The wife and I left home Saturday the 2nd around 8:00am. We arrived home 9/13 at Midnight, it was 9am “body time” the 14th. It was a lovely trip with Viking. We started with the Paris Extension before the cruise down the Rhone from Lyon. We flew Portland Or to Chicago O’Hare, then to Frankfurt, then to Charles DeGaul. Viking meets you at the airport and has transportation to the hotel. This is our second Viking cruise. Viking is a bit of a whirlwind, surface views of a lot of things, with an opportunity to focus on special things now and then. Janie and I are using it to see where we want to spend more time.
We started a coach tour from our hotel, Le Meridian, right at the West end inside the circle road, so we were in Paris. Down the Champs Elise.
Major traffic circle around the Arc, really fun to watch them run a three or four lane circle, no one stays in a lane long.
Imagine a running commentary in accented English explaining all these buildings and where they fit into the French History.
Our tour stopped at the Cathedral of Notre Dame
We were in the square with the Tree of Liberty planted in the late 1700’s
The stained glass of the rosette is stunning
carvings surrounding the choir
Back on the bus, with our last stop a brief stay at the tower
We went to the Louvre in the afternoon. We obviously saw a fraction of the exhibits.
We started out in the statues from antiquity
The next morning we were unscheduled. We strolled around, then caught a cab to the Eiffel Tower.
Nice viewing
In the afternoon we went to Versailles
It is crazy over the top
The rest is just a guide for tRump shoppers
Tired?, there is Paris by night after dinner
We drove around in the tour bus past all of the major buildings and monuments on our way to the Eiffel Tower.
Here is why we had to be there at 11:00pm
Early train to Lyon the next day.
I can do two more smgb shorter diaries with the trip through Provence if you like, or do stand alone diaries to link you to. Your pleasure