triomphe

Opera Mansion

During the tour, we stopped on the Ile de Citie to walk through Notre Dame Cathedral.  The cathedral was a massive early gothic structure.  It has large twin square towers on the front (more Romaneque than Gothic) that are adorned with various statues, friezes, and carvings that depict events in the life of Christ and the early church.  Inside the cathedral, the walls and floors are  stone the traditional cross shape and clerestory nave.  The clerestory is supported by flying buttresses on the outside.  The stained glass windows were numerous and large, but still the light inside was dim even on this bright sunny day.  Most of the stained glass depicted Christian historical events, but some were simply multicolored patterns.  There were several large arched windows in the front and sides of the church and two large rose windows, predominately in blue, on the ends of the cross arm section.  Even with the ornate windows, the inside of the church was relatively plain, not highly decorated as later gothic structures are.  It was a beautiful cathedral, plain and simple, yet at the same time powerful and beautiful.

Notre Dame

Notre Dame

After lunch back at the boat, we again boarded buses for a trip to the Louvre.  We had passed by the massive museum in the morning, and now we would have an opportunity to go inside to see some of the treasured art that is found only at the Louvre.  There were thousands of other visitors at the time we were there; so many that it was difficult to see the famous pieces.  The Louvre is so large, it would require many visits to see all of it.  Having seen the Louvre shown in many movies, I expected it to be grand; instead, the building was just big.  The glass pyramid, which is the new entrance to the museum, is spectabular, but is somewhat shocking in that it is set in the midst of a 200 year old building.  We entered from an underground parking facility, and passed by the foundations of the original building that was built in the 11th century.  Our guide singled out certain pieces for us to see and took us through the throngs of people to those specific sculptures and paintings. 



The Louvre

We saw DaVinci's Mona Lisa, although only through the heads and arms of hundreds of people crowding in to see it.  It is a relatively small painting and getting close required being willing to elbow and push to the front of the crowd.  An interesting note is that here it is named La Jaconde, which is the name of the painting throughout the non-English-Speaking world.  We saw a number of other paintings by DaVinci.  I thought they were much better than the Mona Lisa, but maybe that was because I could get up close to see them.

We saw Michelangelo's Venus De Milo.  The sculpture indeed has no arms.  There was a crowd at this display also, but we were able to get close and really look at the statue.  We saw several other Michelangelo sculptures.  All were nudes showing powerful bodies -- even the female bodies were powerful.

We saw a Sphinx from Egypt and a number of other sculptures and paintings that our guide tried to explain.  I say "tried" because it was difficult to pay attention to him with the hundreds of people milling around and because he was an expert talking to a mostly art-challenged group.  The Louvre was also not air conditioned; it was hot inside.  Late in the afternoon, we returned by bus to our boat.

Almost immediately after returning, we had an emergency drill.  We had been instructed to grab our life jackets and head to a designated spot on the upper deck when we heard the emergency horn.  We did this but we didn't learn what to do next if there were a real emergency.  I wasn't too worried because the Seine River is a large river but not like the Mississippi or the Yangtze.

We finished the day with dinner on the boat.  The food was intended to be examples of French cooking, so everything had a sauce of some kind on it.  Most of it was good.

Day 1  Travel and the Eiffel Tower of Paris

We left home at 11:00 a.m. to catch our flights to Paris.  All went smoothly; we managed to get to our second flight with time to spare, even with only a 40 minute layover.  We arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris about 8:30 a.m. Paris time, and were met by the Tour people and taken to the Riverboat.  We arrived at the boat at about 10:00 a.m.   Our trip from home to our Paris destination took about 16 hours.  The long flight was about 9.5 hours and was relatively comfortable -- the plane, a Boeing 767, was full, but the seats were acceptable, the entertainment system worked, and the other passengers were reasonable people.  The trip was uneventful.

After we arrived at the boat, we were served a light lunch of salads, sandwiches, and pasta.  It kept us going.  We knew that our rooms would not be ready until 3:00 p.m., so we began looking around the area.  The day was clear and sunny, the temperature was mild (about 20 degrees C.); it was very pleasant.

From the boat, we could see the Eiffel Tower.  It was about 2 kilometers from the boat's docking place on the same side of the Seine River.  The Eiffel Tower was one of the sights of Paris that we were eager to see, so we started out to walk to the Tower and explore the area.  We found that the river front was well developed and attractive with streets and walkways all along the rock- and concrete-lined banks.  We encountered joggers and bicyclers on the walkways and light traffic on the streets.  The area at the base of the Tower area was teaming with people.  The line for the tower elevators was at least 100 meters long and moving slowly, so we just walked around looking with awe at the spectacular structure.  The Tower was built in 1889 to be the entrance gate for the 1889 World's Fair.  It is made of iron (18,038 pieces and 2.5 million rivets) and sits on a massive concrete pillars.  It's ironwork makes intricate designs -- a work of art as well as an engineering feat.  It has been used since its construction as a communication tower and draws millions of tourists yearly.  We marveled at its engineering and beauty.  We also marveled at the size of the milling crowd, who were eating, resting on the grass and benches, standing in line for the elevator ride to the observation platforms, selling souvenirs, and (so we were told) picking pockets.  We were approached by a young lady who asked us to sign a petition.  We refused and walked away because we had been told that this is one of the ways that the pick-pockets worked.  We snapped photographs from every angle in attempt to get the perfect picture.

It didn't take long for us to realize that we were very tired.  We had been up for about 30 hours at that point, so we strolled across a bridge and back looking at the scene along the river and then back to the boat for some much-needed rest. 

We had been told that the end ride for the Tour de France would be along the other side of the river at about 5:00 p.m.  We planned to cross the bridge and watch, but at about 4:00, we heard cheering and looked across the river to see the riders support vehicles going by.  We had missed the racers.  Dinner was served on the boat and consisted of several courses -- Judy had Sole and Dwight had Pork Tenderloin (both swimming in sauces) along with some vegetables and cheeses and of course an ice-cream dessert.  We met some of our fellow travelers at dinner and had a pleasant time visiting.  After dinner, we retired to our room (It was like a small hotel room).   After dark, I checked up on the top boat deck to see if the Eiffel Tower was lighted.  It was brightly lit with a circling beam coming from the top.  It was even more beautiful in the dark.