Paris apartment

We are staying in an Airbnb apartment in the Marais district.  It has a well appointed living room, spacious bedroom and bathroom with heated towel rack.

Our block is guarded by 3 soldiers (we think French Foreign Legion) during the day. We think they are guarding a Jewish school across from our apartment.  We felt very safe.  

There are a number of bakeries, delis, grocery stores, bars and restaurants nearby.   The food supply nearby was so appealing that we ate in the apartment 5 out of 6 dinners and all breakfasts.  

The front of our Airbnb apartment in the Marais

A quaint pedestrian alley filled with shops & restaurants

Galleries Lafayette food section

Dinner at home - ribs, potatoes & ratatouille

Light lunch at home - bread, quiche lorraine & chocolate torte

Memorial at Republic Square near our apartment

A nice salad at a local restaurant

Crepe & salad

Stainless steel balls in Jardin du Palais Royal

Nov 27 Normandy beaches

Today was devoted to the Normandy beaches via a 2 hour bus ride each way.   Although we visited this area years ago, it was informative to see the area with a tour guide. We saw how the Allied army built a major harbor at the beach town of Aromanche in a few days during the height of the war. The harbor was critical to supplying the push that started at the Normandy beaches. We also visited the American cemetery above Utah Beach.  Although we had seen the cemetery before, the number of burial markers is still staggering, especially when you see that the dates were all within about a week of each other. I enjoyed the greenery of the countryside in the area and was surprised by the emptiness of the villages during this off season.

 American Cemetery @ Utah Beach

 German bunker

 Marge shooting a sculpture on one of the beaches

Impressions of Paris

Paris is Marge's favorite place, but for me, there are pluses and minuses.  

Minuses:
   Smokers: We have seen more smokers than I have seen in years. They apparently can't smoke in public buildings, so they congregate in front of buildings so as you walk by some buildings you walk through a cloud of smoke.  A number of times there have been smokers walking in front of us, making us walk in a cloud of smoke, which is really bothersome.

  Crowds: Despite the recent terrorist shootings, there are crowds in the shopping areas, so we had to continually dodge others. I much prefer more rural/smaller towns & cities.

Pluses:
  Patiseries: Normally I just window shop at bakeries, even in Paris where high caloric sweets are a high art.  At both of the places we stayed at during this trip, there was a nearby patisserie with innumerable sweets that tasted as good as they looked.  It took a lot of willpower to limit myself to 1 treat each day.

Patiserie near our Airbnb apartment

  Bike helmet: While we were in a coffee shop, resting during a long walk, I saw a bike messenger wearing a nice looking helmet with a feature I have never seen anywhere- a built in flip up visor that would obviate wearing the cumbersome clip on sun glasses I normally wear for sun protection.  Using google, I researched it and found a bike shop that had it in stock. Although it was very expensive, with Marge's encouragement, I bought it.  

Casco Speedairo Helmet

  Christmas Decorations: Since we were in Paris in the early part of December, we checked out the decorations at the big Galleries Lafayette store.  

One of many display windows

Multi-Story Christmas Tree

  Gehry museum: Although I'm not a fan of museums, I do like museums designed by Frank Gehry.  They are like big modern, shiny sculptures.   We saw one of his latest creations, the Luis Vuitton Foundation museum (which has been open for about a year) during the first part of this trip.

New Frank Gehry Museum

Nov 26 Thanksgiving in Rouen

We arrived in Rouen last night.  The ship docked about 5 blocks from the historic center of the city, which is remarkably close.  This is famous as being the city where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake by the British. In the am Marge and I walked the city center, then while Marge visited a museum featuring impressionist artists, I explored more.   After lunch at the ship, we had a guided walking tour of the city. I liked Rouen because it is historic, fairly compact and not nearly as crowded as Paris.

For dinner, one choice was roasted turkey with all the trimmings. It was good, but we missed Thanksgiving dinner with the family.

 Our ship  with 1 of Rouen's cathedrals in the background

  An interesting old building

Thanksgiving dinner entre

 

Tour of local food market led by the Viking chef

Nov 25 Van Gough's final studio

Today we visited Auvers-sur-Oise, the town where Vincent Van Gough spent his last 70 days while painting 75 paintings.  During his life, he only sold 1 of his paintings, receiving only enough to reimburse his brother for his living expenses for 3 days. What a tragedy considering that now his paintings sell for over $100 milion each.   At various places in town there are copies of his paintings next to the scene that inspired it, and our guide explained the relationship between the scene and the painting.  He and his brother are buried next to each other in a cemetery across from a wheat field that inspired many of his paintings.  

His paintings weren't selling, so his brother was his sole means of support. His brother had recently married and had just had a baby.   Van Gogh got depressed because he thought he was a financial burden on his brother, so he committed suicide by shooting himself.

The graves of the Van Gogh brothers

The field that inspired several of Van Gogh's last paintings.  It is across from the cemetery where he is buried.

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: