Impressions of Viking

Food: Although there have been some dishes that were disappointing, the food was very good. I also like the fact that beer and wines are complimentary with meals. The drawback is that I know I'm going to gain weight during the cruise, not a good way to start the holiday season. 

Docking locations: Most times, Viking docks in walking distance from an attractive town.  For some reason, the starting and ending locations for this cruise was moved from a dock in Paris to a dock about 30 min by car from Paris, in a town with few good places to walk. 

Impact of Terrorism: one of the other passengers said that 80 out of 200 passengers cancelled, so Viking upgraded some of the passengers to bigger cabins.  Although we weren't upgraded, we enjoyed our luxurious suite.

Bus rides: The visit to the Normandy beaches was a 2 hour bus ride each way.  The buses were comfortable and had a toilet so the trip was ok.  Another tour was a1 hour ride each way, same comfy buses.

Nov 23 Starting our Viking River cruise

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Hotel Champ de Mars. Our room had 2 windows looking out to a quiet street, had a small table and 2 chairs (to eat our treats from the bakery), and had a small but functional bathroom.  Best of all, it's mere steps from my new favorite patisserie.  Perhaps we should stay there when we come back in June.

Although our cruise is named Paris to Normandy, it starts outside of Paris, and getting to the ship was a hassle, but we managed by metro then taxi to the ship.  Tried Uber but no cars were available.

Stepping into the ship was like stepping into Wonderland where every wish is granted.  Since we booked the cruise late, the only cabin available was a 2 room suite.  It was larger than our room at Champ de Mars, with a sitting room, balcony (useless in winter), bedroom and spacious bathroom with a heated floor, even in the shower. It also has 2 large screen tvs, a bottle of champagne and a refrigerator.  Here are some photos of our room:

Nov 21 Cold & Rainy but wonderful Paris

We have assortmentassortment ofseveral friemoonds who have been to Paris in December and said it was great, however we weren't so sure. We can verify that if you bring the proper clothes, it is a great time to see this wonderful city, without the crowds. Today it was in the low forties with rain off and on, & frequently windy, but we are prepared with waterproof calf length down coats and therefore can enjoy the sights and restaurants without crowds.

We started our morning with breakfast at a brasserie just steps from the hotel.  I had the 11 euro menu breakfast: a mocha, orange juice, croissant , French bread, butter lettuce salad and an omelet with ham and cheese. It was much more than I normally eat for breakfast but I figured we would be walking a lot today.

After breakfast we walked about a mile to the recently renovated Rodin Museum and Gardens. I'm not a museum lover, but I do like good sculpture, peaceful gardens and nicely restored old buildings, so this was manageable.

Lunch was at Pasco restaurant, on the way from the museum to our hotel, which was recommended by my sister Pat who had eaten there a couple of months ago. Photo attached.

After resting at the hotel, we braved wind & rain to the Eric Bompard store were Marge bought happiness - a cashmere scarf.  I could have bought a lifetime supply of burgers for the price of the scarf, but making my dearly beloved happy was worth it.

Dinner was bought at the bakery on Rue Cler, mere steps from our hotel: a mushroom quiche and the best Napoleon I have ever eaten.  The filling of the Napoleon was so rich thatit had the consistency of cream cheese so the layer didn't collapse when I stuck my fork in the crust.

After dinner, I wanted to get more steps, so we walked past the Eiffel Tower to the Trocadero across the Seine river to take photos of the Eiffel from an iconic location.  On the way we saw a Tesla taxi!

We were tired at the end of the day, having walked over 27000 steps, about 12 miles.

Thinking 

Marge's assortment of scallops and my skate fish

Nov 22 Vuitton / Gehry museum

After breakfast we went to the Louis Vuitton/ Frank Gehry museum, located in the Bois de Boulogne botanic park.  The museum isn't as memorable as his stainless steel clad Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, but more striking than the designs of his buildings in Los Angeles or Seattle. This building is concrete with huge curved plastic panels attached to "Gheryize“ it.

Nov 20 Rue Cler, Paris

We arrived safely at Hotel Champ de Mars, just off Rue Clair in Paris just before dinner.  This 2 blocks of Rue Cler is a food lovers paradise, almost entirely devoted to food: patisseries, bistros, high quality delis, cheese shop, butcher, fish shop, groceries and produce.  After dinner at a nearby bistro, we walked several blocks to take photos of the Eiffel Tower.  Because of the terror last week, there was a noticeable lack of tour groups, ideal conditions for photos.

Off to Paris, hopefully very safe

Our flight was scheduled for a 4:15 pm departure yesterday from SFO. We were ready by noon so brother in law Joe picked us up then.  Traffic jam at the other end of the bridge -no problem.  British Air desk didn't open for 45 minutes-no problem.  30 minutes to get through business class security-no problem.  Before the Paris attacks the security line was much faster.  It was nice to relax in the British Air lounge, with plentiful libations, brie, finger sandwiches and free WiFi.

I'm writing this at Heathrow airport in the BA lounge.  I could take a shower, but since I got about 3 hours of sleep on the flight, just waking my face with warm water will do.  Had oatmeal with Kahlua and Baileys-yumm!