DAY 1 - Monday - 9-19-05 Depart from Denver We had a beautiful day in Colorado to walk in the crisp air and morning sun. We had time to do a few last minute chores and for Gennie to finalize her University of Phoenix online class. At 12:45 we said good bye to our cats, Buddha and Kwai, and left Capella Drive. We had a few errands to run in Denver and then had lunch Chipotle, one of ...
Read Day 1!
DAY 2 - Tuesday - 9-20-05 - Frankfurt/Arrive in Paris/Explore the city We were able to sleep quite well on this flight with the seats reclining as far back as they did. Two hours before we reached Frankfurt, the flight attendants turned on the lights and proceeded to try to get everyone to eat some breakfast and get ready to land. I had some coffee and juice, it had only been 5 ...
Read Day 2!
DAY 3 - Wednesday - 9-21-05 -Transfer to St. Leger/Embark Lafayette Barge Our alarm sounded at 6:45 - it was still dark on the streets of Paris. We showered, packed our luggage, and had a generous buffet breakfast in the hotel dining room. Our tour guide Michel had breakfast with us and shared many of his experiences as the head purser on the Concorde in his 30 years working with ...
Read Day 3!
DAY 4 - Thursday - 9-22-05 - Santenay/Chagny We were able to sleep until 7:15 today. We smelled the coffee early and had our shower and went up to the dinning room for our breakfast. There was a little time while our colleagues were having their first cup of coffee, so we went out to the very cool morning to take a few photographs. The mist was rising from the canal and everything ...
Read Day 4!
DAY 5 - Friday - 9-23-05 - Chagny/Autun/Chalon sur Saone/French Lesson Our standard routine is now to wake up at 7:15 with breakfast at 8 AM. Today we ate with George and Linda from Michigan. Linda taught 1st grade so she and Gennie had lots to talk about. As we were eating, the engine stated and the crew stowed the lines and we started our navigation of the canal. Immediately, we ...
Read Day 5!
DAY 6 - Saturday - 9-24-05 - Chalon/Cruise to Verdun sur le Doubs It was another beautiful sunny day in France. We had breakfast with Clint and Ruth from Tacoma, WA, and we shared our great times in the Northwest, and their beautiful state. At 9:30 we joined Michel and the rest of our group for a walking tour of Chalon's beautifully preserved medieval town center, which ...
Read Day 6!
DAY 7 - Sunday - 9-25-05 - Seurre/St. Jean de Losne/Home-hosted visit Our barge engines started at 7:30 this morning and our captain was able to maneuver off this rocky area without too much of a problem. We had breakfast with Derk and Liz from San Diego. After breakfast Michel gave us a few reminders about the settlement of Seurre, a charming brick-built riverside town, where we ...
Read Day 7!
DAY 8 - Monday - 9-26-05 - Explore Route des Grand Crus and Beaune We woke up to a cloudy morning but by the time we went up to breakfast the fog was starting to clear. We ate with Gloria and Jerry from Travers City in Michigan, Gloria is a librarian and they are both readers so we had lots to talk about. Our captain made a U-turn with the barge and we left the Saone River to get ...
Read Day 8!
DAY 9 - Tuesday - 9-27-05 - Petit Ouges/Dijon We had a leisurely morning according to the schedule, but when we woke up we found we had no water. I went out to check on the situation and found that somehow the tanks on the barge had been drained. Richard explained that although the tanks were empty he was able to run a hose from the lock master's house to help us get enough water to ...
Read Day 9!
DAY 10 - Wednesday - 9-28-05 - Disembark Barge/Transfer to Lyon via Cluny and the Beaujolais Region - Lyon We had taken time last night to pack so we just had a little to do this morning. At 8 AM we went to the dining room for breakfast after leaving our suitcases in the hallway. Our bus was waiting for us and before we said our last goodbyes, the driver, Patrick, took a group ...
Read Day 10!
DAY 11 - Thursday - 9-29-05 - Explore Lyon - Farewell Dinner We were up at our usual 7:15 and continued to marvel at the size of our room. Our closet in this hotel is larger than our whole cabin on the barge. We ate our breakfast, nice, but not as much of a variety as Jean, our Lafayette chef had prepared. We began our walking tour with Michel at 9:30. The day was overcast and ...
Read Day 11!
DAY 12 - Friday - 9-30-05 - Lyon/Bullet Train/Paris We were up at our usual 7:15 and after quick showers we finished dressing and packing to be able to leave by 9 AM. We went down to the continental breakfast and had a chance to speak to the new OAT tour members and also to our seven friends who were ready for the post trip to the south of France. We went upstairs, got our luggage ...
Read Day 12!
DAY 12 - Friday - 9-30-05 - Lyon/Bullet Train/Paris We met Ted, Ciça, and Pedro for breakfast at 8:30. I had gone down a little earlier to upload the journal from the previous day. Right after breakfast we were off to the Musee d'Orsay. We walked across the Seine River, purchased a 24 hour pass for the underground metro and then caught one that took us right to the front door of the ...
Read Day 13!
DAY 14 - 10-02-05 - Saturday - Latin Quarter/Left Bank - Paris We had a chance to sleep a little later today and met Ted for breakfast at 9 AM. The hotel has a very good continental breakfast with personal service. In fact, everyone here (hotel, Paris, France) has been superb. At 10 AM we left the hotel under partly cloudy skies to take the Metro once again to our chosen ...
Read Day 14!
DAY 15 - 10-03-05 - Monday - Louvre - Paris We met Ana and Richard and Ted, Ciça, and Pedro for breakfast at 8:30. There were hardly any other people in the breakfast room so we had lots of space. At 9 it was time to say goodbye to Ana and Richard as they had to leave on the train and then go through the Chunnel to return to Cornwall. We were off to spend the day at the Louvre so ...
Read Day 15!
DAY 16 - 10-04-05 - Monday - Train Ride/Versailles - Paris We had agreed to meet for breakfast at 8 AM where we met Ciça, Pedro and Ted. The hotel takes care of all their guests very well, serving each of us a beverage and a generous selection of breads and pastries. Then we can get cheese, ham, fruit cocktail, juice, yogurts, and cereals to complement. By 9 we were ready to go. Ted ...
Read Day 16!
DAY 17 - 10-05-05 - Wednesday - Arc de Triumph/Champs de Ellisse -Paris Today was Ciça, Pedro and Ted's departure day so we decided to sleep a little later and then catch up on things we had not done. We went down for breakfast at 9:30 and were out of the hotel by 10:30. We went across the street to Gare de Lyon to buy our TVG (bullet train) tickets to go back to Lyon tomorrow ...
Read Day 17!
DAY 18 - 10-06-05 - Thursday - Paris/Lyon/Frankfurt/Denver/Home When the alarm sounded at 5 AM and the wake up call came through, we were out of bed in a shot and were ready for breakfast at 5:40. Once again, the breakfast coffee and breads were served to us and we served ourselves fresh fruit, cheese and ham. We went upstairs (2nd floor) to our room, picked up our two travel bags ...
Read Day 18!